Students of Government Engineering College, Thrissur, created a water-level surveillance system to preserve water by decreasing waste and encouraging rainwater collection.
Second-year computer science undergraduates Neha Susan Manoj, Mariya Thomas, Abil Savio, Gokul Dinesh, and Maria Viji George worked with Ajay James, assistant professor of the department, to create the smartphone application “Ecotopia, The Sustainable Village.“
The students were among the top nine groups from the nation in IBM’s latest worldwide hackathon, Call for Code Global Challenge. They are now the only student team from the state to advance to the global hackathon final round.
“A few months ago, we took part in one of the online hackathons. The event’s topic was “sustainability.” We considered coming up with an idea that would allow us to monitor the water level in the tanks and also aid in its conservation because the drought was one of the key concerns encountered in many regions of the state,” says Neha to TNIE.
Water monitoring is handled by two IoT-based sensors, one in the tank and the other in the rainwater storage tank. The electronics in the tanks are used to track every day, monthly, and annual water use.
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The information is subsequently transferred to a LoRaWAN gateway and then to the cloud. WiFi isn’t necessary because loRaWAN uses radio waves. The battery lasts a long time as well.
“The app will encourage people to use water wisely and teach them about the importance of water conservation,” Neha adds.
The gadget installed in tanks will also assist in providing warnings to the user in the event of a spill.
Even though only a model has been created, the students intend to work on the app more comprehensively after graduating from college. In addition, the team won second place in the ‘Envirothon’ competition.
Youths all over the world coming forward to serve the environment will surely help our planet sustain.