An Integrated Hybrid Energy Harvester for Autonomous Wireless Sensor Network Nodes

Profiling environmental parameter using a large number of spatially distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) NODEs is an extensive illustration of advanced modern technologies, but high power requirement for WSN NODEs limits the widespread deployment of these technologies. Currently, WSN NODEs are extensively powered up using batteries, but the battery has limitation of lifetime, power density, and environmental concerns. To overcome this issue, energy harvester (EH) is developed and presented in this paper. Solar-based EH has been identified as the most viable source of energy to be harvested for autonomous WSN NODEs. Besides, a novel chemical-based EH is reported as the potential secondary source for harvesting energy because of its uninterrupted availability. By integrating both solar-based EH and chemical-based EH, a hybrid energy harvester (HEH) is developed to power up WSN NODEs. Experimental results from the real-time deployment shows that, besides supporting the daily operation of WSN NODE and Router, the developed HEH is capable of producing a surplus of 971 mA·hr equivalent energy to be stored inside the storage for NODE and 528.24 mA·hr equivalent energy for Router, which is significantly enough for perpetual operation of autonomous WSN NODEs used in environmental parameter profiling

Design and synthesis of PID controller based on fuzzy

This paper describes the hardware implementation of a PID-type (Proportional- Integral - Derivative) Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) algorithm using VHDL to use in transportation cruising system. The cruising system has developed to avoid the collisions between vehicles on the road. The PID-type FLC provides a reference for a car to either increase or decrease the speed of the vehicle depending on the distance of the preceding vehicle when it gets too close or alert the driver when necessary. The PID-type Fuzzy Controller algorithm is first developed using Matlab platform. The Mamdani Fuzzy Inference is studied and applied to design the PID-type Fuzzy controller hardware system. The controller system then is implemented using VHDL. The synthesis tool, Quartus II is used to synthesize the VHDL codes to obtain the Register Transfer Level (RTL) view of the FLC hardware. The motivation in designing is the Fuzzy based PID cruising controller is cheaper controller in cost compare to conventional PID controller system and thus make it available to the entry-level vehicles such as the national car. This can be further reduced the road accident and ensure the safety of the road users in the future

An integrated hybrid energy harvester for autonomous wireless sensor network nodes

Profiling environmental parameter using a large number of spatially distributed wireless sensor network (WSN) NODEs is an extensive illustration of advanced modern technologies, but high power requirement for WSN NODEs limits the widespread deployment of these technologies. Currently, WSN NODEs are extensively powered up using batteries, but the battery has limitation of lifetime, power density, and environmental concerns. To overcome this issue, energy harvester (EH) is developed and presented in this paper. Solar-based EH has been identified as the most viable source of energy to be harvested for autonomous WSN NODEs. Besides, a novel chemical-based EH is reported as the potential secondary source for harvesting energy because of its uninterrupted availability. By integrating both solar-based EH and chemical-based EH, a hybrid energy harvester (HEH) is developed to power up WSN NODEs. Experimental results from the real-time deployment shows that, besides supporting the daily operation of WSN NODE and Router, the developed HEH is capable of producing a surplus of 971 mA·hr equivalent energy to be stored inside the storage for NODE and 528.24 mA·hr equivalent energy for Router, which is significantly enough for perpetual operation of autonomous WSN NODEs used in environmental parameter profiling

The Effect of Fertilizer Rate and Pruning Material on Growth and Yield of Carrot (Daucus carota) under Alley Cropping System

