Simulation and Implementation of an Environmental Monitoring System Based on LPWAN/IoT

Nowadays, the vertiginous development of wireless communications systems entails an exponential increase in the necessities of a digital society. Internet of Things (IoT) concept has played a key role in the delivery of remote control and monitoring of applications to the final user, which include but are not limited to industry, research, education, security, among many others. Within this context, IoT solutions based on Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs) could be of fundamental aid to monitor environmental variables in both urban and countryside regions in order to face a global scientific problem beyond local climatic issues: climate change. In this work, we present the development of an environmental monitoring system, based on a web interface hosted in a cloud server as well as on the design and simulation of low power COTS-based acquisition nodes, aimed to sample environmental variables, previously defined from a strategic analysis of commercial sensing modules. IoT environmental sensing nodes are connected to the proprietary cloud server following principles of LPWANs. The outcome are low-power acquisition nodes for sensing environmental variables using COTS electronic components and transceptors along with a web interface that presents graphically the information as time series. The developed system for environmental monitoring shows to follow the LPWAN/IoT bases, showing a minimal power consumption. Moreover, it proves to be accessible, easily reproducible and to have a high compatibility with various web interfaces, posing this as a viable proposal for its mass implementation as an IoT application.