SmartMesh IP Network and IoT System

In recent years, a great deal of research conducted in a variety of scientific areas, including physics, microelectronics, and material science, by scientific experts from different domains of expertise has resulted in the invention of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). As MEMS became very popular and widely used, the need for combining the capabilities of sensing, actuation, processing, and communication also grew, and led to further research which would result in the design and implementation of devices which could reflect all those four capabilities. These devices became knowns as Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and they have been the focus of considerable research efforts in the areas of communications (routing, coding, error detection, error correction, and protocols), electronics (miniaturization and energy efficiency), and control (networked control system, theory, and applications). SmartMesh IP is an innovative way to connect WSNs with advanced network management and comprehensive security features. It follows the IEEE 802.15.4e Timeslotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) standard. SmartMesh IP delivers reliable, scalable, and energy efficient wireless sensor connectivity. Using up to eight times less power than other solutions, SmartMesh IP has become the industry’s most energy-efficient wireless mesh sensing technology even in harsh and dynamically changing RF environments. Therefore, it is an excellent way to create a smart low-power network infrastructure. Thus, the main objectives of this work are: 1) designing and developing a SmartMesh IP system for teaching and research purposes at St. Cloud State University, 2) developing lab procedures for two senior elective classes at St. Cloud State University. The lab procedures are for network manager and mote configuration, and operation control of the embedded system on the mote. 3) testing the performance of SmartMesh IP systems with several configurations. To accomplish the above objectives, here are the tasks that I have completed: 1) Study of the SmartMesh IP Design: Performed extensive study of SmartMesh IP design resources including documentations and source codes. 2) Design of a SmartMesh IP Configuration software: this software has been designed and developed for configuring SmartMesh IP network managers, motes, and access points. 3) Design of a SmartMesh IP Temperature Logger software: this software has been designed and developed for monitoring the temperature data collected within a SmartMesh IP network using motes’ internal temperature sensors. 4) Design of a SmartMesh IP Network Statistics software: this software has been designed and developed for monitoring the statistics data (such as reliability, stability, and latency statistics) collected within a SmartMesh IP network. 5) Design of a SmartMesh IP Network Topology software: this software has been designed and developed for viewing the topology layout of a SmartMesh IP network. 6) Design of SmartMesh IP Temperature Plotter firmware and software: this platform has been designed and developed for monitoring the temperature data from external temperature sensors through ADC processing. 7) Design of SmartMesh IP Oscilloscope firmware and software: this platform has been designed and developed for viewing an analog signal’s digitized data. To complete the above tasks, I relied heavily on the resources found in the dustcloud Community SmartMesh IP website: https://dustcloud.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ALLDOC/overview In the end, a SmartMesh IP network and IoT system was successfully designed and developed. Also, the system was tested with 100% reliability under several applications and configurations

PEACH: predicting frost events in peach orchards using IoT technology

In 2013, 85% of the peach production in the Mendoza region (Argentina) was lost because of frost. In a couple of hours, farmers can lose everything. Handling a frost event is possible, but it is hard to predict when it is going to happen. The goal of the PEACH project is to predict frost events by analyzing measurements from sensors deployed around an orchard. This article provides an in-depth description of a complete solution we designed and deployed: the low-power wireless network and the back-end system. The low-power wireless network is composed entirely of commercial off-the-shelf devices. We develop a methodology for deploying the network and present the open-source tools to assist with the deployment and to monitor the network. The deployed low-power wireless mesh network is 100% reliable, with end-to-end latency below 2 s, and over 3 years of battery lifetime. This article discusses how the technology used is the right one for precision agriculture applications.EEA JunínFil: Watteyne, Thomas. Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). EVA Team; FranciaFil: Diedrichs, Ana Laura. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN), Mendoza; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Brun-Laguna, Keoma. Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). EVA Team; FranciaFil: Chaar, Javier Emilio. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Junín; ArgentinaFil: Dujovne, Diego. Universidad Diego Portales (UDP), Santiago; ChileFil: Taffernaberry, Juan Carlos. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN), Mendoza; ArgentinaFil: Mercado, Gustavo. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN), Mendoza; Argentin

Energy Harvesting Powered Wireless Sensor Nodes With Energy Efficient Network Joining Strategies

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via the DOI in this recordThis paper presents strategies for batteryless energy harvesting powered wireless sensor nodes based on IEEE 802.15.4e standard to join the network successfully with minimal attempts, which minimizes energy wastage. This includes using a well-sized capacitor and different duty cycles for the network joining. Experimental results showed a wireless sensor node that uses a 100 mF energy storage capacitor can usually join the network in one attempt but multiple attempts may be needed if it uses smaller capacitances especially when the harvested power is low. With a duty-cycled network joining, the time required to form a network is shorter, which reduces the overall energy usage of the nodes in joining the network. An energy harvesting powered wireless sensor network (WSN) was successfully formed in one attempt by using the proposed methods.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC

A Demo of the PEACH IoT-based Frost Event Prediction System for Precision Agriculture

International audienceIn 2013, 85% of the peach production in the Mendoza region (Argentina) was lost because of frost. In a couple of hours, farmers can lose everything. Handling a frost event is possible, but it is hard to predict when it is going to happen. The goal of the PEACH project is to predict frost events by analyzing measurements from sensors deployed around an orchard. This demo provides an overview of the complete solution we designed and deployed: the low-power wireless network and the back-end system. The low-power wireless network is composed entirely of commercial off-the-shelf devices. We develop a methodology for deploying the network and present the open-source tools to assist with the deployment, and to monitor the network. The deployed low-power wireless mesh network, built around SmartMesh IP, is 100% reliable, with end-to-end latency below 2 s, and over 3 years of battery lifetime

WALLSY: The UWB and SmartMesh IP enabled Wireless Ad-hoc Low-power Localization SYstem

This paper follows the implementation of a proofof-concept localization system for GNSS-denied environments. WALLSY (Wireless Ad-hoc Low-power Localization SYstem) is a portable and modular Ultra Wide-Band (UWB) and Smart Mesh IP (SMIP) hybrid. WALLSY uses UWB two way ranging (TWR) to measure distances, which are then sent via the lowpower SMIP backbone network to a central hub for calculating coordinates of tracked objects. The system is highly flexible and requires no external infrastructure or prior knowledge of the installation site. It uses a completely nomadic topology and delivers high localization accuracy with all modules being battery powered. It achieves this by using a custom time-slotting protocol which maximizes deep-sleep mode for UWB. Battery life can be further improved by activating inertial measurement unit (IMU) filtering. Visualization of tracked objects and system reconfiguration can be executed on-the-fly and are both accessible to end users through a simple graphical user interface (GUI). Results demonstrate that WALLSY can achieve more than ten times longer battery lifetime compared to competing solutions (localizing every 30 seconds). It provides 3D coordinates with an average spatial error of 60.5cm and an average standard deviation of 15cm. The system also provides support for up to 20 tags

Alpine sensor network system for high-resolution spatial snow and runoff estimation

Monitoring the snowpack is crucial for water management, flood control and hydropower optimization. Traditional regression methods often result in low accuracy runoff predictions.Existing ground-based real-time measurement systems are in majority installed at low elevations with poor physiographic representation. This thesis presents a system for better Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) and runoff estimation. The autonomous end-to-end Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that leverages the Internet of Things (IoT) technology provides mountain hydrology measurements in near real-time. At its core lies an ultra-low power, radio channel-hoping, and self-organizing mesh secured with a rugged weather-sealed design, data replication and remote network health monitoring. Three WSNs are installed throughout the North Fork of the Feather River in Northern California upstream of the Oroville dam. Elevation, aspect, slope and vegetation determine network locations. Data show considerable spatial variability of snow depth, and that existing operational autonomous systems are non-representative spatially, with biases reaching up to 50%. Combined with existing systems, WSNs better detect precipitation timing and phase, monitor sub-daily dynamics of infiltration and surface runoff, and inform hydro power managers about actual ablation and end-of-season date across the landscape. A wet and dry year exhibit strong multi-scale inter-year spatial stationarity with major rank conservation. Elastic Net regression shows that dominant features at the sub-km2 scale are site-dependent and differ from the watershed scale. Based on the Nearest Neighbor (NN) with a Landsat assimilated historical product, explanatory variables consistently explain up to 90% of the variance in the watershed-scale SWE for both years. Lagged cross correlation of snowmelt with stream flow measurements show improvement of up to 100% compared to existing systems. Ensemble Optimal Interpolation (EnOI) update of background SWE fields from Landsat and LiDAR products provide accurate high resolution estimates of spatial SWE for areas with parsimonious sensors. Results show a minimum RMSE of 22% and 30% at 90 m and 50 m resolutions respectively. Compared with SNODAS, reduction in error is up to 55% and 80%, with LiDAR as reference

