Schools’ Internet of Things Weather Monitoring Station emerged winner of this year’s FRIDA Award in the technical category – Innovation for Internet Development. The NTRC’s proposal was selected from 312 submissions from across the Latin America and the Caribbean and won USD$18,500 towards its implementation.
The Schools’ Internet of Things (IoT) project involves the building of a weather station at selected schools in Dominica and developing a web platform where meteorological data will be posted to and made freely available.
The students and teachers, with support from local technical volunteers, will use hardware such as rasberry pi boards, arduino, and other climatic sensors and cameras, with software which will be developed by leveraging open source solutions already available. This will require students to develop knowledge in python, php, and web server technology, as well as other internet protocols. The software will allow for the recording of data locally and posting to the school’s website and also to a common website.
It is anticipated that the experience gained will motivate and inspire the students to explore other IoT projects and continue the building process.
Craig Nesty, Executive Director of the NTRC said, “the NTRC is thrilled and overwhelmed to have been selected as the winner of the most technology innovative project in Innovation for Internet Development submitted to FRIDA this year. We are encouraged that the selection committee found our project worthy. We recognize there were many project submissions from several Latin American and Caribbean countries which, I am sure were truly impressive and also worthy of this esteemed prize. We shall be eternally grateful that our School IoT project was selected and we are very excited to move towards the implementation phase as we believe the exposure that will gained by the Dominican children, from different and varied backgrounds, will impact their lives significantly”.
According to FRIDA jurors, Schools Internet of Things (IoT) Weather Monitoring Stations is an experimental and innovative project that combines the Internet of Things and training for students to respond to the challenges of climate change and Caribbean countries’ exposure to natural disasters.
Since 2004, FRIDA has distributed more than US $1.67 million among more than 120 innovative initiatives and projects in 19 countries throughout the region, contributing to the promotion of Internet development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Let me commend Mr. Nesty and his team at the NTRC is winning such an impressive award. Clearly this will go a long way in further assisting our students into getting involved in innovative projects while building on their technological knowledge and competence. The NTRC needs to be commended in putting this Project together and as a partner in this process, the Ministry of Information Science Telecommunications and Technology will continue to support such innovative projects in the interest of the development of Internet technologies.
Congratulations and we look forward to support where necessary.
Just curious if they are developing this project on the blockchain or hyperledger technology.