Novel design and performance analysis of WSN node using NRF and ATmega328

Abstract

Designing an efficient wireless sensing network (WSN) node over a remote location is a challenging task in the heterogeneous environment. The two implementation challenges are – first, large distance with comparatively signal coverage and second, power consumption for devices. It is observed that the use of energy harnessing techniques by the research communityhas proven successfully redemption in power consumption for circuits involving antenna, microcontroller and sensor. In present work, a novel schematic design of a low power wireless sensing node has been discussed which is used for connecting different sensors such as moisture and temperature sensor. The design considered the wireless sensor node with a power module, a NRF, an Atmega-328 microcontroller and a GSM module to upload data over the cloud. NRF facilitates long-range communication up to a range of 1000m by using a maximum current consumption of 15mA. The wireless sensor node are key elements in implementing Internet of Things. The performance in terms of power consumption is analyzed for long range communication. Experiment has been designed to transmit with an interval of 15 sec and interval of 60 sec. At the receiver end, the central node GSM sim800A module is used to upload data over the cloud platform Thingspeak. In comparative study with different microcontroller development boards & wireless methods it has been found that the designed WSN node is effective in saving power consumption. The node can act as master or slave and can communicate with several other nodes also.