Development continues on a remote-monitoring sensor array in Green Bay’s troubled waters

Scientists from the Universities of Wisconsin Milwaukee and Green Bay, in collaboration with local cell provider Cellcom, have developed a low-cost, real-time sensor array for monitoring water quality in the Green Bay ecosystem. These small buoys use LoRaWAN protocol to wirelessly connect battery-operated data transmitters to the internet as a part of an environmental IoT sensing network. Following a successful 2022 pilot, the project now focuses on addressing hypoxic dead zones and harmful algal blooms in Green Bay. This cost-effective approach has broader implications for informing management decisions and providing early warnings in freshwater ecosystems like the Great Lakes.

Real-time data from these platforms can be viewed seasonally on SEAGULL.

For full historical data sets (2022-2023), please contact Jessie Grow via jgrow@uwm.edu.

Image right: LoRa buoy deployed at station #5 Green Bay in 2022.

Image below: Map of lower Green Bay, showing deployment sites for each LoRa buoy in 2023. Heat-map overlay shows LoRa signal strength (red being strong and blue being weak) in relation to Cellcom’s cell towers fitted with additional LoRaWAN receivers. Legend indicates NexSens Buoy model numbers. 

Note: GB17 45014 is shown for orientational reference only.

*Greyed out buoy shows possible future deployment site if more LoRa receivers can be installed along the eastern shore of the bay, towards Little Sturgeon, WI.