ISHS Acta Horticulturae 1170: International Symposium on New Technologies and Management for Greenhouses - GreenSys2015
Operation reliability of wireless sensor networks in greenhouse conditions |
| Authors: | N. Katsoulas, K.P. Ferentinos, A. Tzounis, T. Bartzanas, C. Kittas |
| Keywords: | monitoring system, communication performance, controlled environment, hydroponics, plant-based measurements |
| DOI: | 10.17660/ActaHortic.2017.1170.111 |
| Abstract:
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of battery-powered nodes equipped with specific sensors that collect appropriate information and transmit it wirelessly to a central base-station, which stores the received data for future processing or uses it dynamically for monitoring, control or other purposes. Environmental conditions inside a greenhouse can be quite extreme, with high values of temperature and relative humidity and long periods of exposure of the sensor nodes to high solar radiation intensities, which can affect the performance and quality of sensing information of WSNs. In addition, the metallic structure of the greenhouse and the canopy of the cultivated plants also affect WSN operation properties. In this work, the effects of real greenhouse conditions on the reliability of environmental monitoring using a WSN are investigated. Specific issues affecting the performance and accuracy of the WSN are identified and appropriate solutions are proposed. A prototype WSN is developed and installed inside a greenhouse in order to investigate the effects of all these parameters to the operation reliability of the network and assess its performance and the feasibility of possible future operation in a commercial greenhouse. The measured variables are air temperature, relative humidity and radiation intensity. Several experiments are conducted, trying to identify specific problems concerning the accuracy of the measured variables as influenced by specific parameters, as well as the effects of the environmental conditions inside the greenhouse in the operational performance of the WSN. | |
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