Landslides can be highly dangerous to both people and property. As with most natural disasters, early warning can make all the difference. [Airpocket] has built a cheap, affordable system that hopes to offer just that.
The system relies on a network of sensors built with Sony Spresense controllers, built into solar garden light enclosures which provide a watertight enclosure and a sustainable power supply. The controllers are paired with accelerometers to detect movement, and communicate over a WiSUN connection back to a Raspberry Pi 4B base station. When a deployed sensor station detects movement, it sends a message back to the base station, which sounds the alarm that a landslide may be imminent.
Early testing shows the concept works in theory. In practice, some improvements to reduce power draw and increase communication reliability are required. However, it’s a solid proof of concept for a simple landslide warning system.
Early warning is always key when it comes to things like landslides, tsunamis, and earthquakes. In fact, the US Geological Survey has done its own work on predicting earthquakes and providing early warning, too. Video after the break.
The solar garden light enclosure and use of the solar panel are genius. I may be doing something with those in the near future now.
I’m using them as camera housings for MotionEyeOS on Pi Zeroes. Genius? Well, I’ve had my moments.
In my experience they are not very waterproof or long-lived and the batteries & panels are incredibly cheap junk.
Gutting a dead one as a cheap splash-proof enclosure and maybe re-using the panel for a few mW of power is about the best you can hope for.
It’s a great idea, but always carefully inspect the garden solar lights you purchase before relying on them to be a clever project power supply. Big Clive did a tear-down of one, and found that there was no charging circuitry at all – the solar cell was an array of 10 individual cell areas wired in series that was directly connected to the Li-Ion cell. When the sun was shining that battery was getting overcharged with 5VDC, no matter how full it might already be.