Performance Evaluation of Onboard Wi-Fi Module Antennas in Terms of Orientation and Position for IoT Applications

Abstract

With ever increasing demand of IoT based sensor systems, there is a need to assess the performance of wireless sensor networks especially in indoor environment. In these networks, antenna plays an important role. The performance of onboard antenna of the sensor module with respect to its height and orientation are examined in this paper. Several experiments were carried out mostly in indoor environment by changing orientation and height of the antennas. The performance is assessed on the basis of Received Signal Strength (RSS) and its modelling using linear, logarithmic and rational polynomial regression techniques which will characterize the channel in a particular environment. Out of all the combinations in terms of height of the antennas and their orientation, it is found for a given indoor environment, with transmitting antenna at a medium height facing upwards and receiving antenna with an inclination of 700 towards transmitter resulted in better performance with R2poly value of 86.81% and RMSE of 4dB. Therefore, this combination is suggested for wireless sensor networks in indoor environment for achieving the of cost-effective energy-efficient green IoT. The analysis would be useful for improving the efficiency and coverage of wireless sensor networks.