{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T11:05:44Z","timestamp":1789470344967,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"18","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789430400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The paper presents a low-cost agricultural monitoring platform based on embedded IoT sensing, LoRa mesh communication, and an Edge\u2013Fog\u2013Cloud architecture designed for real-time environmental monitoring in smart agriculture applications. The proposed system integrates distributed sensor nodes built around the Heltec Mesh Node T114 platform, combining an nRF52840 microcontroller with an SX1262 LoRa transceiver to support low-power, long-range communication in agricultural environments. Environmental data acquisition is performed using integrated BME280 temperature, humidity, and pressure sensors, capacitive soil moisture sensors, and TEMT6000 light sensors. A custom firmware architecture extending the Meshtastic framework was developed to support sensor integration, telemetry generation, packet forwarding, and energy-aware scheduling within the LoRa mesh network. The platform combines embedded telemetry modules, intermediate routing mechanisms, and cloud-based microservices responsible for data aggregation and processing. Experimental results showed stable radio-link conditions in the tested node-to-router configuration, with RSSI values around \u221255 dBm and SNR values of approximately 6\u20137 dB. Channel utilization varied between approximately 4% and 12%, while transmission airtime utilization remained below 5%. These results support the feasibility of the proposed sensing, communication, and data-processing architecture under the tested configuration. The architecture is designed to accommodate additional sensing and routing nodes, while multi-hop performance, long-term energy consumption, and network scalability remain to be evaluated in larger deployments.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s26185839","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]],"date-time":"2026-09-15T10:32:01Z","timestamp":1789468321000},"page":"5839","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["An Embedded Multi-Sensor IoT Platform for Agricultural Monitoring Using Meshtastic-Based LoRa Communication and Cloud Microservices"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"26","author":[{"given":"C\u0103t\u0103lin","family":"Negulescu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4801-1951","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Theodor","family":"Borangiu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"},{"name":"Academy of Romanian Scientists, 050044 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Silviu","family":"R\u0103ileanu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Victor-Valentin","family":"Anghel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e42136","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2025.e42136","article-title":"Internet of Things Enabled Smart Agriculture: Current Status, Latest Advancements, Challenges and Countermeasures","volume":"11","author":"Thilakarathne","year":"2025","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100487","DOI":"10.1016\/j.atech.2024.100487","article-title":"A Comprehensive Review on Smart and Sustainable Agriculture Using IoT Technologies","volume":"8","author":"Kumar","year":"2024","journal-title":"Smart Agric. 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