Design of a low-cost and low-power LoRa-Based IoT System for Rockfall and Landslide Monitoring

Abstract

This work presents the development and evaluation of a low-cost and low-power IoT system for monitoring slope instabilities, rockfalls, and landslides using LoRa communication. The prototype integrates commercial ESP32-based hardware with an SX1276 transceiver, a triaxial MEMS accelerometer, and a GPS module for real-time tilt and location measurements. A tilt-estimation expression was derived from accel-erometer data, enabling adaptation to different terrain inclinations. Laboratory tests were performed to validate the stability and accuracy of the inclination measurement, followed by outdoor LoRa range tests under mixed line-of-sight conditions. A light-weight dashboard was implemented for real-time visualization of GPS position, signal quality, and tilt data. The results show reliable tilt detection, consistent long-range communication, and low power consumption, highlighting the potential of the pro-posed prototype as a scalable and energy-efficient tool for geotechnical monitoring.