Mosquito Ovitraps IoT Sensing System (MOISS): Internet of Things-based System for Continuous, Real-Time and Autonomous Environment Monitoring

The monitoring of environmental parameters is indispensable for controlling mosquito populations. The abundance of mosquitoes mainly depends on climate conditions, weather and water (i.e., physicochemical parameters). Traditional techniques for immature mosquito surveillance are based on remote sensing and weather stations as primary data sources for environmental variables, as well as water samples which are collected in the field by environmental health agents to characterize water quality impacts. Such tools may lead to misidentifications, especially when comprehensive surveillance is required. Innovative methods for timely and continuous monitoring are crucial for improving the mosquito surveillance system, thus, increasing the efficiency of mosquitoes' abundance models and providing real-time prediction of high-risk areas for mosquito infestation and breeding. Here, we illustrate the design, implementation, and deployment of a novel IoT-based environment monitoring system using a combination of weather and water sensors with a real-time connection to the cloud for data transmission in Madeira Island, Portugal. The study provides an approach to monitoring some environmental parameters, such as weather and water, that are related to mosquito infestation at a fine spatiotemporal scale. Our study demonstrates how a combination of sensor networks and clouds can be used to create a smart and fully autonomous system to support mosquito surveillance and enhance the decision-making of local environmental agents.