LakeNet Stateless LoRa Mesh Network

The goal of the project is................................. =Problem Definition= Project Goal: Develop a mesh network of nodes to be placed in buoys around lake Coeur d'Alene. These buoys will contain ESP-32 microcontrollers to monitor and record data such as O2 content, water temperature, and air temperature around the lake, and send that data back to a database in Coeur d'Alene to help with future lake reclamation projects.

Background
North Idaho has an extensive mining history that has created environmental problems that threaten Lake Coeur d'Alene. Currently, 75 million metric tons of contaminated sediment on the lake bed are the focus of ongoing cleanup by the EPA. The computer science department at the University of Idaho is involved in Our Gem Coeur d'Alene Lake Collaborative to "preserve lake health and protect water quality." Our team is tasked with creating a low-cost, low maintenance mesh network of nodes to collect data about the lakes of Coeur d'Alene to aid in the environmental monitoring of the lake.​

Deliverables
The network devices must:
 * Integrate nodes into a stateless LoRa mesh network.
 * Collect useful data such as Temp, Humidity, GPS location, and time.
 * Send data from the network nodes about the lake to a database.
 * Be robust and fixable. If a node in the network goes down for any reason, the rest of the nodes in the network should continue to send important information to the database.

Specifications
Node Specifications:
 * Heltec LoRa Wifi ESP-32 v.2 boards (915 mhz)
 * GPS Sensor
 * ASAIR DHT22 Temp/Humidity Sensor
 * MySQL Database

Value Proposition Statement
The lakes and waters of North Idaho and the surrounding areas are in need of environmental monitoring and data gathering in order to maintain the health of the bodies of water. There is a need to create some sort of system that can be implemented into the lakes to collect data in an efficient and low-cost manner. The goal of this project is to implement ESP32s, low-powered microcontrollers, into these bodies of water to create a stateless mesh network of nodes using LoRa, or Long Range communication. This solution will be inexpensive and will also require little maintenance, while also providing frequent information gathering.

=Design Considerations=
 * Each LoRa node should be robust and independent so that if a node goes down, the system will remain operational.
 * The timing on the GPS sensors will sync nodes so they can communicate at the appropriate times to prevent data flooding.
 * Sensors can be added to the system to collect other kinds of data for lake reclamation work.
 * Packets sent by the LoRa nodes should maintain data integrity from the time of collection to storage in the database.
 * Packets will be preserved (as long as possible) until the payload is integrated into the database.

=Project Learning=
 * Create an RTOS (Real Time Operating System) using freeRTOS
 * Doug Park's Masters Thesis and project on A Stateless LoRa Mesh Network
 * How to gather data from microcontroller sensors

=Final Design= =Validation=

=Team Members=

=Additional Documentation=

Project Schedule

Gantt Chart

Presentations

Concept Design Review Snapshot 1 Snapshot 2 Snapshot 3

Project Budget

Budget