Device #: RA-005
Device type: Sensor
Name: Green Detect
License: CC-BY-SA-4.0
Build Complexity: RA-005 requires a few tools to construct; soldering iron, a 3D printer for casing, and a screwdriver. Advanced electronics skills are essential as RA-005 provides very little tutorial apart from the schematics. This is sufficient, but will require being able to read an electronic schematic. Microcontroller skills may be needed if the build instructions become outdated and firmware updates are needed. There is no significant detailing work apart form soldering.
As of writing RA-005 had 3 years since the last update, and it is likely certain electronic components may be discontinued or modified. Be prepared to make ad-hoc adjustments. RA-005 is very small so price is unlikely to be a constraint, at around 30USD (2025) per unit.
Description: RA-005 is a small off-grid sensor box which is capable of measuring the temperature, distance, smoke presence, air humidity, and soil humidity. It is powered by a small solar panel. A key distinguishing feature is that they are designed to work in a network, even in the forest where there is no centralised wireless communication system present. The sensors can communicate with each other up to 100m apart using the ESP-NOW protocol in a chain formation. The limit is 60 sensors in a daisy chain, where one of the sensors relays the information to a computer. Using this, a user can cover a 1km by 0.6km area of forest in sensors to monitor environmental conditions remotely. Then, a supervision PC connected to the internet can share the data with other such networks to create an open environmental monitoring system.
It is possible that a RA-005 instance breaks in the middle of the chain, but this is accounted for as in such a case an alarm notification will be sent so that it may be fixed. Once encased in a box, the device is non-intrusive. The circuit can be modified to include other sensors, but each RA-005 may only output 4 bytes (This is a limitation of how the information is chained between RA-005s).
RA-005 was created in 2022 by Sergio Ghiradelli in Italy.
Article Version: 2 - Latest edit: 24/09/2025