Supplementary file 1_Deploying open-architecture infrastructure for critical zone monitoring: lessons from the environmental sensing and data network.pdf

Combining LoRaWAN telemetry, a self-hosted ThingsBoard IoT backend, and cloud archiving, the ESDN integrates diverse legacy and modern sensors into a unified, interoperable data environment.</p>Results<p>Since its deployment in mid-2024, the network has expanded across contrasting urban, agricultural, and coastal wetland environments, growing to 110 deployed sensors and 14 communications gateways. These deployments successfully capture real-time processes across developed and natural landscapes, including surface-subsurface hydrologic coupling, saltwater intrusion dynamics, and urban stormwater responses.

Cloud-based rule engines minimize power and computational loads on edge devices and enable real-time analytics, while the ESDN's open time-series APIs support data-driven workflows and artificial intelligence-ready applications.</p>Discussion<p>This paper both provides the current technology context for WSN deployment and an empirical demonstration as a blueprint for how open-source software and hardware tools can be used to deploy scalable, replicable, highly cost-effective, and analytically robust environmental sensing networks.</p>