1
Zigbee based wireless system for remote
supervision and control of a substation
1
Puppala Rajendhar, 2P.Pavan Kumar, 3R.Venkatesh
1
Asst Professor,EEE,2Project Student,3Project student
Geethanjaali College of Engineering and Technology,cheeryala,TS.501301.
rajendhar4u@gmail.com, pavankumar51438@gmail.com,venkateshrathod33@gmail.com
 software. The coordination between the router is assigned by
Abstract - In dissonance with the limitations of present
substation monitoring system,this paper introduced a Zigbee
based wireless network system in traditional online monitoring
system and the wireless online monitoring system.
This system is constituted by a Zigbee sensor network nodes.and
a zigbee coordinator node.The sensor terminal nodes are
comprised by different type of sensors and Zigbee wireless
modules which are spreaded evenly in monitoring area and its
responsibilities are the data acquisition and transmission.The
zigbee coordinator node is the control center and it is
authoritative for network maintenance and data processing. The
innovations of this paper broughts the efficienct monitoring and
controlling.
This project is the prototype for all electrical systems
for which online monitoring and controlling is required.We can
implement in wide range for commercial
buildings,substaions,etc.Here Arduino is used for controlling.and
different zigbees can be interfaced by XCTU and substation
controlling parameters can be monitered by a substation app
which is developed by MIT app developer and Node MCU is a
wi-fi module used for monitoring and controlling of current and
voltage in the current transformer and voltage transformer
respectively and temperature across the transformer.
Keywords: Arduino,Node MCU,Zigbee.
I. INTRODUCTION
Block Diagram Zigbee based wireless system for remote
supervision and control of substation:
In this block diagram we are using zigbees to transfer the
data from one zigbee to the other zigbee through wireless.
This block diagram consists three zigbees.Zigbee1,Zigbee2
are using as routers and Zigbee3 as coordinator. The router
and coordinator configuration is done by using XCTU
XCTU software. The data from the router zigbees of current
transformer and potential transformer is transfered to the
coordinator , by serial communication between the two
routers.
Arduino is used for controlling purpose. The arduino is
programmed to control the zigbee data transfer into zigbee
network and to control the relay switching when commands
are given. Arduino is also used as voltage sensor. The analog
inputs of arduino can be used to measure DC voltage between
0 to 5V.
NodeMCU is used as communication device. It acts as
communication between zigbee coordinator and thingspeak
cloud. The temperature parameters are measured by
temperature sensor (LM35). The coordinator zigbee is
controlled by the Node MCU. The node MCU acts as wi-fi
module to transfer the current, voltage and temperature
parameters to the cloud through the channels internal fields by
using internet as a medium with API keys.
We use talk back and mobile app to give commands to the
relay switching for controlling,the data from the cloud can be
accessed by the multiple users around the globe with the help
of API keys.
Earlier for monitoring and control of remote substations ,we
used devoted communication lines generally runs to the side
of power lines,power line carrier,microwave radio,fiberoptic
cables and also devoted wired remote control circuits have
been applied to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
(SCADA) for substations.
The development of the Zigbee based wireless system
for remote supervision and control of substation made for an
exponential increase in the number of points that could be
economically controlled and monitored from any time and
anywhere through our mobile and thing speak cloud.
II.ZIGBEE BASED WIRELESS SYSTEM FOR
CONTROLLING AND MONITORING OF A
SUBSTATION:
This block diagram consists of different components, each
component has its own operation. The components that we are
using
Current Transformer
Potential Transformer
Relays
Current Sensor
Voltage Sensor
Temperature Sensor (LM35)

