Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7911, USA.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology and North Carolina Plant Sciences Initiative, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8208, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 26;22(15):5582. doi: 10.3390/s22155582.
Agricultural and environmental monitoring programs often require labor-intensive inputs and substantial costs to manually gather data from remote field locations. Recent advances in the Internet of Things enable the construction of wireless sensor systems to automate these remote monitoring efforts. This paper presents the design of a modular system to serve as a research platform for outdoor sensor development and deployment. The advantages of this system include low power consumption (enabling solar charging), the use of commercially available electronic parts for lower-cost and scaled up deployments, and the flexibility to include internal electronics and external sensors, allowing novel applications. In addition to tracking environmental parameters, the modularity of this system brings the capability to measure other non-traditional elements. This capability is demonstrated with two different agri- and aquacultural field applications: tracking moth phenology and monitoring bivalve gaping. Collection of these signals in conjunction with environmental parameters could provide a holistic and context-aware data analysis. Preliminary experiments generated promising results, demonstrating the reliability of the system. Idle power consumption of 27.2 mW and 16.6 mW for the moth- and bivalve-tracking systems, respectively, coupled with 2.5 W solar cells allows for indefinite deployment in remote locations.
农业和环境监测计划通常需要大量的人工投入和成本，以从远程野外地点手动收集数据。物联网的最新进展使得构建无线传感器系统成为可能，从而实现这些远程监测工作的自动化。本文介绍了一种模块化系统的设计，该系统可作为户外传感器开发和部署的研究平台。该系统的优点包括低功耗（支持太阳能充电）、使用市售的电子元件实现更低成本和可扩展的部署，以及灵活地包含内部电子设备和外部传感器，从而能够实现新的应用。除了跟踪环境参数外，该系统的模块化还具有测量其他非传统元素的能力。通过两个不同的农业和水产养殖领域的应用案例，展示了这种能力：跟踪蛾类的物候学和监测双壳类动物的张口。结合环境参数收集这些信号，可以提供全面和感知上下文的数据分析。初步实验产生了有希望的结果，证明了系统的可靠性。蛾类和双壳类跟踪系统的空闲功耗分别为 27.2 mW 和 16.6 mW，加上 2.5 W 的太阳能电池，可以在远程位置进行无限期部署。
