A web-based monitoring system as a measurement tool in greenhouses using wireless sensor networks

Abstract

In this work, we propose a Web-based monitoring system using wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to measure plant parameters and environmental factors in greenhouses. To detect and send these variables, e.g. leaf temperature, air humidity, a ZigBee-based WSN collects data, which is transmitted by GPRS modules and the Internet to a central computer, and all information, including the dynamic topology of WSNs, can be published via the Web. The system provides flexible configuration options for sensor nodes and transport downlink commands, i.e. sensors can be added or removed flexibly in a node without changing the hardware interface and data center service software. Also, the variance of the received signal strength indicator and link quality indicator (LQI) under different distributions of the growing plants was considered to estimate the network link quality to ensure reliable data transmission in the WSNs. Experiments show that the system is reliable, flexible, convenient, and provides good real-time and scalability characteristics. © 2011 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing.