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Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System

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Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker
System

Aboubakr El Hammoumi , Saad Motahhir , Abdelaziz El Ghzizal ,

and Aziz Derouich

Abstract Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, along with economies of scale

and advances in hardware, software, and network technologies, have accelerated
the explosion of connected objects across the Internet. A connected object can be
controlled online from an IoT platform and can send, receive, and process various
and varied data. In this chapter, we leverage some of the IoT technologies to propose
a simple and low-cost IoT solution to monitor and control a smart dual-axis solar
tracker system for performance evaluation. The solution also includes alert noti-
fications to inform a remote user through phone or mail (or both) when a sensor
has reached a certain predefined event. The solution is designed based on low-cost
and easy-to-use hardware and software and an online open-source IoT platform.
The design aspects of the IoT-based solar tracker are extensively described in this
chapter. Moreover, a prototype of the IoT-based solar tracker has been manufactured
and tested. Test results demonstrate that solar tracker data can be sent easily and
properly and can be directly monitored online, as well as the solar tracker, can take
commands from the IoT monitoring application.

Keywords Internet of things · IoT · Monitoring · Arduino · Solar tracker

A. El Hammoumi (B) · A. El Ghzizal

InnovativeTechnologies Laboratory, EST, SMBA University, 30000 Fez, Morocco
e-mail: [email protected]
A. El Ghzizal
e-mail: [email protected]
S. Motahhir
Engineering, Systems, and ApplicationsLaboratory, ENSA, SMBA University, 30080 Fez,
Morocco
e-mail: [email protected]
A. Derouich
Industrial Technologies and Services Laboratory, EST, SMBA University, 30000 Fez, Morocco
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 75

S. Motahhir and A. M. Eltamaly (eds.), Advanced Technologies for Solar
Photovoltaics Energy Systems, Green Energy and Technology,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64565-6_4
76 A. El Hammoumi et al.

1 Introduction

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has defined the IoT as a global
infrastructure for the information society that enables the provision of advanced
services by connecting (physical and virtual) things, based on existing and evolving
interoperable information and communication technologies [1]. The IoT, or as it is
called the Internet of Everything (IoE), includes all devices that can communicate
with the Internet and that can collect, send and process the data they capture from
their surrounding environment using embedded sensors and processors in addition to
the communication networks [2, 3]. IoT applications are expected to equip billions
of objects with connectivity and intelligence [4]. It is already being deployed exten-
sively, in various fields, namely: wearables [5], smart buildings [6], smart cities
applications [7], health care [8], agriculture [9], industrial automation [10], solar
monitoring systems [11], etc. In this chapter, we leverage some of the IoT technolo-
gies to design and build an IoT-based solar tracker system, where an IoT application
is proposed to control and monitor this system.
To maximize the absorption of sunlight and thereby increasing energy produc-
tion, it is necessary to integrate solar tracker systems into conventional solar energy
systems, where the solar panels can be fixed on a structure that moves according
to the sun’s path. 10–50% additional output energy can be obtained by using solar
tracker systems that track the sunlight instead of conventional systems that attach at a
fixed angle [12]. Depending on the mechanisms used to orient the solar panels, solar
tracker devices can be divided into single or double axis devices. Single-axis devices
can only track sunlight by rotating around a horizontal or vertical axis, i.e. they
track the sun’s movement in one direction (toward East and West or toward South
and North). While dual-axis solar tracker devices can rotate vertically and horizon-
tally to ensure solar panels are always perpendicular to the sunlight [13]. Various
solar tracker systems have been reported in the literature and they differ according
to employed tracking methods [14]. For instance, a sensor-based solar tracker has
been proposed in our previous works, it uses light sensors to predicts the sun’s posi-
tion (intensity of light) to track the sun for maximum power generation [15, 16].
The solar tracker system detects the sun position with the help of Light Dependent
Resistor (LDR) sensors and sends the data to the controller. This latter then processes
these data to command two servomotors that rotate a photovoltaic (PV) panel, in the
optimal directions, to move toward the sunlight. For more details, authors in [17]
have categorized solar tracker systems based on five tracking methods: sensor-based
tracker method, geometric and astronomical equation-based method, open- or closed
loop-based method, artificial intelligent-based method, and a combination of two or
more of these methods. Indisputable that solar tracker systems have manifested a
high ability for increasing the efficiency of solar panels to produce more energy.
Besides, making a solar tracker device as a connected object using IoT technologies
can be more profitable and advantageous, where the user can remotely control the
device and access its data, including the electrical and environmental parameters
linked to the solar panels, from an IoT platform. These data can be used to evaluate
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 77