The study was conducted at the Agroforestry Farm of Sylhet Agricultural University from October 2020 to March 2021 to evaluate the growth and yield performance of carrot and determine soil fertility status during the hedge establishment period of alley cropping. Hedges for alley cropping were established using ipil-ipil (Leucaena leucocephala) and vegetable hummingbirds (Sesbania grandiflora) tree species. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). During the hedge establishment period, the carrot was cultivated in the alley of the hedgerow using four different treatments with three replications. The treatments were T0 (No application of fertilizer and pruning materials), T1 (application of recommended fertilizer dose), T2 (application of half dose of the recommended fertilizer + pruning materials), and T3 (application of pruning materials). The results exhibited that growth parameters, viz. plant height (cm), leaf number per plant, root length (cm), and root diameter (cm) of carrot were almost similar in all treated plots, except control (T0). The carrot yield was statistically similar in all fertilizer and pruning materials treated plots, but it was drastically reduced in the control plots and decreased by about 40-45% compared to fertilizer and pruning materials applied plots. During hedgerow establishment, soil pH among different plots has not changed significantly compared to the initial field, but organic matter (OM), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and sulfur (S) in different alleys found to be increased significantly in treatment T2 and treatment T1 after carrot cultivation. Improvement in soil fertility was also found in the alleys between the hedgerows of ipil-ipil and vegetable hummingbirds when only pruning material was applied to the soil. Therefore, an alley cropping system with Leucaena leucocephala and Sesbania grandiflora may enhance the yield performance of carrot and organically improve soil fertility during the hedge establishment period

Recent advances in utilization of graphene for filtration and desalination of water: A review

Water as a basic necessity is an influential factor in our everyday lives but water pollution, urbanization, and huge population growth has led humankind to the brink of water resource scarcity. To address this issue, water filtration as well as desalination got enormous interest by the research community. Recently graphene, a new two dimensional material with exceptional capabilities and characteristics, has become apposite in the field of water filtration and desalination. This paper reviews the recent progress in Graphene research for water desalination using novel methods such as Nanoporous Graphene (NG) sheets as well as Capacitive Deionization (CDI) method. Among which most promising uniform NG sheets can be used for water filtration and desalination at a removal efficiency of 33–100% depending on the pore size as well as the applied pressure [1] and has a water flow rate of 10–100 L/cm2/day/MPa [1] and by adjusting the pore size, different mineral filtrations can take place [1]. The main drawback which limits the widespread utilization of NG is the mechanical stability of NG sheets as the pore number increases since water permeability is directly proportional to the number of pores, pore distribution as well as the mass production of graphene sheets which has not been solved [1,2]. Apart from this, in CDI method, filtration is done by applying a certain potential difference between arrays of paired electrodes. The mentioned CDI method has moderate removal efficiency but has higher energy efficiency compared to the reverse osmosis method due to minimal energy requirement of only 0.1–2.03 kWh/m3 [3]. Graphene oxide based desalination is another emerging desalination method which is gaining popularity because of its ease of fabrication, industry scale production, and strong mechanical stability [4,5]. It uses the “ion sponging” effect and can block hydrated ions with a radius greater than 4.5 A°. But still this method should be further improved as small seawater salts are able to pass from the GO sieve [6,7]

The status of implemented climate smart agriculture practices preferred by farmers of haor area as a climate resilient approach

Bangladesh's Haor regions are famous for their natural resources and are unable to escape climate vulnerability. Triggered by climate vulnerabilities farmers are heading towards climate-resilient approaches. Hence, research was done in the haor area of Sunamganj district to analyze the status of adopted Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) techniques in Chhatak, Sunamganj, and Jagannathpur which are prone to severe flooding and climate conditions. Around 450 farmers were randomly selected and CSA adopters were contacted. A structured questionnaire was prepared with open-ended and closed-ended questions. The final questionnaire contained demographic questions and a list of adopted cropland and homestead CSA practices, and the survey proceeded with 115 finalized CSA adopters. MS Excel and SPSS were used to analyze the data. The data were expressed using frequency, percent, mean, and standard deviation. A t-test, analysis of variance, multiple linear regression, Pearson correlation, boxplot, and normal P–P plots were employed to test data normality. The analysis revealed that 30 CSA practices were identified to be practiced in cropland where major preferences were found for appropriate seed storage (100%), USG application (100%), IPM (98%), and good quality seed (95%) in cropland, whereas agroforestry (71%), organic fertilizer application (63%), perching (63%) and IPM (59%) were major CSA practices among the 18 identified practices in homesteads. The adoption level of CSA practices was found in the score category of 11–23 for cropland (90%) and up to 10 for homestead (68%). The results showed that the adoption status of CSA practices was inefficient for quick flood occurrence. CSA practices are not applied enough in haor areas' homesteads due to lack of knowledge, information access, and technical and financial resources. Thus, CSA should be implemented which necessitates working on barriers restricting CSA adoption through strengthening the infrastructure of technologies, supportive policies, and institutional framework