TITLE DEFENSE

ROBOTICS

Alert From Below: Employing Arduino Water

Level Sensors and GSM Module for Timely
Warnings of Rising River Water Levels

MEMBERS:
Dan Jenniel M. Cedeño
France Quia Belle Vilar
Pia Louise Ronquillo
 TITLE DEFENSE
“Alert From Below: Employing Arduino Water Level Sensors and GSM
Module for Timely Warnings of Rising River Water Levels”
Introduction

With the increasing impacts of climate change communities living near water bodies
face a growing threat, from riverine floods. To minimize the devastation caused by rising river
water levels early warning systems play a role. This study focuses on an practical solution;
combining Arduino water level sensors with GSM modules (Global System for Mobile
Communications) to detect and communicate rising river water levels in a manner. Traditional
monitoring methods often struggle to provide real time data and extensive coverage
highlighting the need for technologies. By integrating Arduino based water level sensors known
for their adaptability and accuracy the researchers can achieve an cost effective solution. When
combined with GSM modules this system enables transmission of data to central monitoring
stations allowing for swift response measures and timely warnings to vulnerable communities,
at risk. The goal of this research is to contribute to the development of warning systems that
enhance the ability to mitigate the impacts of rising river water levels and strengthen the
resilience of those most vulnerable.

Statement of the research problem

This study aims to create a Arduino water level based sensor and GSM module to predict
and warn residents about the rise of riverine flood.

Its specifically wants to answer the following:

1. Can this prototype send SMS messages to the residents in an area that is affected by the
rise of riverine?
2. Can the water level sensor detect the water from the river?

Hypotheses:

1. H0: This prototype cannot send SMS messages to the residents in the affected area.
HI: This prototype can send SMS messages to the residents in the affected area.
2. H0: The water level sensor cannot sense the rise of the riverine water.
HI: The water level sensor can sense the rise of the riverine water.
Objectives

This research general objective is to determine if the prototype can warn residents in an
affected area and give consent about the rise of river flood so they can evacuate early before
the flood strike. Specifically, this research aims to measure the maximum To quantify the
maximum range of the SMS messenger from the location of the project.

Scope and Limitations

This study focuses on making a prototype for early warning to residents that live in
certain locations especially on areas that often get flooded about the rise of flood or any other
types of disasters that involves the rise of water using the Arduino Water Level Sensor and
Arduino GSM Module. This research is only capable of giving warning to people on certain
locations such as near the rivers, beaches, lakes, and any other bodies of water. The expected
prototype is also for just to detect the rise of water and not other disasters or phenomenon that
doesn’t involve floods.

Review of the Related Literature

Floods are one of the most common but incredibly dangerous disasters in the
world and it is unavoidable, responsible for over 50,000+ deaths every year. Based on
the article Floods and human health: A systematic review (Alderman et al., 2012), it is
stated that health characteristics and people's vulnerability. Floods also can bring
different kinds diseases such as hepatitis. In the article Cost-benefit analysis of flood
early warning system in the Karnali River Basin of Nepal (Rai et al., 2020), it is stated that
many countries suffered different difficulties of floods due to heavy storms. One
example is Nepal. Based on the Post Flood Recovery Report (2017), Nepal flooded on
2017 and it affected 1.7 million people living in 35 districts and destroyed over 150,000
houses. With the unbelievable results of the event, the government of Nepal has
prioritized the improvement of flood resilience of communities and infrastructure.

River floods have many possible causes such as heavy rains, landslides, blocked drainage,
system malfunctions and etc. When a river overflows its banks and floods, it can cause
submerges surrounding places. Floods' anticipated effects have an impact on the environment
and civilization. frequently referred to as flood risk, it is the outcome of the combination of
three factors and the frequently connected processes that surround them. Encompassing long
distances. These factors include vulnerability, or the susceptibility of the elements at risk when
they are impacted by a flood, exposure, or the elements at risk, such population or
infrastructure, and hazards, or the processes that result in high river flood levels. (Merz et al.,
2021).

Water level monitoring is an important factor for flood hazard management. However,
the majority of people chose to ignore it and don’t give attention to it most of the time. River
water level is a main controlling factor on the inundated extent and water level in floodplains,
while the infilling and draining of floodplains inversely affect the discharge in river channels by
attenuating water level variations by flood waves (Yamazaki et al., 2011).

Methodology
This part of the study tackles the materials, methods, respondents, and requirements to get the
data required.

Research Design

Under the robotics category, the researchers will use Experimental Research for this
study as it requires various testing, trial and error, observations, experimentation and
conductions to achieve the aim of the researchers.

Data Analysis and Methods

The researchers will collect their data by designing, planning, and building a prototype
using the Arduino water level sensors, GSM Module, Arduino UNO, and other materials to
conduct experiments. Here are the methods they will use:

1. Field and Observations: The researchers will visit the area where the prototype has
been planted. By observations, they will asses the efficiency of the system. This
observations will offer the insights into how the project functions.
 2. Experimentations: In order for the researchers too obtain their desired aim, they will
have to undergo various experimentations to gather much data as needed to answer the
research questions and to confirm that the study is a success.

Respondents

The participants of this study will be mainly the citizens and agencies that are in the area
as the research requires the information and the opinions of the people about the project and
its effectiveness. Their opinions, information, observations, and experiences are essential to this
study will help to contribute the effectiveness of the automatic river flood monitor compare to
the manual one.

What are the resources/materials and procedures that you will use to achieve the result?

In order to attain the researchers goal of making River water level sensor and early
warning flood system, they will need a few materials to do so. The materials or resources that
they will need are the Arduino UNO which will serve as the heart of the project, 3 Water
Sensors to sense the river water as it rise, GSM Module to send messages, Female-to-Male
Wires to connect all the materials to the microntroller, a breadboard to also connect all of the
materials to the microcontroller, soldering materials, and a PVC pipe. As for the procedures, the
researchers will use notebooks, phones or laptops to write down the data gathered from the
project.

Discussion of the expected outcomes

Discussing about the expected outcomes of the study, the researchers have high hopes
that employing arduino water level sensors and GSM Module for timely warnings of rising river
water levels will provide great insights into flood monitoring and preventing. According to the
researchers hypothesis, they expect improvements to the flood monitoring systems on certain
locations. Nevertheless, the researchers hopes that their project will work accurately.
Bibliography

Reference List

Alderman, K., Turner, L. R., & Tong, S. (2012). Floods and human health: A systematic review.
Environment International, 47, 37–47. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2012.06.003

Merz, B., Blöschl, G., Vorogushyn, S., Dottori, F., Aerts, J. C. J. H., Bates, P., … Macdonald, E.
(2021). Causes, impacts and patterns of disastrous river floods. Nature Reviews Earth &
Environment. doi:10.1038/s43017-021-00195-3

Rai, R. K., van den Homberg, M. J. C., Ghimire, G. P., & McQuistan, C. (2020). Cost-benefi
tanalysis of flood early warning system in the Karnali River Basin of Nepal. International
Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 101534. doi:10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.101534

Yamazaki, D., Kanae, S., Kim, H., & Oki, T. (2011). A physically based description of floodplain
inundation dynamics in a global river routing model. Water Resources Research,
47(4). doi:10.1029/2010wr009726