the solar tracker operation, as well as to assess the PV energy potential, early detec-
tion and diagnosis of electrical faults, evaluate the weather variations, and preventive
maintenance.
However, to the authors’ knowledge, there are only a few attempts available in the
literature that deal with this subject. Authors in [18] have developed a dual-axis solar
tracker with IoT monitoring using the Ubidots IoT platform. A WiFi ESP8266 board
has been employed to connect their tracker device with the internet to communicate
with the IoT monitoring application, where its data, including voltage, current, and
power are displayed. The same WiFi board has been used by the Authors in [19],
who have elaborated a single axis solar tracker, to send the same mentioned data to
the cloud server of the ThingSpeak IoT platform so that they can be visualized in a
dashboard that preconfigured on ThingSpeak. Furthermore, a monitoring solution of a
solar tracker using Raspberry Pi3 (RPi3) board and a personal developed cloud server
has been established in [20]. It uses socket programming using Python language to
communicate between the “client” that runs on a remote laptop and “server” that runs
on RPi3. There are two ways to design an IoT monitoring platform, either we design
it ourselves, or using one of the available IoT platforms, which most of them are open
source. By using the second way, the development process of an IoT project can be
done easily and as early as possible. Because IoT platforms are designed to reduce
an IoT project development time by enabling ready-made, reusable technology stack
and are compatible with and support various hardware platforms (such as Arduino
and Raspberry) [21]. To this end, IoT platforms are widely used by engineers and
researchers in their IoT projects [22–25].
This chapter aims to present a simple and low-cost IoT solution to monitor and
control a dual-axis solar tracker system. A low-cost and popular embedded board
(Arduino) is used along with LDR sensors, servomotors, and associated circuits to
control a PV panel to track the sunlight for maximum power generation. Different
sensors are employed to measure electrical output parameters (voltage, current, and
power) and environmental parameters (temperature, humidity) linked to the solar
tracker system. An Ethernet shield is used to connect the system over the Internet
and to exchange data between hardware and the cloud server using Message Queuing
Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol. Data processing and activities that occur can
be monitored online through an IoT monitoring application developed on Cayenne
IoT platform. The solar tracker can also take commands from the monitoring plat-
form. In addition, the application includes an alert system to notify the user when
a sensor has reached a certain predefined event. The hardware and software used
have been chosen to be simple and inexpensive. Arduino board is used due to its
low-cost and its easy-to-use hardware and software [26, 27]. Likewise, Cayenne IoT
platform is used due to its easy-to-use interface and protocols. It is an open-source
IoT platform that has a simple Application Programming Interface (API) to store and
retrieve data from things using the MQQT protocol over the Internet or via a Local
Area Network [28].
The rest of this chapter is structured around three sections. Section “Research
methodology” describes the architecture of the proposed IoT-based solar tracker
78 A. El Hammoumi et al.

system and presents the hardware and software used to develop it. Section “Results
and discussion” lists and discusses the experimental results. Finally, the main
conclusions of this chapter are drawn in Section “Conclusion”.

