Review Article Engineering: Open Access

Ultra-Low Power IoT Solution based on WSSN for Monitoring Infrastructures

Luís Miguel Pires1*
1
Director CTeSP Automation and Robotics Superior School *
Corresponding Author
of Engineering and Technologies (EET), Polytechnic Insti- Luís Miguel Pires, Director CTeSP Automation and Robotics Superior
tute of Lusofonia, Lisbon, Portugal School of Engineering and Technologies (EET), Polytechnic Institute of Lu-
sofonia, Lisbon, Portugal.

Submitted: 2023, June 06; Accepted: 2023, July 17; Published: 2023, July 21

Citation: Pires, L. M. (2023). Ultra-Low Power IoT Solution based on WSSN for Monitoring Infrastructures. Eng OA, 1(1),
31-34.

1. Introduction Raspbian OS and Apache Server (webpage to access remotely).

In recent years, one of the emerging technologies that have had
big impact on the field of research is Wireless Smart Sensors In this paper, we propose a smart IoT node architecture to be
Networks (WSSN) given its diversity of features and applications. applied in WSSN for infrastructure monitoring. In section 2, we
The accelerating growth in IoT for data communication, for explain IoT node architecture. Section 3 is dedicated to overview
sensing and monitoring applications (ranging from biomedical of components and system functionality. Finally in section 4, we
to environmental targets) has originated a high demand not only draw the conclusions [2].
for low-power autonomous devices but also for ultra- low cost
combining single chip radio with baseband signal and digital 2. Smart IoT Node Architecture
data processing [1]. Target applications, such as Smart Grids, WSSN tend to expand exponentially in a way so that these
Cyber-Physical Systems, Body Area Networks, Internet of small devices can be easily deployed anywhere and collect any
Things (IoT) and high-density environmental sensing networks, information from the environment. The development of monitoring
will be massively available if it is removed the requirement of systems based on miniaturized micro solid state technology allows
explicit human action for energy recharge. A third concern for the a large monitoring systems using Micro-Electro-Mechanical
deployment of large numbers wireless sensor networks is the cost Systems (MEMS) sensors which include a type of nano scale
of each individual remote device. electrical, thermal, mechanical, optical or flow, among others [3].
On the other hand, the environmental monitoring is one of the main
Present day infrastructure such bridges, buildings, roads and areas of application of this technology due to its characteristics that
tunnels can use WSSN to test for structural fatigue caused by high allow the measurement of parameters in different environmental
vibrations, fire, flood, ice, etc. Patterns of these conditions can be settings, such as crop management, protection of forest fires,
monitored by using smart sensor nodes that transmit information agriculture, earthquakes, active volcano, it is also possible to
to a Base Station (BS). This allows engineers to analyze structural use macro- instruments for measuring parameters of large-scale
damage and prevent future destruction. These WSSNs will be need such as landslides, atmospheric meteorology, pollution studies or
for civilian and military use for extended time periods, requiring even for planetary exploration and finally water management [4].
the system to use ultra-low power consumption, and to harvest Water management requires massive, low-cost monitoring means
energy from the surrounding environment. Several challenges coping with differentiated and evolving requirements. IoT is the
were presented including o low signal-to-noise ratio and low recognized next step of ubiquitous networking of machines and
maintenance. Surrounding environment conditions like noise devices (Cyber-Physical Systems). Smart appliances currently
and interference can lower efficiency of low power signals. The evolve in conjunction with small, lightweight devices which
WSSN was designed to withstand all forms of environmental generate completely new requirements for underlying radio
conditions and harvest energy from the environment so that the communication technology.
sensors need little to no maintenance. Access to the data collected
by the WSSN was also included in the design. The Wi-Fi network Recent technological advances in low power integrated circuits
is the best solution because is a TCP/IP network and with a good and wireless communications have made available efficient, low
coverage compare to other wireless networks. BS module includes cost, low power miniature devices for use in remote sensing
a Raspberry Pi 3 (with Wi-Fi controller in the architecture) with applications. The combination of these factors has improved the

Eng OA, 2023 Volume 1 | Issue 1 | 31

viability of utilizing a sensor network consisting of a large number for the system. The sensor is the bond of a WSN node which can
of intelligent sensors, enabling the collection, processing, analysis obtain the environmental and equipment status. A sensor is in charge
and dissemination of valuable information, gathered in a variety of collecting and transforming the signals, such as light, vibration
of environments. Sensor data are shared among sensor nodes and chemical signals, into electrical signals and then transferring
and sent to a distributed or centralized system for analytics. The them to the microcontroller. The microcontroller receives the
components that make up the WSN monitoring network include: data from the sensor and processes the data accordingly. The RF
sensor node, WSN communication stack, middleware and secure module then transfers the data, so that the physical realization of
data aggregation. In this work we focusing on WSN hardware. The communication can be achieved. It is important that the design of
sensor node is one of the main parts of a WSN. The hardware of the all parts of a WSN node consider the WSN node features of
a sensor node generally includes: the power, power management tiny size and limited power. According the previously paragraphs
module, a sensor, a microcontroller, and a RF transceiver (Wi-Fi we developed an architecture to a smart IoT node, Figure 1.
transceiver). The power module offers the reliable power needed

Figure 1: Smart IoT Node Architecture.

