AWS Community: Automatic Weather Station Innovation for Farmers to Face Climate Change
AWS Community: Automatic Weather Station Innovation for Farmers to Face Climate Change
Innovators:
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Dr. Idung Risdiyanto
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Dr. Akhmad Faqih
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Prof. Suryo Wiyono
Purpose:
This innovation presents a Community-based Automatic Weather Station (AWS) network as a source of accurate local weather data to support decision-making in the agricultural sector. This data helps farmers determine planting schedules, fertilization, pest control, harvesting, and provides early warnings for plant disease and pest threats. With real-time, community-based data, farmers can be more adaptive in facing weather uncertainties due to climate change.
Advantages:
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Uses Internet of Things (IoT) technology, enabling automatic weather data recording every five minutes without manual intervention.
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Data is stored on a cloud-based server and can be accessed online via www.sinoptik.ipb.ac.id and map.sinaubumi.org.
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82 AWS Community units have been installed across 11 provinces (from Aceh to West Sulawesi), placed on farmer group lands, agricultural extension centers, universities, and Islamic boarding schools (pesantren).
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Weather data is used to build location-specific prediction models based on machine learning, including forecasting rice pests like brown planthopper and blast disease.
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Has delivered tangible impact, for example in tackling the shallot disease epidemic in Demak (2025) and providing early warning for brown planthopper attacks in Java.
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Empowers farmers through education and Farmer Field Schools (SLP) so they can read and utilize weather data themselves.
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Emphasizes a participatory and collaborative approach with farmer groups, partner institutions, and agricultural extension workers.
Description:
AWS Community is an IPB University initiative developed by a cross-faculty team to address the challenges of climate uncertainty in the agricultural sector. Since its launch, 82 AWS units have been installed across various provinces, involving farmers, extension workers, partner institutions, and even pesantren.
Each weather station records key parameters such as temperature, rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, dew point, air pressure, and wind speed. This data is sent in real-time to a cloud-based server and accessed via a dedicated portal. This innovation not only functions for monitoring but also supports the development of precision weather forecast models based on machine learning and IoT.
Its application has shown real benefits, including supporting rice pest forecasting research in Subang, tackling the shallot disease epidemic in Demak, and providing early warning for brown planthopper attacks in Java. AWS data is also utilized for the education of IPB lecturers and students, as well as training farmers to read weather information.
AWS Community is not merely a measuring tool but part of an ecosystem empowering farmers to make data-based decisions. Although facing funding and formal recognition challenges, this program has great potential if integrated with the national climate information system alongside the Ministry of Agriculture and BMKG (Meteorological, Climatological, and Geophysical Agency).
With support from advanced technology, education, and cross-party collaboration, this innovation is expected to strengthen national food security and become a model for participatory climate data management in Indonesia.
