I-Canopy: A Resilient IoT Platform for Adaptive Environmental Monitoring at the Edge

Lorena Castro Garcia; Jun Wang; Sheng Wang; Xin Qiao; Spencer Kuhl; Huanxin Zhang; Rafael Rangel de la Tejera; Daniel Reed

doi:10.1016/j.atech.2025.101611

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I-Canopy: A Resilient IoT Platform for Adaptive Environmental Monitoring at the Edge

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

I-Canopy: A Resilient IoT Platform for Adaptive Environmental Monitoring at the Edge

Lorena Castro Garcia, Jun Wang, Sheng Wang, Xin Qiao, Spencer Kuhl, Huanxin Zhang, Rafael Rangel de la Tejera and Daniel Reed

Smart agricultural technology, Vol.12, 101611

12/2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.atech.2025.101611

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Abstract

Environmental monitoring in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT) faces persistent challenges in rural and remote areas where energy resources are limited and connectivity is intermittent. When IoT devices lack appropriate fallback mechanisms, these constraints can disrupt data collection and transmission. This paper presents I-Canopy, a low-cost, energy-autonomous IoT platform based on the ESP32 microcontroller, designed to monitor key atmospheric and soil parameters. Implemented at the edge, the system integrates energy-aware operation, local data buffering, and cloud synchronization services to maintain resilient performance under limited power and intermittent network conditions, and it also supports remote firmware updates. Evaluation results show that the system effectively manages changes in available supply voltage by adapting its sensing frequency and operational modes, maintaining functionality across different energy availability levels. Although a few measurement gaps were observed, they were rare and mainly occurred during episodes of extreme cold or after unexpected reboots. During connectivity disruptions, measurements were buffered locally and successfully uploaded once connectivity was restored, indicating that monitoring continuity was preserved. Overall, these results demonstrate that I-Canopy maintains robust field performance under real-world operating conditions.

Environmental Monitoring

energy-aware sensing

ESP32-based platform

IoT

local data buffering

Pervasive Edge Computing

remote firmware updates

Smart agriculture

Details

Title: Subtitle: I-Canopy: A Resilient IoT Platform for Adaptive Environmental Monitoring at the Edge
Creators: Lorena Castro Garcia
Jun Wang
Sheng Wang
Xin Qiao
Spencer Kuhl
Huanxin Zhang
Rafael Rangel de la Tejera
Daniel Reed
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Smart agricultural technology, Vol.12, 101611
DOI: 10.1016/j.atech.2025.101611
ISSN: 2772-3755
eISSN: 2772-3755
Publisher: Elsevier B.V
Grant note: National Science Foundation EPSCoR: 2420405 project Data-Advanced Research and Education (DARE): 2024-2027
This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Award No. 2019-67021-29227) for developing the I-Canopy platform through the project An Integrated and Smart System for Irrigation Management in Rural Communities (2019-2023) . Part of the sensor development is also supported by Public-Private Partnership (P3) funds from the University of Iowa. Current funding is provided by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR (Award No. 2420405) through the project Data-Advanced Research and Education (DARE) (2024-2027) , which expands the deployment of the I-Canopy network.
Language: English
Electronic publication date: 11/09/2025
Date published: 12/2025
Academic Unit: Electrical and Computer Engineering; Civil and Environmental Engineering; Iowa Technology Institute; Physics and Astronomy; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Record Identifier: 9985027456402771

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