FLOTO is an observational instrument that supports the deployment and operation of 1,000 mainstream single board computers (SBCs), such as a Raspberry Pi, to collect data through large-scale deployments in the field. FLOTO allows users to deploy devices to collect data of interest and operate those devices securely in remote locations without physical access. FLOTO also supports multi-tenant sharing of devices between different data-collecting applications and user groups, which makes it possible to adapt or re-purpose the observational function of the instrument. Finally, it provides data collection and sharing functionality allowing user communities to benefit from the collected data.