IoT Monitoring System for Soil Aridification Stage Validated Through Data Analysis and Correlation

This article illustrates the development of an autonomous in situ monitoring system for soil quality, both at depth and at the surface, in the context of climate change in order to prevent aridification and even desertification. Thus, to overcome the limits of traditional, costly and time-consuming methods for measuring soil quality, the Ecosystem platform was developed using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, which together with the IoT-SoL monitoring station will provide freely accessible data and services to ensure soil sustainability in Romania. This includes a set of multi-parametric sensors placed at different depths in the soil, which collect data in real time and transmit it to the Ecosystem platform. To ensure the quality of the results, correlation matrices of the measured values were used, obtaining a percentage between 90.00–99.96% of their similarity. The pro-posed technical method can form the basis for the development of monitoring platforms integrating data from various sources, automating data collection and providing new decision-making support tools. This study demonstrates the effectiveness and applicability of the system in laboratory conditions and highlighted its potential to be translated into real soil monitoring conditions.