RSSI Measurement Analysis of Zigbee-Based Wireless Sensor Networks in Various Topologies for Solar Panel Monitoring

Abstract

Abstract— Solar panels require performance monitoring when energy shortages occur in the area. Monitoring solar panels requires a detection device to detect solar panels, including the ACS712 current sensor for monitoring the output current of the solar panel, a DC voltage sensor for monitoring battery performance, and a DHT11 temperature sensor for monitoring the temperature of the solar panel storage battery. The WSN technology that can work is ZigBee communication. This ZigBee communication research uses various topology methods, including star, tree, and mesh topologies. Solar panel monitoring tests are carried out indoors and outdoors. The ZigBee communication device used is the XBee S2C device, which operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. From a comparison of various topologies, the mesh topology is a topology with good performance because it has the characteristic of choosing a router with the fastest path to reach the coordinator. It is proven by monitoring solar panels with an optimal distance of 80 m, which is carried out from outdoors with an RSSI value of -84 dBm, a throughput of 0.55 kbps, and a delay of 2.77 ms, producing power for 150 minutes with an average current of 0.14 A, voltage of 9.86 V, and temperature of 31.48°C. The number of disturbances and weather conditions greatly affect signal propagation, which can hamper the data transmission process. Throughput fluctuates due to uncertain weather conditions, and delay fluctuates due to a lot of interference from other radio signals.
 Keyworrds— Wireless Sensor Nirbael (WSN), RSSI, ZigBee, Panel Surya, Thinger.IO