Performance Evaluation of an IoT-Based Weather Monitoring System for Tropical Microclimate Analysis
1* Ajayi, O. A., 2Adetunji, M. O., 1Akinwonmi, A. S., 1Olaitan, A.O, 1Adeleke, A.N, 1Adenuga, A.M., and 2Adetunji, P. A.
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria.
2Mechanical Engineering Department, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.
DOI: 10.36108/laujoces/6202.61.0141
Abstract
Accurate monitoring of microclimatic conditions is critical for agriculture, urban planning, environmental management, and disaster preparedness, particularly in tropical regions where atmospheric variables exhibit rapid temporal changes. This study presents a performance evaluation of a low-cost Internet of Things (IoT)-based weather monitoring system designed for continuous tropical microclimate analysis. The system integrates an ESP8266 microcontroller with a DHT22 temperature–humidity sensor and was deployed in an outdoor tropical urban environment for 60 consecutive days, generating over 170,000 high-frequency observations at sampling intervals of 6–60 seconds. Measured parameters included ambient temperature and relative humidity, from which dew point and heat index were derived using embedded thermodynamic formulations. Results indicate strong measurement stability, with temperature ranging between 27.1–31.4 °C (CV < 1%), relative humidity between 55–88% (CV ≈ 2–4%), dew point between 19.0–24.3 °C, and heat index reaching up to 36.5 °C during peak discomfort periods. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive relationships between heat index and both temperature (r = 0.81) and dew point (r = 0.77), confirming reliable capture of coupled thermal– moisture dynamics. The extended monitoring duration demonstrates that low-cost IoT systems can provide reliable, high-resolution microclimatic data over prolonged periods, supporting localised environmental assessment and short-term atmospheric trend analysis in data-scarce tropical regions.
Keywords: Microclimatic, agriculture, urban planning, environmental management.