Zigbee
Arduino
NodeMCU
Thingspeak Cloud
Mobile Application
Circuit Connection Diagram:
Hardware Model:
III.OPERATION OF THE CIRCUIT
In this circuit we are considering the current flowing from
supply to load as the quantity to be measured.So here we
assume that load current is the output of current
transformer.The power supply is taken from the mains.
The output terminals of the current transformer, i.e. one
terminal is connected to the relay input terminal and the other
terminal is connected to the ACS711 current sensor. The
output terminals of the relay and current sensor are connected
to load. The relay is interfacing with arduino 1. In relay the IN
pin is given to pin8 and Vcc to Vcc and Gnd to Gnd pins of
Arduino.
ACS711 current sensor measures the current by hall effect
and sends the data to arduino through pin out of current sensor
to Ao pin of arduino. To give power to the ACS711 sensor we
are connecting Vcc to Vcc and Gnd to Gnd pins of current
2
sensor to Arduino1. ACS711 sensor sends analog data to Ao
pin. In arduino Ao to A5 are analog pins, we use Ao pin as
analog pin.
The data from the current sensor stored in Arduino1 is send
to zigbee1 by connecting Tx to Rx and Rx to Tx pins of zigbee
and arduino. The power supply to zigbee is given by arduino
by connecting 3.3V to 3.3V, Gnd to Gnd and the data is
transferred through pin9 to Dout ,pin10 to Din. Pin9 and
pin10 are digital pins of arduino, we have 0-13 digital pins out
of that we are using 9 and 10 pins.Pin9 acts as receiver and
pin10 acts as transmitter in arduino. In Zigbee Dout acts as
transmitter and Din as receiver.The data that is sensed by the
ACS711 current sensor is now stored in zigbee1.
In Potential Transformer (P.T) side we are considering
voltage sensor as Arduino 2. Since, the analog inputs of
arduino can be used to measure DC voltage between 0 and
5V.The input power supply of 230V is connected to the
second relay.From relay it is connected to transformer. The
components that we are using in this circuit works between a
range 3 to 5V DC. So we cannot measure 230V directly, the
230V AC supply is stepped down to 9V by using step-down
transformer. The 9V AC supply is rectified to pure DC by
using bridge rectifier and capacitor. The output of the bridge
rectifier is 5V DC supply and is given to the Arduino2 to
measure the voltage. We can also vary the output of the bridge
rectifier by varying the variable resistors.The relay IN pin is
connected to pin5 of the arduino2. To give power to the relay
we connect Vcc to Vcc and Gnd to Gnd pins of relay to
arduino.
The output of the rectifier is given Ao and Gnd pins of
arduino. The arduino2 is used as voltage sensor and the
voltage is send to analog pin Ao. The data in arduino2 is
converted to digital signal and is sent to zigbeee2 through pins
pin11 to Din and pin10 to Dout. We use pin10 as receiver and
pin11 as transmitter. In zigbee we use Dout pin as transmitter
and Din pin as receiver, we connect 3.3v to 3.3v and Gnd to
Gnd pins of Zigbee2 to give power to zigbee from
Arduino2.The arduino measures the voltage and sends the data
to zigbee2.
Here we are using zigbee1, zigbee2 as routers and third
zigbee as coordinator. The router and coordinator initialization
is done by using XCTU software. The data that is received by
the zigbee1 and zigbee2 is send to zigbee3 through wireless.
The data can transfer up to 100mts i.e. line of sight range
between router and coordinator. The range of coordinator is
limited Routers are send to
extend the zigbee networks. Zigbee communication is
limited to 100mts range and they are placed within the range
of other nearby routers to form a mesh network.They connect
the end users with coordinator. The zigbee1 transfers current
value and zigbee2 transfers voltage value to the zigbee3.
The zigbee3 is connected to NodeMCU. The power supply
to zigbee3 is given from the NodeMCU through 3.3v to 3.3v
and Gnd to Gnd pins. In NodeMCU we have 9 digital pins out

