USING MOBILE ROBOTS TO HARVEST DATA

FROM SENSOR FIELDS

ABSTRACT

We explore synergies among mobile robots and wireless sensor networks in environmental
monitoring through a system in which robotic data mules collect measurements gathered by
sensing nodes. This approach significantly increases the lifetime of the system by conserving
energy that the sensing nodes otherwise would use for communication.

The existing system is an end-to-end wireless network that forwards the measurements of
the sensing devices to the back end database. Small embedded sensing devices are known as
motes. These are physically small & battery operated and includes a wireless radio. Autonomous
environmental monitoring is done because of these motes. Limited energy is one of the key
challenges, because these are battery operated. Motes’ wireless radio is its largest consumer of
energy.

The alternative to an end-to-end wireless network that forwards the motes’ measurements
to a back-end database is proposed. We propose to use autonomous robots as data mules. These
mules visit locations within the communication distance of each of the static motes, download
their measurements, and return to a remote base station to offload the collected data. The key
benefit of this approach is that motes can conserve energy that otherwise they would use to
forward data, thereby prolonging the lifetime of the network.
In this report, I am going to discuss about Sensors which I am implementing, and the transmission of data
that is sensed from Sensor to Robot. And, the procedure for transmitting the data from Mobile robot to
base station, i.e. a PC here.

Temperature Sensor - The LM35

The LM35 is an integrated circuit sensor that can be used to measure temperature with an
electrical output proportional to the temperature (in oC). It has an output voltage that is
proportional to the Celsius temperature. The scale factor is .01V/oC. The LM35 does not require
any external calibration or trimming and maintains an accuracy of +/-0.4 oC at room temperature
and +/- 0.8 oC over a range of 0 oC to +100 oC. The LM35DZ draws only 60 micro amps from its
supply and possesses a low self-heating capability.
Here is a photo of the LM 35 wired on a circuit board. The white wire in the photo goes to the
power supply. Both the resistor and the black wire go to ground. The output voltage is measured
from the middle pin to ground.

Humidity Sensor

This is an analog sensor which provides a voltage output proportional to the relative humidity in
the atmosphere. The measurement range of this Sensor is 0 ~ 100%RH. The range of the output
signal is from 0.8 ~ 3.9V (at 25ºC). The typical consumption is 0.38mA where as the maximum
consumption is 0.5mA. Power supply is 5VDC ±5%. And finally the response time is less than
15 seconds.

Gas Sensor:
This sensor is used to collect the data from environment and displays the information like the
gases present in environment. It can display the content of gas materials like CO2, O2 etc, in
atmosphere.
Transmitting Collected Sensor Data:

+5V
+5V

SENSO
R

H
T
1
2 GND
E

This is the way in which the data collected from the Sensor will be transmitted via
the wireless interface. The Sensor collects the environment data and that data will
be analog in nature. So, before transmitting by an RF transmitter we have to
convert it to digital. This is done by an in-built ADC which will be present in the
microcontroller. Then the data will be encoded by using HT12E for converting the
data to the format which is suitable for RF transmission. Finally by using an RF
Transmitter module (TXM-433) we will transmit the data.

Communication between the Sensing Mote and Robot

The communication between the mote and the robot’s computer follows a simple
command-and-response protocol. After the robot approaches a sensing node, it
waits for a beacon message to verify that the node is still alive. After it receives the
beacon, the robot initiates the data download process. If on the other hand, a
beacon is not received within a predetermined amount of time, the robot proceeds
to the next sensing mote on its path.
This is the way in which the collected Sensor data will be transmitted to the Mobile
Robot. The RF Receiver (SILRX-433) is used to receive the wireless signal from the
Sensor transmitter. Then the data should be decoded before passing it to the
microcontroller. The decoded data is then sent to the Microcontroller. This received
data is nothing but the collected Sensor data. And there is one more task which has
to be done here, i.e. we have to move the robot as per the pre-defined path. So for
moving the Mobile robot we have to use a Motor Driver for driving the motor which
in turn moves the Robot. The motor driver which is used here is L293D IC. Now at
the end of this stage the Sensor data has been transmitted to the Mobile Robot. The
next task is to send this data from Robot to PC, i.e. the base station.
Mobile Robot to PC:

This is the Schematic of RF Receiver which is present at the PC end. The RF data received is
decoded and then given to the MAX233 which is then given the Serial port of the PC. The data
can be displayed in the HyperTerminal or there are applications which are used to monitor the
received data. One such type of software is DDE I/O Server which is used a as Data Acquisition
for Microcontrollers.