A cascadable microcontroller-based data acquisition module for environmental data monitoring with RF and GSM Communication links for data relay

• Main Author: Llorente, Cesar A.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2017
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/757
• Institution: De La Salle University

High air and water quality is crucial to life. Maintaining it to ensure a sustainable environment for future generations require constant measurement and monitoring of pertinent environmental parameters to detect degradation. Gathering these data require physical presence in the locality where such measurements are to be made, posing a physical danger to the individual carrying out such task. Technology that performs measurements of environmental data and can transmit these data over radio frequency (RF) communication links are in existence but are hampered by limited range. Data can only be transmitted from the place data is gathered to a location where data can be stored and processed. Moreover, the range is further limited by adverse weather condition such as heavy rains. In this study, a cascadable data acquisition module for gathering environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity and pressure is developed. The RF link is designed to relay information from a data acquisition node to another node until it reaches an end node that is under Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) service coverage. The end node transmits the data collected by all the nodes in the link to a base station via SMS. The link is composed of three data acquisition nodes and the base station which comprises a laptop computer equipped with a GSM modem. Each node is equipped with Radio Frequency transceivers to relay data gathered from one node to the next node. The end node is equipped with a GSM modem so that data can be sent to the base station in text message format via SMS. Results indicated that under normal conditions, the distance between nodes can reach up to 1200 meters but can shorten down to 600 meters under heavy rain conditions.