This architecture contains 3 parts: Multi-sensor, ESP8266 and Our approach is to design a low-cost and low-power smart multi-
Power Management Unit (PMU) [5]. Multi-sensor block incudes: sensor IoT node for WSSN. The system includes a BS: to remotely
multi-sensor interface, A/D, D/A, signal condition circuits. The access (supervising and monitoring all the sensors and processing
ESP8266 block is a low-cost and low-power Wi-Fi chip with data from all the sensors and all the nodes. It is possible to
full TCP/IP stack and Microcontroller Unit (MCU), dedicated, include in BS a 4G/3G portable router (using USB interface
reprogrammable and reconfigurable. connected to Raspberry Pi 3) to guarantee a global coverage using
cellular/mobile networks.
PMU provides power optimization process, with two approaches,
for sensors and for MCU, for sensors: Li-ion batteries and/or 3. System Design
super capacitors. For the MCU side, harvesting energy is the best After complete construction of the project, the node costs is
solution, for example: solar or vibration (piezoelectric). approximately 100 (without sensors) and the BS approximately
€70. System architecture is present in Figure 2.

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 Figure 2: System Architecture.

3.1 Base Station • 4 USB ports

Base station includes Raspberry Pi 3 [6], the third generation • 40 GPIO pins
Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is a series of small single-board • Full HDMI port
computers developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi • Ethernet port
Foundation to promote the teaching of basic computer science in • Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
schools and in developing countries. The original model became • Camera interface (CSI)
far more popular than anticipated, selling outside of its target • Display interface (DSI)
market for uses such as robotics. Peripherals (including keyboards, • Micro SD card slot (now push-pull rather than push-push)
mice and cases) are not included with the Raspberry Pi. Some • VideoCore IV 3D graphics core
accessories however have been included in several official and
unofficial bundles. All models feature a Broadcom System on Chip In the software side, we include Raspian OS (based on Linux), and
(SoC), which includes an ARM compatible central processing adding:
unit (CPU) and an on-chip graphics processing unit (GPU, a
VideoCore IV). CPU speed ranges from 700 MHz to 1.2 GHz for • Python 3 (for code developed)
the Pi 3 and on board memory range from 256 MB to 1 GB RAM. • Apache Server (for remote access and to support SCADA
Secure Digital (SD) cards are used to store the operating system webpage)
and program memory in either the SDHC or Micro SDHC sizes. • Putty/VNC (for P2P remote access)
Most boards have between one and four USB slots, HDMI and
composite video output, and a 3.5 mm phone jack for audio. Lower 3.2 Smart IoT Node
level output is provided by a number of GPIO pins which support Smart IoT Node includes: ESP8266, multi-sensors and PMU. The
common protocols like I²C. The B-models have an 8P8C Ethernet ESP8266 WiFi module is a self-contained SoC with integrated
port and the Pi 3 has on board Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth. The TCP/IP protocol stack that can give any microcontroller access to
Foundation provides Raspbian, a Debian-based Linux distribution Wi-Fi network. This module is programming in C/C++ for sensors
for download, as well as third party Ubuntu, Windows 10 IoT Core, data acquisition and to communicate with WiFi network. This
RISC OS, and specialized media center distributions. It promotes module has a powerful enough on-board processing and storage
Python and Scratch as the main programming language, with capability that allows it to be integrated with the sensors and
support for many other languages. The default firmware is closed other application specific devices through its GPIOs with minimal
source, while an unofficial open source is available. Raspberry Pi development up-front and minimal loading during runtime. Its
3, includes: high degree of on-chip integration allows for minimal external
• 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU circuitry, including the front-end module, is designed to occupy
• 802.11n Wireless LAN minimal PCB area.
• Bluetooth 4.1
• Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) The ESP8266 support any sensors (analog and digital) powered
• 1GB RAM by 5V or 3.3V. There are a pinout limitation, so it’s possible to
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connect directly (without adding additional circuit interface) 13 5. References
digital sensors (directly, Rx/Tx, SPI or I²C) and 1 analog sensor. 1. Iniewski, K. (Ed.). (2017). Wireless technologies: circuits,
PMU is the power management and optimization block which systems, and devices. CRC press.
provides power to all the devices included in the node. Li-ion 2. O'Donnell, I. D., & Brodersen, R. W. (2005). An ultra-
batteries or super capacitor would be used for powered all sensors. wideband transceiver architecture for low power, low rate,
The power solution for ESP8266 is using harvesting energy, like wireless systems. IEEE Transactions on vehicular technology,
piezoelectric (vibration) and voltage panel (solar), in this case we 54(5), 1623-1631.
create a charge circuit to powered batteries and super capacitor. 3. Morris, C. J., Stauth, S. A., & Parviz, B. A. (2005). Self-
assembly for microscale and nanoscale packaging: Steps
4. Conclusion toward self-packaging. IEEE Transactions on Advanced
We test one node with one accelerometer and one piezoelectric Packaging, 28(4), 600-611.
sensor, in an infrastructure with different levels of vibrations. After 4. Akyildiz, I. F., Su, W., Sankarasubramaniam, Y., & Cayirci,
we adding another node, with another accelerometer and another E. (2002). Wireless sensor networks: a survey. Computer
piezoelectric sensor. In both cases, data was successful transmit to networks, 38(4), 393-422.
the BS. There are several things that can be improved upon in this 5. www.raspberrypi.org, 10-02-2017
system. For example, develop a better webpage (with the SCADA 6. https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13678, 10-02-2017
software interface), a variety of sensors can be added to the system
such as a water sensor to test for flooding, a barometer to test air
pressure, temperature, and altitude, or humidity sensor.

Copyright: ©2023 Luís Miguel Pires. This is an open-access article

distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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