Low-cost wireless condition monitoring system for an ultracold atom machine

Abstract

We present a flexible wireless monitoring system for condition-based maintenance and diagnostics tailored for dynamic and complex experimental setups encountered in modern research laboratories. Our platform leverages an Internet-of-Things approach to monitor a wide range of physical parameters via wireless sensor modules that broadcast to a networked computer. We give a specific demonstration for a so-called ultracold atom machine, which is the workhorse of many emerging quantum technologies and marries a broad spectrum of equipment and instrumentation into its setup. As a distinctive feature, our monitoring system taps into physical parameters of the ultracold atom machine both via customized sensor modules that directly perform measurements, and via modules that recruit and annex constituent instruments of the machine for the additional purpose of retrieving information for diagnostics.