2 Research Methodology

2.1 System Description

The proposed IoT-based solar tracker system is depicted in Fig. 1. It is a dual-axis

solar tracker that can rotate automatically to track the sun position using LDR sensors,
or manually by the user through the dashboard of an IoT application. The system
starts with detects the sun position (intensity of light) by LDR sensors and sends
the data to the controller (Arduino Mega board). This latter then processes these
data to command servomotors (SM1 and SM2) that hold the PV panel to rotate
toward the sun. The values of the generated PV voltage and current, temperature,
and humidity are also sent to the Arduino through associated sensors. Next, the
Ethernet shield, which is mounted with Arduino and allows it to be connected to
the Internet, will send the data that has been taking and/or processed by Arduino
to the cloud (webserver). Lastly, the solar tracker data, including LDR sensors, PV
power, temperature, and humidity, are displayed in real time in the IoT monitoring
application via pre-created Widgets. The IoT monitoring application is designed
using Cayenne myDevices platform. Once the user is connected to the internet from
his computer or smartphone, he can visualize, in the dashboard of the IoT application,
all solar tracker data in their associated widgets. Therefore, the user has the necessary
data linked to the environment and performance of the PV panel. In addition, in
the manual mode, the servomotors will take angle directions from their associated
widgets in the dashboard. Hence, the user can control his system to seek the best

Dual-axis solar tracker Arduino Mega &

Ethernet Shield
LDR LDR Smartphone
top-left PV panel LDR Sensors Ethernet Shield Laptop
top-right

N
PV power
W E
SM2 Internet
Temperature
Wifi Router Desktop computer
S Humidity
Arduino Mega
LDR LDR
bottom-left bottom-right IoT monitoring App
SM1

Web server

Cayenne Cloud Cayenne dashboard

Fig. 1 Schematic of the IoT-based solar tracker system

Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 79

environmental conditions and extract the maximum energy from the PV panel. The
IoT application is also programmed to send notification alerts (SMS or Email) when
a senor reaches a predefined threshold value.

2.2 Hardware Design

As shown in Fig. 2, the IoT solar tracker system consists of the PV panel, two
servomotors, four LDR sensors, a voltage divider circuit, temperature and humidity
sensor, a Led and the Arduino Mega board.
The used PV panel is 115 by 85 mm in size with a 1.6 W output and can generate
a voltage up to 6 V [29]. Two 180° servomotors are used to motorize the solar tracker
and they are controlled by the Arduino board through PWM pins 5 and 6. The
left-right (L-R) servomotor (MG996R) rotates the solar tracker on the vertical axis
(East/West), while the Up-down (U-D) servomotor (SG90) rotates the solar tracker
on the horizontal axis (South/North).
Four LDRs (Cds GL5528) are used to sense the sun’s position and which have
been fixed in the four corners of the PV panel. The LDR sensors are connected to
the Arduino through analog pins from A0 to A3. The LDR is a resistor whose value
decreases with increasing light intensity incident on its surface. The LDR sensor is
designed as a voltage divider circuit as can be seen in Fig. 2. The output of the voltage
divider is connected to an analog input (A0 for instance) of the Arduino. Then, the

Arduino
Mega Left-Right
Servo Motor

ATmega2560
Microcont-
roller Up-Down
Servo Motor
5V GND

1 LDR PV panel
top-right
1 2 3
2 LDR
Top-left
4 DHT22
Sensor
3 LDR
Bottom-right
LED +
(Mode indicator)
4 LDR _
Bottom-left PV voltage

