Design and Implementation of PIC microcontroller Based Mote for Wireless Sensor Network for Industrial Applications

Abstract

Nowdays, the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN)is revolutionary field of Electronics and Communication engineering. It is the network of devices, called sensor nodes (Sensor Motes), which sensethe physical status of the area and communicate the information collaboratively through wireless link. According to architecture, it is the network of finite number of sensor motes, wirelessly routed to each other and to the base station. It is operating according to IEEE 802.15.4 standards. Due to its significant features, the Wireless Sensor Network is becoming more and more universal. Sensor Motes of WSN consist of an array of sensors or actuators, signal conditioning, data acquisition system, processor, memory unit, RF module and the power supply unit. Sensor Nodes have salient features such as low cost, low power, high reliability, self configurability etc. It reveals wide spectrum of applications in various fields, such as, agriculture, Industrial, medical, transportation, military systems, space applications and business processes, area monitoring etc. newlineOn industrial survey, it is found that development of smart electronic system for monitoring and control of industrial parameters is highly demanded. In case of the industrial sites, the typical toxic as well as noxious gases are spreading over wide area, due to release of the effluents. These effluents are seriously affecting living organism. Moreover, the chemical industries are releasing toxic gases, which spread into the environment nearby the industry. To cover this wide area, the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) is the suitable solution, wherein the nodes are collaboratively, collecting and disseminating the data to control station. To enhance the reliability and to reduce the cost of the WSN, the cost of mote should be as low as possible.Monitoring of such widely spread data of industrial environment, it is proposed develop the multi-sensor based WSN, wherein embedded technology is realized. newlineDevelopment of Wireless Sensor Node for WSN to meet all requirements is challenging job to the researchers. Emphasizing the standards of IEEE 1451 and IEEE 802.15.4 the hardware of the Mote is designed. The Mote is designed about PIC 18F4550 microcontroller, which causes to introduce the intelligence into the Transducer Interface Module of the Mote. On-chip resources of this microcontroller such as Analog to Digital Convertor (ADC), etc. are dynamically configured. Present Mote comprises an array of five sensors, which physically interact with the environment. The sensors deployed for temperature, Alcohol, Liquid Petroleum gas, Ammonia, and Hydrogen sulfide gas. The sensor outputs are transducted by using proper signal conditioning circuit. The values of the parameters, in real units, are also displayed on the smart LCD. Moreover, to fulfill the design requirements of the Mote and to ensure networking capabilities for wireless communication, the Zigbee device is interfaced.The development tool, PIC CCS is deployed for development of firmware of Mote in embedded C. For programming the device, programming programming tool PICpgm is deployed. Moreover, the Base Station plays vital role in establishment of WSN. For this purpose, the smart Graphical User Interface is designed on PC. This GUI also performs the task of data loggers. The data stored in real time is made available for processing, presentation and deterministic management. newlineTo monitor industrial environmental parameters, the mesh network is established and the WSN parameters, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Link Quality Indicator (LQI), are investigated. In addition to this, deployment of WSN at different industrial sites is investigated. On investigation of the results, it is found that, the WSN under investigations provide the data regarding dedicated parameters precisely, wherein Site Specific Variability (SSV) is realized. It can be concluded that, WSN under investigation is successfully designed and can be suitably deployed for on-line monitoring of the environmental parameters with great reliability and preciseness. The cost of present WSN is also very less. Present WSN is of 5 sensor motes. However, to increase density of deployment, the number sensor motes can be increased. newline newline