SignalBox
Custom LoRaWAN gateway and sensor network for remote environmental monitoring
SignalBox is a remote environmental monitoring system built around a custom LoRaWAN gateway and a fleet of battery-powered sensor nodes. Each node runs on an STM32 microcontroller with FreeRTOS, waking periodically to sample soil moisture, air temperature, humidity, and rainfall.
The gateway aggregates readings and forwards them to a cloud backend over cellular. A Node.js API stores the data and serves it to a simple web dashboard where users can view current conditions, historical charts, and battery health for each node.
Nodes are designed for multi-year battery life. The firmware uses aggressive sleep scheduling and only transmits when readings change by more than a configurable delta, cutting airtime and extending range.
Key Features
- Battery-powered sensor nodes with multi-year lifespan
- Aggressive sleep scheduling with delta-based transmission
- Custom LoRaWAN gateway with cellular backhaul
- Web dashboard with historical charts and battery health
- Soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and rainfall sensing
- Configurable transmission thresholds per sensor type