Development and Validation of a Low-Cost Wireless Sensor Network for Real-Time Environmental Monitoring

Abstract

This work proposes a system for collecting meteorological data using a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN), that is able to transmit data in real-time. The system automatizes the process of collecting the data in a continuous manner for long periods of time, for this, the module is equipped with a source of solar energy that allows autonomous operation. In order to obtain viability of design and prototype implementation, the construction of two systems was proposed based on DigiMesh and Wi-Fi; those prototypes could be applied to different scenarios such as urban and rural areas. Additionally, it was performed an evaluation of broadcasting of information to platforms of Internet of Things (IoT), where the data collected by the nodes will be managed and displayed. This system was conceived as a low-cost alternative compared with conventional weather stations that offer these facilities and are based on free hardware and software components. Finally, the validation of the obtained results was performed using a statistical analysis with the collected data of the weather station Davis Vantage Pro, obtaining a maximum average relative error of 4.93%.