Performance Evaluation of Arduino-Based Ultrasonic Sensors and GSM SMS for Community-Level Flood Warnings
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65496/jcste.2026.74Abstract
Flood is really affecting so many for many poor coastal communities, especially places like Kroo Bay for Freetown, Sierra Leone. This research is checking how the low-cost Arduino Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) is going to work perfect in that kind of environment. The system use HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor to measure the water level, rain sensor to detect the rainfall, and SIM800L GSM module to send to send the SMS alert to people when water reach or pass danger level. The system has been tested during the raining season to monitor and see how accurate it can be and how fast messages was sent. The result show that the system get average error of ±1.8 cm and SMS delay between 5–10 seconds when the network is strong. The battery also last well, but sometimes GSM network slow or fail during heavy rain around August in Sierra Leone. During our first installation, some thief (Raray Boys) went away with the system. Because of that challenge, we have to redesign package, cement it and attach it to wall, leaving only the sensor outside. This make it harder for thief or flood to go away with it. We also notice that strong packaging material or fabrications are very hard to get in Sierra Leone, which affect our scalability. The system is only tested during raining season, so more testing still need to be carry out during the dry season. For future improvement, we are planning to add solar system, stronger casing, reduce false alert, and connect it with National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA). The result show that low-cost IoT flood warning system can really help protect community. But for large-scale use, more work still need to be done for power, durability, security, and long-term testing.
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