of them we are using D5, D6 pins to transfer the data from
zigbee to nodeMCU. We connect the pins Din to D6 and Dout
to D5, here D5 acts as receiver and D6 acts as transmitter.
LM35 is a temperature sensor. Here we are using this to
measure the temperature of the transformers. LM35 is having
three pins, we connect Vcc to 5V and out pin to A1 of arduino
and Gnd to Gnd of NodeMCU. In arduino ground terminal is
not available therefore we are using NodeMCU Gnd pinl.The
data from zigbee3 is transferred to NodeMCU.
NodeMCU is an open source IOT platform. It is used to
upload the data into the cloud. ESP8266 is an effective, low
priced Wi-Fi module for providing Wi-Fi feature for a
microcontroller. This module can also be reprogrammed to
function without connection to a larger system of Wi-Fi
connected device.
IOT is the inter-networking of physical devices and other
items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators
and network connectivity. The basic concept of IOT is to
make entire world deeply and widely connected.
The data from NodeMCU is uploaded into thingspeak
cloud. In thingspeak we can monitor the current, voltage and
temperature values in the forms of graphs with respect to time.
The data is continuously uploaded into the cloud as the
sensors senses the values continuously.
The above figure shows us the graphical representation of
current, voltage, temperature values.
By using thingspeak not only monitoring we can also
control the switching operation of the relays by giving the ON
and OFF commands in Talkback.
Graphical representation of values in things peak
MOBILE APPLICATION CONTROLLING AND MONITORING
SCREENS
3
We can also monitor the same values in Mobile
Application. The data from the Thingspeak is retrieved into
the mobile application.By using this mobile application we
can also control the relays.
The above figure is the screenshot of the mobile application
that we have used by using this application we can monitor the
current, voltage, temperature values and also we can control
the current transformer relay and potential transformer relay.
If we give OFF command to the current transformer, the
command gets uploaded into the cloud from cloud it is
received by the NodeMCU. The NodeMCU sends the
command to arduino through the pins D1to 5 and D2 to 4 pins
of NodeMCU to Arduino. The arduino sends low command to
the relay then the relay gets turned OFF.
If we give ON command to the current transformer, the
command gets uploaded into the cloud from cloud it is
received by the NodeMCU. The NodeMCU sends the
command to arduino through the pins D1to 5 and D2 to 4 pins
of NodeMCU to Arduino. The arduino sends high command
to the relay then the relay gets turned ON.If the current value
exceeds 1.5A the relay gets automatically turned OFF.
If we give ON command to the potential transformer, the
command gets uploaded into the cloud from cloud it is
received by the NodeMCU. The NodeMCU sends the
command to arduino through the pins D3 to 7 and D4 to 6 pins
of NodeMCU to Arduino. The arduino sends high command
to the relay then the relay gets turned ON.
If we give OFF command to the potential transformer, the
command gets uploaded into the cloud from cloud it is
received by the NodeMCU. The NodeMCU sends the
command to arduino through the pins D3 to 7 and D4 to 6 pins
of NodeMCU to Arduino. The arduino sends low command to
the relay then the relay gets turned OFF.If there is any over
voltage occurred the relay gets turned off automatically.If the
temperature of the transformer exceeds 50 degrees the relay
gets turned off automatically.
IV.CONCLUSION:
The supervision and control of substation using Internet of
Things(IOT) has been experimentally proven to work
satisfactorily by connecting relays to the Transformers were
successfully controlled remotely through internet. The
designed system not only monitors the sensor data, like
voltage, current, temperature but also actuates a process
according to the requirement, for This control system is
modelled for multiple output and input arrangements for
substation applications. The module is pocket
sized,quiet,flexible which performs different I/O operations
remotely over Zigbee module. There are different drawbacks
of existing system like difficult of wiring, high maintenance
cost and limitation of control range of the system. This system
is implemented to overcome the limitations of existing
system.This System avoids the need to send the service
person to the particular application & control the industry.
Thus it saves labour, time & money.
The system is implemented with Zigbee interface is
showing good performance. It is suitable for real-time
monitoring of substation paramerers. Moreover this system
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has a wide variety of applications such as supervisory data
control, remote monitoring and controlling etc.
This system will help in monitoring and control the substation
parameters. Use of Zigbee communication protocol helps in
reducing the wires and hardware significantly. Remote
monitoring and controlling is possible. Large network
capacity: One ZigBee network contains one master
device(coordinator) and maximum 254 slave devices(router).
There can be as many as 100 ZigBee networks within one
area. When not required zigbee goes into standby mode and it
also uses less power for communication hence power is
conserved.
6.“Design and Development of Advance Industrial
Automation based on Embedded ARM and Real Time
OperatingSystem”MAY2010, International Conference.
7.“Study on ZigBee technology” Electronics Computer
Technology (ICECT), 2011 3rd International Conference.
8.“Secured Wireless Communication for Industrial
Automation and Control”,978-1-4244-8679-3/11/$26.00
©2011 IEEE

V.FUTURE WORK:

The future work includes increasing the distance between

monitoring and control section by increasing the number of
nodes i.e. creating star, mesh topology etc. The other
parameters of substation such as circuit breaker can also be
monitored and automatic control of the system can be included
in future work.
Using this system as framework the system can be expanded
for energy monitoring, or weather stations. This kind of a
system can be the best alternative where human invasion is
impossible or dangerous, and it can also be implemented for
environmental monitoring with respective changes.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

Mr.S.Praveen,Projectstudent (praveendragon33@gmail.com)
and HOD of EEE department of Geethanjali College of
engineering are well acknowledged for their contribution and
support in making this prototype with best performance.

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