Fig. 2 Electronic circuit of IoT-based solar tracker system

80 A. El Hammoumi et al.

RJ45 cable

Wifi Router

Ethernet shield +
USB cable
IDE

Arduino Mega with

Ethernet shield
Computer

Arduino Mega

Fig. 3 Hardware interface between Arduino and Ethernet shield

Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) of the microcontroller converts the analog value
read by A0 into a digital value between 0 and 1023 because the ADC is coded in 10
bits. The value of the series resistor in the LDR sensor circuit is 330 .
The temperature and humidity are measured through the DHT22 sensor, which
is an ultra-low-cost sensor that is widely used in embedded projects. DHT22 has a
thermistor and a capacitive humidity sensor embedded in it to measure temperature
and relative humidity. Its temperature range is from −40 to 80 °C with < ± 0.5 °C
of accuracy, and its humidity range is from 0 to 100% with ± 2% (Max ± 5%) of
accuracy [30]. This sensor uses one signal wire to transmit data to Arduino (digital
pin 2), and two wires for power supply.
The PV voltage and current are measured through a voltage divider circuit that
acts also as a load and which consists of two series resistors of 10 Ohms. The divider
circuit output is connected to the Arduino’s analog pin A4. Furthermore, a LED,
which is connected to digital pin 3, reflects in the system circuit the mode state of
solar tracker (manual or automatic).
The Arduino Mega with ATmega2560 microcontroller is used as the embedded
controller that interacts with the Arduino Ethernet shield along with the monitoring
platform. The Ethernet shield, which is mounted above the Arduino board, must be
connected with a Wi-Fi router (or PC) through an RJ45 cable as shown in Fig. 3. The
Ethernet Shield is based on the Wiznet W5100 Ethernet chip that provides a network
(IP) stack for TCP and UDP protocols [31].

2.3 Prototype

Figure 4 presents the solar tracker prototype in its detached and assembled state. It
consists of the PV panel, the L-R, and U-D servomotors and LDR sensors. The panel
is attached to the U-D servomotor on one side and with a bearing on the other side to
ensure better flexibility when the solar tracker rotates around the horizontal axis. The
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 81

LDR Top-Left Up-Down

inside hollow Servo Motor
cylinder
Bearing

PV panel

Outputs (LDRs Left-Right

and PV panel) Servo Motor

(a) (b)

Fig. 4 Solar tracker prototype in its detached and assembled state

assembly is attached to the L-R servomotor. The LDR sensors are fixed in the four
corners of the panel inside hollow cylinders. If the panel is not perpendicular to the
sun, at least one LDR will be covered by shadow caused by the surrounding cylinder.
Hence, there will be a difference in light intensity. The best orientation is when the
light intensities are equal in all LDR sensors. Figure 5 shows the entire prototype of
the IoT-based solar tracker system, and it is clear that all reported components in the
hardware part have been used to build it.

Solar tracker
device

Arduino
Mega 2560 Arduino
Ethernet Shield

DH22 sensor

RJ45 cable
Voltage sensor

LED USB cable

(Mode indicator)

Fig. 5 IoT-based solar tracker prototype

82 A. El Hammoumi et al.

2.4 Software Design

a. Arduino IDE

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform with easy-to-use hard-

ware and software [32]. The Arduino platform provides an integrated development
environment (IDE), which includes support for C and C++ programming languages.
The used Arduino board in this work is programmed by the IDE that serves as a code
editor and from which the program code can be uploaded to the microcontroller
through USB cable, as can be shown in Fig. 3. The Arduino Megaboard is utilized
to implement all software requirements of the IoT-based solar tracker.
b. MyDevices Cayenne

