A Cost Efficient Wireless Sensor Network For Grain Storage And Environmental Monitoring Based On Zigbee And Arduino

This thesis is centred on developing a system capable of measuring environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity then transmit these parameters wirelessly to the coordinator for further processing and monitoring of the data,due to the advancements in different technologies,WSNs(Wireless Sensor Networks)are becoming more affordable and more practical because of their size and portability.WSNs can be used to monitor environmental conditions such as temperature,pressure,sound,vibration,etc.It is particularly useful for areas where there is no easy access to a tethered power source.Today monitoring environmental parameters have gained more importance due to the increasing security and regulatory compliance needs.So the measurement of such parameters becomes critically important and easy.To do the parameter measurement of remote places,the traditional wired systems fail eventually because of several obstacles for instance cables can get damaged.Hence there is a need for next generation technology such as wireless technology.The advancement in the MicroElectromechanical systems(MEMS)technology has made components tiny,low cost,low power,cost effective wireless modules are available and can work in a lot of locations efficiently even places with harsh environmental conditions.This dissertation represents the use of wireless sensor network(WSN)technology for monitoring temperature and humidity using Arduino board utilizing an atmel328 microcontroller,Xbee S2 C,DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor and PC,the proposed system will measure temperature and humidity in a food storage facility to insure maximum quality and minimal spoilage,to be specific this is a grain storage facility to preserve corn from spoiling due to high levels of humidity and equally high temperature,hence the need to install a system to measure these parameters and be able to send data to a computer wirelessly.This system would insure that these measured parameters can be controlled hence preserving a good quantity of the grain,and in my country Zambia it would be very helpful because the staple food is corn and it is a tropical country with high temperatures and humidity levels throughout the year making it quite hard to preserve the corn due to constant monitoring by people which isn't practical.Such wireless system can be used for agriculture purposes to make decisions according to the environmental parameters,health care in hospitals to control humidity and temperature to favorable standards which wouldn't speed up the spread of pathogens or create an atmosphere conducive for bacteria to flourish,food storage areas like a silo for storing grain such as wheat and corn would come in handy on options of monitoring water vapor levels to minimize spoilage and maximize quality storage.After developing the system experiments were conducted both indoors and outdoors with different conditions to examine how it would perform in a myriad of places and conditions,temperature and humidity levels were measured in my room and at the balcony and the results showed high humidity levels at night high variations of temperature during the day.