Track: Internet of Things |
| Makak: Community-Driven Microclimate Sensor Development for Wild Rice Conservation |
| Current environmental challenges have profound local consequences and often benefit from the collection of fine-grained microclimate data. Advances in wireless sensor networks and the Internet of Things have led to technologies nominally suited to support remote sensing; however, in practice long-running deployments of in-field environmental sensors are rare, and a community-driven approach even more so. In this presentation I will detail the development of a sensor for the conservation of manoomin, the Ojibwe word for wild rice. Manoomin grows in the western great lakes region of North America and is affected by various environmental factors including climate change, agricultural development, and pollution. However the specifics of these effects are not fully understood. Manoomin has served as a pillar of culture and suspense for Objiwe for generations. Having data to support traditional ecological knowledge is critical to influence policy change in the conservation of this vital asset. We have developed a prototype sensor which is deployed within the wild rice beds of lakes in Wisconsin and Minnesota in direct-collaboration with Ojibwe nations and the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC). In addition, we have fueled our design space with an interview study from 13 microclimate and field-ecology experts. This sensor, Makak, the Ojibwe word for “container”, measures humidity, surface and depth temperature, relative water level, and explores the detection of boat wake –all metrics deemed important by community experts. Additionally, the device is low-cost, delivers near real-time data over LTE-M including the ability to validate on site with BLE, and promotes data sovereignty. Makak is currently in its first season of development with nine devices in the field. We wish to share our experience of community-driven IoT development and communicate lessons learned, technical considerations, and advocate for similar approaches to ecological applications of IoT. |
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| Presentation Video |
| Presentation Notes |
| rothrock-makak1.pdf |
Real Time Communications Conference & Expo at Illinois Tech
IEEE International Conference
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