IoT-Based Real-Time Monitoring System for Sea Turtle Nesting on Tengah Island, Mersing, Johor

¹ Department of Electrical Engineering, Politeknik Mersing, Jalan Nitar, 86800 Mersing, Johor, Malaysia.
² AAF Bioscience PLT, Jalan Rebana, 80250, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
³ Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia.
⁴ Examination Unit, Politeknik Mersing, Jalan Nitar, 86800 Mersing, Johor, Malaysia.
⁵ Tengah Island Conservation (TIC), Tengah Island, 86800, Mersing, Johor, Malaysia

^* Corresponding author: norazida@tvet.pmj.edu.my

Abstract

Manual monitoring of conventional nesting sea turtles presents several drawbacks, such as being time-consuming, invasive in nature, and providing low-resolution data for conservationists. Hence, an online monitoring-based system integrated with the Internet of Things (IoT) is essential to address the aforementioned issues. The current study developed a non-invasive and real-time sea turtle nest monitoring system. The system consists of a low-power remote sensing device (Nest Node) and a data portal (Station Node), connected through a LoRa wireless network. The IoT system was utilised to monitor internal nest environments during the first week of incubation (day 1, day 2, day 5, and day 7), recording data on environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, carbon dioxide (CO₂), oxygen (O₂) levels, and structural vibrational activity. Data were continuously logged and transferred to a cloud-based server for real-time analysis. Preliminary results indicate that sand insulation, along with limited airflow, quickly stabilized the internal temperature and moisture levels within the nest, with these same mechanisms being responsible for the observed effect. In addition, the inverse trend between CO₂ and O₂ levels was found to correlate with increased vibrational activity, suggesting heightened embryonic metabolism and potential hatching movement. These findings demonstrate the system’s capability to extract vital environmental and biological data, offering a functional tool for the conservation of sea turtle species and other environmental monitoring applications.