Avojohtoverkon langaton vaihevirtojen mittaus

Opinnäytetyö toteutettiin Vaspec Oy:lle. Työn tavoitteena oli kehittää sähköverkon avojohtolinjan langattomaan vaihevirtojen mittaamiseen uusi ratkaisu hyödyntäen LoRa-tekniikkaa. Ratkaisu tulisi sisältämään tiedonsiirtoon tarvittavan tekniikan avojohtopylväästä ala-asemaan. Opinnäytetyössä tarkasteltiin kolmea mahdollista tekniikkaa langattoman tiedonsiirron toteuttamiseksi avojohtolinjalta ala-asemaan, joista yhtä langatonta tekniikkaa hyödyntäen kehitettiin mahdollinen ratkaisu langattoman tiedonsiirron toteuttamiseksi. Työssä testilaitteistona toimi Linear Dust Networksn valmistama SmartMesh IP RF Certified Starter Kit, johon toteutettiin Windowspohjainen ohjainohjelmisto C-ohjelmointikielellä. Ohjelman tavoitteena oli saavuttaa toimiva kommunikaatio langattomaa tekniikkaa käyttäen vastaanottimelta keskusyksikölle. Opinnäytetyössä saatiin kehitettyä lähes valmis ohjelmisto langattomaan tiedonsiirtoon, joka käyttää Lora-tekniikalla toimivaa laitteistoa. Tämän opinnäytetyön ohjelmistoa ja muita osa-alueita voitaisiin käyttää apuna lopullista avolinjan vaihevirtojen mittausjärjestelmää varten.This thesis of mine was made for Vaspec Oy. The main objective of this thesis was to develop new solution for measuring phase currents on overhead power lines by using Lora-technology. The solution should contain needed technology to gener-ate wireless communication between overhead power line and substation. My thesis examined three possible technology to achieve wireless communication between overhead power line and substation, which by using one wireless tech-nology a possible solution was made. The test equipment used was called SmartMesh IP RF Certified Starter Kit made by Linear Dust Networks, where I made Windows control application by using C-programming language. The purpose of the application was to make wireless communication possible between receiver and central processing unit. In my thesis I developed almost complete application for wireless communication by using devices which uses Lora technology. The application and other infor-mation in this thesis could be used as a base when making the complete solution for measuring phase currents on overhead power lines

Design and Modeling of a Soil-Based Energy Harvester for Underground Wireless Sensor Nodes

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) have emerged as a reliable and viable solution for monitoring complex large-scale strategic assets that are placed in harsh and hostile environments. Some of the major application areas include environmental monitoring, disaster management, infrastructure monitoring, and security. A large number of such infrastructures are buried underground and have a limited service life. It is important to assess their condition throughout their life cycle to avoid possible catastrophic failures due to their deterioration. Monitoring such infrastructures creates a complex wireless sensor network with thousands of sensor nodes that are required to be functional with zero maintenance for 10∼20 years once deployed. Powering such Wireless Sensors (WS) for decades is a key challenge in the design and operation of WSN. Sacrificial Anode Cathodic Protection (SACP) technique is a well-known technique for corrosion protection. In this technique, steel structures are protected from natural corrosion by enabling an externally connected anode material to deplete over time. To model the depletion rate of the anode for replacement purposes, human readers visit each Sacrificial Anode (SA) site to take voltage and current measurements once a month. This approach is expensive and prone to human errors. Moreover, there is a large number of such sites in a city. The main challenge in using WSN in such scenarios is providing a reliable source of energy to power the sensor nodes. As the majority part of the structure is buried underground, traditional renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, and thermal do not offer any lucrative solution due to their requirements for additional setup, space, and periodic maintenance. Thus, an underground soil-based energy harvester using the existing setup has been carefully researched, designed, developed, and implemented as part of this research. The technique exploits the electric current flowing from the cathode to the anode to energize the sensor nodes. The prototype developed in the lab uses the harvested energy from soil to power sensor nodes to communicate the data to the cloud. To develop and implement the prototype two test benches were set up, one indoor and the other outdoor. The outdoor setup facilitated the experiments under varying weather conditions and with the indoor one, experiments were conducted under a controlled environment. The prototype developed in the lab will be buried underground for security purposes, as a result, data needs to be transmitted through the soil between nodes. Radio Frequency (RF) transmission through the soil is one of the main challenges for this project. Various parameters affect RF signal attenuation in soil (i.e. transmission frequency, burial depth, soil dielectric properties, etc.). In this research, we have investigated, tested and implemented several wireless technology modules such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), Zigbee, Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to meet the desired requirements. The research also outlines the complete operation of the developed module. In addition to that, to estimate the energy harvesting rate, energy harvesting efficiency and to analyze the charging behavior several experiments were conducted to obtain the Current-Voltage (I-V) and the Power-Voltage (P-V) characteristics of the energy source. This study is later used to develop a model for the energy source. The model is validated with measurement data from the field trials. This developed model is helpful to easily realize a system and can be useful to solve numerical problems, find information about operating point or to analyze a circuit

Teaching Communication Technologies and Standards for the Industrial IoT? Use 6TiSCH!

International audienceThe IETF 6TiSCH stack encompasses IEEE802.15.4 TSCH, IETF 6LoWPAN, RPL, and CoAP. It is one of the key standards-based technologies to enable industrial process monitoring and control, and unleash the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). The 6TiSCH stack is also a valuable asset for educational purposes, as it integrates an Internet-enabled IPv6-based upper stack with stateof- the-art low-power wireless mesh communication technologies. Teaching with 6TiSCH empowers students with a valuable set of competencies, including topics related to computer networking (medium access control operation, IPv6 networking), embedded systems (process scheduling, concurrency), and wireless communications (multipath propagation, interference effects), as well as application requirements for the IIoT. This article discusses how the 6TiSCH stack can be incorporated into existing and new curricula to teach the next generation of electrical engineering and computer science professionals about designing and deploying such networks. It also gives a comprehensive overview of the 6TiSCH stack and the tools that exist to support a course based on it