Museum Facility & Temperature Monitoring

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One the most fundamental and critical tasks in a museum is to monitor its environment. In order to maintain the integrity of articles exhibited, it is essential to have a system in place that maintains accurate and reliable data for temperature, humidity and light. Museum facility monitoring and museum temperature monitoring is of such importance that many curative organizations that may loan articles and collections to museums will not do so without proof of such a system, often requiring a year or more of historical environmental data in a Facility Report.

When the collection of environmental data is done manually, it consumes a great deal of time and can be challenging because of the significant number of locations typically recorded in a museum. With an up to date monitoring system that is automated, museums can be confident that their environmental controls and systems are maintaining a safe space for rare and valuable items.

Specifically, relative humidity and temperature should be carefully maintained at appropriate levels, since temperatures that are too warm might cause damage to some articles, and out of control humidity can cause problems such as mold, corrosion, warping or cracking. Articles such as paintings and documents must also be protected from exposure to too much light and also ultraviolet light.

Wireless Sensors for Museum Facility Monitoring

With the advent of wireless and “Cloud” monitoring systems, museums can now take advantage of the nascent “Internet of Things” technology. With their radio frequency “RF” and Bluetooth connectivity, the tiny sensors in a cloud-based monitoring and notification platform provide an instantaneous, wide and deep level of data monitoring that was previously unavailable.

Museum Temperature Monitoring

Temperature is the most commonly measured environmental variable. Museums commonly find that an un-intrusively placed temperature sensor that is internal in a data logger is an optimal solution. When the sensor is internal, the result is a time constant — the time needed for the sensor to measure the air temperature internally in the logger. Sometimes an external sensor is needed to be outside an enclosure, in which case a simple data logger can be appropriate.

Console temperature overview

The 24/7 monitoring of our collections with Swift Sensors ensures I’m alerted of any changes in temperature or humidity that could damage our exhibits.  The system saves me 1.5 each day from no longer manually logging temperatures and humidity throughout the museum.”

Chris Helms, Adler Planetarium Collections Manager

Museum Humidity Monitoring

If you’re exhibiting articles composed of metals or paper products, humidity is a critical parameter to monitor. If you fail to compensate for high humidity levels, rust and rot could be the result. Just as sensor placement is critical with temperature, so it is with humidity. You’ll need to make sure you’ve placed enough sensors to cover the space and the articles for which you’re monitoring humidity levels.

Museum Light Monitoring

Documents, paintings and artwork must be kept safe from too much exposure to visible and ultraviolet light. With a monitoring system in place that provides accurate light level data, museums can protect these exhibits by using the appropriate UV filters, tinted panels or other preventative techniques.

Data View

Wireless and Automated Monitoring

Many museums are of significant size, which can inherently make it a challenge to use a wired monitoring system.  A wireless system is the obvious choice for museum monitoring to continuously confirm the exhibits are safe from unwanted fluctuations in temperature, humidity and light.

The Swift Sensors automated monitoring system automatically acquires data from a network of wireless sensors and sends it over the network to the cloud. The system significantly reduces the time required for data collection and monitoring.

Advanced Dashboard & Analytics

Swift Sensors museum monitoring provides more than just measurements and notifications when thresholds are breached. Swift Sensors includes data analytics to ensure the important metrics are tracked. Our analytics dashboard and metrics compares environmental conditions throughout the museum to help you maintain the perfect conditions for your exhibits. Temperature, humidity, and dew-point sensors relay information to our Swift Sensors cloud-based console to give you up-to-the-minute data that you can act on at a moment’s notice.

Machine Usage

Simple Installation

Swift Sensors is simple to install and provides incredible customer service to provide any help you may need.

  • No wires to install.
  • No sensor configuration required.
  • Calibration offsets available.
  • Install in just minutes.
  • Battery life approximately 1- 5 years.
How It Works Architecture

The Museum Starter Kit

The Museum Starter Kit is perfect for getting started with our low-cost monitoring and notification system. Included within the starter kit:

  1. Two Temperature, Humidity and Dew Point Sensors.
  2. One Standard Bridge to collect the data and securely store it on the cloud.
  3. Our Cloud-based Console, to configure and monitor your system on a computer, tablet or smartphone.
  4. Our Swift Sensors Professional Cloud Subscription, to use your Swift Sensors with your Console.

The kit is available at 10% off our retail price for all members of the American Alliance of Museums.

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Museum Starter Kit

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