B.H. Sudantha, K.M.H.K. Warnakulasooriya, Y.P. Jayasuriya, G.R. Ratnayaka, P.K.S. Mahanama, E.J. Warusavitharana, S.N. Weerasinghe 23 Bhúmi, The Planning Research Journal Vol. 06, No.01, June 2018 Open-source implementation of an integrated, low-cost environmental mon- itoring system (EMS) for developing countries B.H. Sudantha a , K.M.H.K. Warnakulasooriya a , Y.P. Jayasuriya a , G.R. Ratnayaka b1 , P.K.S. Mahanama b , E.J. Warusavitharana b and S.N. Weerasinghe b a Faculty of Information Technology, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka b Department of Town & Country Planning, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Whilst widely accepted as an important facet of Open Source technologies and their application, the scientific evaluation of such technologies and systems is often underexplored in research. This work presents an integrated approach of developing a proto- type Environmental Monitoring System (EMS) based on open source hardware & software, and the system’s reliability in terms of data accuracy. The system is able to measure nine environmental parameters: rainfall, temperature, barometric pressure, hu- midity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, soil moisture and water level. Opposing to sophisticated and conventional environmental data collection systems such as automatic and manual weather stations belong to Meteorological and Irrigation department of Sri Lanka, this research has shown a promising way of establishing a dense coverage to monitor the environmen- tal phenomena in a more cost effective manner. Keywords: Automatic weather stations, Non conventional, Open -source environmental monitoring information, Real time data, Sensors 1. Introduction This research is based on an emerging domain called Internet of Things (IoT), which has a great potential for societal, environmental as well as economic impact (Coetzee & Eksteen, 2011) that ultimately enables smarter decisions. The term Internet of Things (IoT) is simply the point in time when more “things or objects” were connected to the internet than people (Evans, 2011). IoT has been around for the past few years and is gaining recognition with the breakthrough of advanced wireless technology (Huang & Li, 2010; Ucklemann, Harrison, & Michahelles, 2011). The most important thing in IoT is it provides the necessary infrastructure to transparently access sensors, processes and actuators using standardized protocols regardless of hardware, operating systems or location (Presser, et al., 2009; Roggen, et al., 2013). The IoT based applications have been started to become popular as a more cost effective product, after the integration of open hardware and open software in system development. The open source software packages and open hardware sensors have become widely used on a global scale in reducing costs of environmental monitoring (Bitella, et.al, 2014; Formisano, Massera, & De Vito, 2015; Sadler, et.al, 2014; Samourkasidis & Athanasiadis, 2014; Prescott, et.al, 2016). In Sri Lankan context, IoT intergraded innovative experiments have been used in environmental assessment research areas such as safety and fear of crime (De Silva, Warusavitharana & Ratnayake, 2017; Ratnayake, 2013; Ratnayake, 2016; Ratnayake, 2017; Ranasinghe et al., 2016). According to Artiola, Pepper, and Brusseau (2004) and Wiersma (2004) “Environmental Monitoring” is defined as the systematic sampling of air, water, soil, and biota in order to observe and study the environment, as well as to derive knowledge of this process. In this study, the term “System” refers to a set-up which worked as a station networked by a wireless protocol. For the purpose of this study, the term “Environmental Monitoring System” (EMS) refers to a station networked by a wireless protocol which systematically observe and collect data on environment, especially with regard to air, water and soil. Hence, within the concept of IoT, with reference to environmental data, a new opportunity is given by the usage of non-conventional sources to collect information of several parameters. In this view, non-conventional systems and sensors (low cost devices automatically providing measures) will be more and more important in the future, either as a complement to standard and authoritative monitoring systems or as a vital data source in regions where ____________________________ 1 Corresponding Author: ORCID: htps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8733-9060 Email address: rangajeewar@gmail.com DOI: http://doi.org/10.4038/bhumi.v6i1.36