Environmental monitoring plays an important role in understanding local weather and climate conditions; however, many commercial monitoring systems remain too expensive for student research and small-scale environmental studies. The purpose of this study was to design, construct, and evaluate a low-cost Raspberry Pi 4-based environmental monitoring system capable of collecting outdoor environmental data at a single site in Kingsville, Texas. A quantitative pilot research design was used to evaluate the performance and reliability of the monitoring station during outdoor deployment. The system successfully collected and stored time-stamped measurements of air temperature and relative humidity while capturing site images throughout the deployment period. Temperature ranged from 25°C to 35°C (77°F–95°F), while relative humidity ranged from 57% to 92%, demonstrating expected daily environmental trends. Although no rainfall occurred during deployment and the soil moisture sensor could not be implemented because the required analog-to-digital converter was unavailable, the system successfully demonstrated reliable automated environmental monitoring using low-cost hardware. The results support the feasibility of Raspberry Pi-based monitoring systems for student research and provide a foundation for future environmental monitoring throughout the Coastal Bend region.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Lifford McLauchlan

Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science