WP1: Environmental Observation Network (EON)
The Environmental Observation Network (EON) establishes a modern, integrated field monitoring system across Bangladesh. It provides real-time data on soil, water, and climate that feeds directly into WebAIS models and decision-support tools, forming the environmental backbone of the Digital Twin of Agriculture.
Through a network of automated stations, groundwater loggers, soil moisture sensors, and climate monitoring units, EON delivers the high-quality data required for model calibration, early warning, and operational decisions about irrigation and water resources management. The work is carried out in close collaboration with national partners such as BADC, BUET, SRDI, and others.
EON is designed as a scalable observation system: starting with pilot regions, but with protocols, data formats, and infrastructure that allow future expansion to other agro-ecological zones in Bangladesh. The data streams are integrated into the WebAIS database and exposed through APIs for other work packages and external partners.
- Deploy a network of automated field monitoring stations in key agricultural regions.
- Collect real-time soil moisture, groundwater, surface water, and climate data.
- Standardise data quality, calibration, and maintenance routines with national partners.
- Create a national environmental dataset accessible through the WebAIS platform.
- Support modelling, irrigation scheduling, and crop monitoring with continuous data feeds.
- Instrumentation setup: Site selection and installation of climate stations, soil moisture sensors, groundwater loggers, and surface-water gauges.
- Data transmission & telemetry: Configuration of 4G / LoRaWAN telemetry, power management, and robust data streaming from all sites.
- Environmental data management: Implementation of QC/QA workflows, metadata management, and regular validation.
- Integration into WebAIS: Real-time ingestion into the central database, time-series visualisation, and APIs for other WPs.
- 10–12 fully functional environmental monitoring stations across pilot regions.
- Standardised manuals, SOPs, and training materials for field operations and maintenance.
- Real-time and historical datasets for climate, soil, groundwater, and surface water.
- A station metadata catalogue and calibration records for transparency and reproducibility.
- API endpoints providing live data to WebAIS models and dashboards.
EON provides the essential environmental data streams that power the WebAIS Digital Twin. Its observations are used for model calibration, scenario analysis, and operational decision support across multiple work packages:
- WP2: Groundwater model and groundwater–surface-water interactions.
- WP3: River hydrology, routing, and salinity modelling.
- WP4: Crop growth simulations and stress detection.
- WP5: Experimental plots and field validation.
- WP6: Evapotranspiration and water balance estimation.
- WP10: Real-time WebAIS dashboard and analytics.