myDevices is a company that offers IoT solutions. It offers an end-to-end platform for
the IoT. In our project, we will focus on Cayenne, one of the solutions from myDe-
vices. This tool allows developers, designers, and engineers to build prototypes of
the IoT. Cayenne uses the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol
to connect any device with the Cayenne cloud. Once connected, the user can send
and receive data from the device to the Cayenne dashboard via the Widgets created.
MQTT is a publish–subscribe messaging protocol based on the TCP/IP protocol.
The publish–subscribe methodology uses a message agent that is responsible for
delivering messages to the client. The MQTT is the API for sending information to
the Cayenne cloud, or devices controlled by Cayenne. The messaging agent in this
connection is the cloud, it manages the different clients (sensors and actuators) that
send and receive the data.
To use MQTT with Cayenne, we need to use the Cayenne libraries. For Arduino,
the CayenneMQTT library can be installed from the IDE’s Library Manager. To
program our Cayenne IoT platform-based IoT application, we will take advantage of
the predefined functions. For example, to establish the connection between Cayenne
cloud and Arduino Mega equipped with the Ethernet module, we call the Cayen-
neMQTT Ethernet library where we declare our authentication information (the user-
name, password and the ClientID) which should be obtained from the Cayenne Dash-
board. Then, in the setup part of the program, we call Cayenne.begin () function to
establish the connection with Cayenne dashboard. For each actuator, we create a func-
tion with an integer parameter between 0 and 31 imperatively called CAYENNE IN
(VIRTUAL CHANNEL). For each sensor, we create a function with an integer param-
eter between 0 and 31 imperatively called CAYENNE_OUT (VIRTUAL_CHANNEL).
In the loop part of the program, we call the predefined function Cayenne.loop (), this
function itself calls the functions CAYENNE_OUT and CAYENNE_IN. The virtual
channel as its name suggests is a channel that does not physically exist, it char-
acterizes visualization or command widgets. It allows them to be linked with the
corresponding sensor or actuator.
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 83

c. The Embedded Software Design

The embedded software is the piece that will be embedded in the Arduino Megato
interact between the Ethernet module and Cayenne cloud (see Appendix). It is
designed as follow:
(i) The IoT-based solar tracker has two function modes: manual and automatic. A
button created in the Cayenne dashboard has a role to switch between the two
modes. When it is inactive, the manual mode is selected, otherwise automatic
mode. Besides, a function is established in the Arduino code that allows recov-
ering the state of the button. The LED in the system circuit reflects the state of
this switch.

Therefore, for the controller to know the selected operating mode, we just need to
test the state of the pin in which the LED is connected. For example, if the LED state
is low, the controller will call the manual mode function to execute, otherwise, it will
call the automatic function.
(ii) If the manual mode is selected, the user can directly control the positions of
the servomotors to orient the PV panel from east to west by L-R servomotor
or from south to north by the U-D servomotor. The control is made from the
associated widgets of servomotors in the dashboard of the IoT application.

In this mode, the controller calls Cayenne.loop () function which itself calls all the
functions CAYENNE_IN, including those related to servomotors, to execute. The
Cayenne.loop () function will also call all the functions CAYENNE_OUT, linked to
the sensors, to execute. Where the data related to LDR sensors, PV current, voltage
and power, temperature and humidity would be sent to the server so that they can be
visualized in their associated widgets in the IoT application.
(iii) If the automatic mode is selected, the algorithm shown in Fig. 6 will be executed.
The algorithm starts by reading the analog values returned by LDR sensors.
Then, it processes these data to command servomotors that move the PV panel
toward the sun position. Considering the vertical axis-based solar tracker move-
ment, the average values of the two LDRs on the left and the two LDRs on
the right are compared and if the lefts receive more light, the PV panel will
move in that direction (clockwise) through the L-R servomotor. The latter will
stop when the difference result is between −10 and 10. This range is used
to stabilize the controller and to reduce the power consumption of servomo-
tors. Otherwise, if the right set of LDRs receives more light, the PV panel will
move in that direction (Counterclockwise) through the L-R servomotor and
will continue to rotate until the difference result is in the range [−10, 10]. The
same approach is used for the horizontal axis-based solar tracker movement
where the average values of the two LDRs on the top and the two LDRs on the
bottom are compared.
84 A. El Hammoumi et al.

Fig. 6 The flowchart for the automatic mode of the solar tracker

As well as in the automatic mode, the controller will also call the Cayenne.loop ()
function to send the solar tracker data to the IoT application.
For
d. Development of the IoT Monitoring Application
(i) Hardware interfacing with Cayenne IoT platform

To interface the hardware, including sensors and actuators, with the IoT platform,
we need to follow the next steps:
• Log in on Cayenne myDevice website after creating an account (Fig. 7a).
• Then, click on “Bring Your Own Things” from Cayenne API (Fig. 7b).
• Copy the MQTT credentials (username, password and client ID) from Create App
(Fig. 8), and paste them in Arduino source code as described previously. After
successfully compiling and uploading the entire code to Arduino Mega, open
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 85

Cayenne API
Bring Your Own Things

(b). Select device (Cayenne API).

