## 5 Materials and Methods
### Implementation of IoT Sensors in Towers of Fog Collectors  
The implementation of IoT sensors in fog catchers allows remote and real-time monitoring of different parameters such as humidity, temperature, and wind speed and direction, among others, which helps to optimize the efficiency of water collection and to accurately  
Figure 4: Type of control center for each flowmeter installed.  
Figure 3: IoT flowmeter in Block B and control center.  
track the performance of fog collectors. The location of each mist catcher was selected considering a maximum radius of 150 m around the community house in the Galte population so that the collection water supply point remained easily accessible [9].  
The construction of the fog catchers was accomplished with alternative materials, including the main material, needs. Other materials that were used in the construction were galvanized steel pipes with a 3/4'' cross-section and a thickness of 1.5 mm, 50% polyester mesh and 65% shade, #18 galvanized wire, an ice axe, rope, plastic ties, and a plastic collection tank of 0.2 m\({}^{3}\) and 0.5 m\({}^{3}\) capacity.  
The thicker-section needs were located in the lower modules (modules that serve as bases and support a greater load from the tower). Reeds with a smaller cross-section should be used for the modules that go at the top of the tower to reduce the weight of the structure at the top [8].  
The implementation of the IoT platform is based on Long-Range Radio (LoRa) for communication. This means that it is composed of terminal nodes or sensors that capture information on environmental variables and the amount of water captured. These nodes are centralized in a \"Lora Gateway\" a gateway that receives the data from the nodes through a Radio Frequency (RF) signal and through a Wi-Fi signal to forward the data obtained as a web service to a database within a server hosted in the cloud (Microsoft Azure, academically licensed platform from the university). In this way, the data can be monitored remotely and products can be generated with the information obtained. Figure 5 shows the architecture of the IoT ecosystem [8].  
Sensors were selected to measure various weather conditions, considering factors such as measurement range, communication protocols, availability, and costs. The variables monitored include wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, visibility level, light, and, crucially, the level of liquid collected, for which a level sensor was used. The specific details of each sensor are found in Table 1[8].  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Variable** & **Model** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Communication** \\ **Protocol** \\ \end{tabular} & **Units** & **Precision** & **Measuring Range** \\ \hline Pressure & BME280 & 12C & hPa & \(\pm\)10 & - \\ \hline Humidity & BME280 & 12C & \% & \(\pm\)15\% & 0–100\% \\ \hline Temperature & BME280 & 12C & \({}^{\circ}\)C & \(\pm\)0.5 & \(-\)9 \({}^{\circ}\)C–65 \({}^{\circ}\)C \\ \hline Light & GA1A12S202 & 12C & Luxes & \(\pm\)5 & 3–55,000 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Sensor specifications.  
Figure 5: Architecture of the computer ecosystem for monitoring environmental variables in the fog trap tower.