Analysis of Three IoT-Based Wireless Sensors for Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

The recent changes in climate have increased the importance of environmental monitoring, making it a topical and highly active research area. This field is based on remote sensing and on wireless sensor networks for gathering data about the environment. Recent advancements, such as the vision of the Internet of Things (IoT), the cloud computing model, and cyber-physical systems, provide support for the transmission and management of huge amounts of data regarding the trends observed in environmental parameters. In this context, the current work presents three different IoT-based wireless sensors for environmental and ambient monitoring: one employing User Datagram Protocol (UDP)-based Wi-Fi communication, one communicating through Wi-Fi and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and a third one using Bluetooth Smart. All of the presented systems provide the possibility of recording data at remote locations and of visualizing them from every device with an Internet connection, enabling the monitoring of geographically large areas. The development details of these systems are described, along with the major differences and similarities between them. The feasibility of the three developed systems for implementing monitoring applications, taking into account their energy autonomy, ease of use, solution complexity, and Internet connectivity facility, was analyzed, and revealed that they make good candidates for IoT-based solutions.

Existing System

Automated irrigation system using a wireless sensor network and GPRS module.

Proposed System

This paper presents the design details, the development, and the analysis of three different sensors that enable the achievement of Internet connected solutions for monitoring the environment or the ambient at remote locations: one employing UDP-based Wi-Fi communication, one based on the HTTP protocol, and one consisting in power harvesting BLE beacons. Being provided with Internet connection capabilities, the developed sensors represent a part of the Internet of Things (IoT), the vision that “allows people and things to be connected Anytime, Anyplace, with Anything and Anyone, ideally using Any path/network and Any service”. The analysis of the three solutions presented here highlights the fact that they represent viable alternatives for ZigBee-based devices intensively used in monitoring applications.

Architecture

Wi-Fi environmental sensor block diagram