(a). Cayenne sign. up

Fig. 7 Cayenne IoT Platform sign up (a). Cayenne API (b)

MQTT credentials

MQQT
Username
MQQT
Password
Client ID

Device Name
« IoT Solar Tracker » Waiting for board to connect...

Fig. 8 MQTT credentials and device connection to Cayenne

Serial Monitor in Arduino IDE to get the Cayenne log prints (Fig. 9). As soon as
our device comes online and connects to Cayenne, the previous page (Fig. 8) is
automatically updated and we will see our device in the online dashboard as can
be seen in Fig. 10.

Fig. 9 Cayenne log prints

on Serial Monitor
86 A. El Hammoumi et al.

Seƫngs Device Name

Device Name Device icon

MQQT Username

MQQT Password

Client ID

Fig. 10 Device settings

• Then, to interface sensors and actuators, i.e. create their widgets, click on “Add
new…”, select “Device/Widget” and click on “Custom Widgets” (Fig. 11). Then,
select a widget and populate all its associated settings (the channel number must be
the same as in code), and finally click on “Add Widget” to add it to the dashboard
of your device. For us, we chose the “value” widget for all sensors, “Button”
widget for mode switch and the “Slider” widget for servomotors.
Finally, Fig. 12 illustrates the designed IoT application for monitoring solar tracker
data. Once the connection with the solar tracker system is established, sensor data can
be visualized on their associated widgets, the tracking mode (automatic or manual)
can be selected from the switch button, as well as controlling servomotors’ angles
through their widgets. Sensor data can also be obtained in graphical form by modi-
fying the representation type in their settings, or just by clicking on the graph icon
above the widget.

Value

Add new …

Custom BuƩon
Widgets
Add Widget

Slider

Fig. 11 Cayenne custom widgets

Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 87

Fig. 12 IoT monitoring application of solar tracker system

(ii) Alerts creation

One of the most important criteria in a monitoring system is its ability to send
notification alerts to inform users when an event, related to their monitored devices,
occurs. To this end, we take advantage of one of Cayenne’s features [33] to add
alerts to our IoT application, where we can preprogram our application to send a
notification alert (SMS, Email, or both) or to perform a specified action. For example,
a temperature alert is created to send an email notification to the user (or recipients)
when the monitored temperature is reached a threshold value, as can be shown in
Fig. 13. To create an alert, click on “Add new…” and select “Trigger”, then set the
event and its action and finally click on “save” to add it to the dashboard.

Alert Name

Event AcƟon

Threshold value Custom recipient

Sensor Name

Send Email
> or < than threshold value ?

Fig. 13 Temperature alert configuration

88 A. El Hammoumi et al.

3 Results and Discussion

Different tests have been carried out to examine the developed IoT-based solar tracker
prototype. The experimental setup is illustrated in Fig. 14. The Arduino board is
powered with the computer through a USB cable, which is also used to display,
in the Serial Monitor of Arduino IDE, the measured parameters and data received
from the IoT application. This will allow us to verify whether the captured data from
Arduino are correctly and in real-time sent to the IoT application or not. Whereas,
Arduino can be powered with an external DC power supply. The Ethernet shield
connects the Arduino board to the internet via RJ45 cable. Once the connection with
the IoT application is established, the data of the solar tracker system are sent to the
monitoring application, where we can view these data live and send commands to
the controller.
The system is programmed to send all data from the device regardless of the
tracker mode (manual or automatic). First, the automatic mode has been tested,
which is activated when the switch mode is in the high state; the LED (mode
indicator) in the circuit lights up. The servomotors were automatically controlled
according to intensities captured by LDR sensors. Figure 15 presents the samples
of data recorded in real time from the solar tracker system in the IoT application
during the test period. Figure 15a displays the recorded electrical measurements,
namely the current, voltage and power. While Fig. 15b displays the recorded envi-
ronmental measurements, namely the temperature, humidity and the intensity of light
(captured by the top-right LDR) with the accurate time and date. It has been verified,
by comparing the data sent from Arduino and those received on the dashboard of the

Fig. 14 The experimental

setup of the prototype
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 89

(a) Electrical measurements. (b). Environmental measurements.

Fig. 15 Samples of data recorded in real time in the IoT application

IoT application, that all electrical and environmental measurements are sent properly
and in real-time.
To check the reliability of the monitoring application to notify the user when
an event occurs, it has been programmed to send an alert. For example, when the
monitored temperature is higher than 40 °C. Figure 16 shows the alert notification
received in our mailbox at the same time when the temperature exceeds 40° as can be
seen in Fig. 15b. Other alerts can be added to the application, such as a malfunction
of one of the sensors and/or actuators and a rapid decrease in PV power.
Moreover, the proposed IoT prototype has been tested in manual mode, which is
activated when the switch mode is in the low state; the LED in the circuit turns off.
The servomotors were controlled through their associated widgets in the dashboard.
For instance, we have set the slider linked to the L-R servomotor at the center (i.e. at
a value of 0.5) and the other slider of U-D servomotor at 0.3, which means that the
L-R and U-D motors will rotate by 90° and 30°, respectively. Also, tests have shown
that solar tracker properly and rapidly executes commands from the monitoring
platform with a time not exceeding 2 s. In the manual mode, the user can remotely
position his device in an optimal direction according to the surrounding environment
and device location. Moreover, in this mode, the power consumption of motors can
be too minimized or, where the user can intervene to position the solar tracker for
example in only one direction according to each month or season (winter, spring,
summer, and autumn) in the year. However, an amount of PV energy can be lost
due to a limitation of the solar tracker operation according to the daily movement
of the sun. The servomotor commands can be programmed beforehand without user
intervention by creating events and associated actions in the IoT application.
90 A. El Hammoumi et al.

Fig. 16 The received

notification alerts in the
mailbox

4 Conclusion

In this chapter, a smart prototype has been designed to monitor and control a dual-
axis solar tracker system using a simple and efficient IoT solution. The prototype has
been tested experimentally. Test results demonstrate that the developed IoT-based
solar tracker provides users with a simple monitoring application, in which users
can easily and in real-time monitor electrical and environmental parameters of the
solar tracker system for further processing and management. Other sensors could
be added, for example, solar irradiation and wind sensors to help understand more
about the PV power output as well as to test the solar tracker system on its flexibility
during high wind. Due to its simplicity, the proposed IoT solution can be employed
in various fields to connect devices or things to the internet as well as for research
or educational purposes.

Appendix

The embedded code of the IoT-based solar tracker system

Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 91

/***************************************************************
PROJECT: IoT based solar tracker system / the embedded software
***************************************************************/

#define CAYENNE_PRINT Serial

#include <CayenneMQTTEthernet.h> //CayenneMQTT library
#include <Servo.h> //Servo motor library
#include <DHT.h> //DHT library
#define DHTTYPE DHT22
#define DHTPIN 2
DHT dht(DHTPIN,DHTTYPE);

//MQTT credentials
char username[]="498d2d00-afe2-11ea-883c-638d8ce4c23d";
char password[]="ab4a8f92d94033c01f6e18ce1d8a84d8c304c9c4";
char clientID[]="17798a40-b968-11ea-93bf-d33a96695544";

Servo servo_x; //up-down servomotor

int servoh = 0;
int servohLimitHigh = 170;
int servohLimitLow = 10;

Servo servo_z; //left-right servomotor

int servov = 0;
int servovLimitHigh = 170;
int servovLimitLow = 10;

int topl,topr,botl,botr;
int threshold_value=10;
float Vout;

void setup()
{ Serial.begin(9600);
Cayenne.begin(username, password, clientID);
servo_x.attach(5);
servo_z.attach(6);
dht.begin();
pinMode(3,OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(3,LOW);
}

void loop()
{ topr= analogRead(A2);
topl= analogRead(A3);
botl= analogRead(A4);
botr= analogRead(A5);
Vout=(analogRead(A1) * 5.0) / 1023;
Serial.println(" Manual-mode");
Cayenne.loop();

if (digitalRead(3)==HIGH){
Serial.println(" Automatic-mode");
servoh = servo_x.read();
servov = servo_z.read();
int avgtop = (topr + topl) / 2;
int avgbot = (botr + botl) / 2;
int avgright = (topr + botr) / 2;
int avgleft = (topl + botl) / 2;
int diffhori= avgtop - avgbot;
int diffverti= avgleft - avgright;

/*tracking according to horizontal axis*/

if (abs(diffhori) <= threshold_value)
{
servo_x.write(servoh); //stop the servo up-down
}else {
92 A. El Hammoumi et al.

if (diffhori > threshold_value)

{ Serial.println(" x - 2 ");
servo_x.write(servoh -2); //Clockwise rotation CW
if (servoh > servohLimitHigh)
{
servoh = servohLimitHigh;
}
delay(10);
}else {
servo_x.write(servoh +2); //CCW
if (servoh < servohLimitLow)
{
servoh = servohLimitLow;
}
delay(10);
}
}
/*tracking according to vertical axis*/
if (abs(diffverti) <= threshold_value)
{
servo_z.write(servov); //stop the servo left-right
}else{
if (diffverti > threshold_value)
{
servo_z.write(servov -2); //CW
if (servov > servovLimitHigh)
{
servov = servovLimitHigh;
}
delay(10);
}else{
servo_z.write(servov +2); //CCW
if (servov < servovLimitLow)
{
servov = servovLimitLow;
}
delay(10);
}
}
}
}
// Cayenne Functions
CAYENNE_IN(8){
int value = getValue.asInt();
CAYENNE_LOG("Channel %d, pin %d, value %d", 8, 3, value);
digitalWrite(3,value);
}
CAYENNE_IN(7){ //up-down servo motor
if (digitalRead(3)==HIGH){ //Automatic_mode
}
else{ //Manual_mode
servo_x.write(getValue.asDouble() * 180);
}
}
CAYENNE_IN(6){ //left-right servo motor
if (digitalRead(3)==HIGH){
}
else{
servo_z.write(getValue.asDouble() * 180);
}
}
Internet of Things-Based Solar Tracker System 93

CAYENNE_OUT(0) { //Current
float current = Vout/10;
Cayenne.virtualWrite(0, current);
Serial.print("Current: ");
Serial.println(current);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(1) { //Voltage
float voltage = Vout * 2;
Cayenne.virtualWrite(1, voltage);
Serial.print("Voltage: ");
Serial.println(voltage);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(2){ //LDR Top-right
Cayenne.virtualWrite(2, topr);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(3){ //LDR Top-left
Cayenne.virtualWrite(3,topl);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(4){ //LDR Bot-left
Cayenne.virtualWrite(4,botl);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(5){ //LDR Bot-right
Cayenne.virtualWrite(5,botr);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(10) { //Power
float power = (Vout * 2 * Vout)/10 ;
Cayenne.virtualWrite(10, power);
Serial.print("Power: ");
Serial.println(power);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(11){ //Temperature
float t = dht.readTemperature();
//int chk = dht.read(DHT11PIN);
Cayenne.virtualWrite(11, t, TYPE_TEMPERATURE, UNIT_CELSIUS);
Serial.print("temperature: ");
Serial.println(t);
}
CAYENNE_OUT(12){ //Huidity
float h = dht.readHumidity();
//int chk = dht.read(DHT11PIN);
Cayenne.virtualWrite(12, h);
Serial.print(" humidity: ");
Serial.println(h);
}

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