Design and Implementation of IOT

Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

By
Dhanraj Gupta

Under guidance of
Dr. Ranjan Kumar Behera

SLIET LONGOWAL IIT PATNA

 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the internship project titled “DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF
IOT BASED MONITORING SYSTEM FOR SOLAR TREE” submitted by Dhanraj Gupta
as a part of his summer research internship in Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of
Technology, Patna is an authentic work carried out by him under my supervision and
guidance.

To the best of my knowledge, the matter embodied in the report has not been copied or stolen
from any other source.

Date: Dr. Ranjan Kumar Behera

Place: Department of Electrical engineering

Indian Institute of Technology, Patna

 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Ranjan Kumar Behera, HOD, Department of
Electrical Engineering, IIT Patna, for providing me an opportunity to do an internship and
project on “DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF IOT BASED MONITORING
SYSTEM FOR SOLAR TREE” and making me introduce to a recent topic on which I could
work upon. He was a constant source of booster throughout this project with his valuable
input and guidance on this project.

I sincerely thank all the PhD scholars for their minute but important suggestions regarding the
project work. I would also like to thank Mr. Sanu Kumar, Mr. Vikas Bharti and Mr.
Chintamani Mahapatro for giving their valuable time and playing a vital role in the
completion of this project.

Dhanraj Gupta

(Dept. of Electrical Engineering, SLIET Longowal)

 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

Abstract - Photovoltaic (PV) parameters monitoring is very important for the

implementation and optimum utilisation of solar energy as electricity source. This work
proposes a design of simple, cost-efficient, and low consumption wireless monitoring system
of solar tree enhanced by driving software for recording the system parameters. The
technology of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consists of small devices. Each WSN has its
processing, communication and sensing capabilities. These devices work together to perform
monitoring tasks. The advantages of using WSNs over wired technologies are; self-
organization, flexibility, self-healing and using unlicensed radio frequency channels. The
wireless communication technology utilizes a full duplex digital system using the Zigbee
protocol, based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN).

The wireless monitoring system is integrated with a Zigbee (Router) and an Arduino micro-
controller plus a voltage sensor, temperature sensor, irradiance sensor and a current sensor to
sense the PV panel’s output and measure the weather parameter regularly and transmit the
data to a central unit via Zigbee (Coordinator) and microcontroller for real-time analysis.

The designed system is built and has been applied on field and satisfactory results are
obtained. This work will facilitate preventive maintenance, fault detections of the solar tree in
addition to real time monitoring.

Keywords - Solar tree, renewable energy, IEEE 802.15.4 Standard, wireless sensor network
(WSN), Zigbee protocol.
 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

ABBREVIATIONS
PV Photovoltaic
WSN Wireless sensor network
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network.
LR-WPAN Low Rate - Wireless Local Area
Network
WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network
MAC Medium Access Control
PHY Physical layer
Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers
COO Coordinator
LR-WPAN Low Rate-Wireless Personal Area
Network
GHz Gigahertz
MHz Megahertz
ISM Industrial, Scientific and Medical.
WSN wireless sensor network
kW Kilowatts
mW milliwatts
Zigbee Zonal interconnection global bee
GND Ground
R Resistance
V Voltage
I Current
Amps Ampere
ADC Analog digital converter
DC Direct current
Ω Ohms
ACS Alternative and Direct current sensor
CSMA-CA Carrier Multiple Access with Collision
Avoidance
I/O Input / Output
TTL Transistor-Transistor Logic
ACS Linear current sensor
VCC Voltage Common Connector
PWM Pulse-width modulation
USB Universal Serial Bus
TX Transmit
RX Receive
 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................2

2. System Architecture.............................................................................................................3

2.1 Components Description...................................................................................................3

2.1.1 Microcontroller Arduino UNO....................................................................................4

2.1.2 Zigbee / IEEE 802.15.4…........................................................................................4-6

2.2 Sensors Description ......................................................................................................6-7

2.2.1 Sensors Specifications.................................................................................................8

3. Hardware of the Monitoring Unit…...............................................................................8-9

4. Software Work……………………................................................................................9-10

4.1 Communication protocol….............................................................................................10

4.2 Zigbees initial configuration......................................................................................10-11

5. Result and Analysis.......................................................................................................12-13

5.1 Related work……...........................................................................................................13

5.2 Testing connectivities and networking………………………………………................14

6. Conclusion and Recommended Future Work…….........................................................14

7. References…………………...............................................................................................16

8. Appendix……................................................................................................................17-19
 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 2-1 The overall architecture of the system………………………………………………..3

Fig. 2-2 Microcontroller Arduino UNO……………………………………………………….4

Fig. 2-3 Zigbee S2C module…………………………………………………………………..5

Fig. 2-4 ACS712 and pin diagram of current sensor………………………………………….6

Fig. 2-5 B25 voltage sensor & schematic diagram……………………………………………7

Fig. 2-6 LM35 and top view of LM35………………………………………………………...7

Fig.2-7 Top view of LDR module and schematic diagram of LDR…………………………..7

Fig.3-1 Overall hardware system of the monitoring unit….…………………………………..9

Fig.4-1 Flowchart of data transmission and receiving……………………………………….10

Fig.4-2 Zigbees configuration as Coordinator and Router…………………………………...11

Fig.5-1 Overview of Solar Tree and Data acquisition gateway……………………………...12

Fig.5-2 The Receiver side……………………………………………………………….…...12

Fig.5-3 Output data in the Serial Monitor of Arduino IDE……………………………..........13

Fig.5-4 Output data plotting in Serial Plotter of Arduino IDE……………………….………14

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 - List of components used in the project……………………………………………3

Table 2.2 - Sensors description with schematic diagrams…………………………..............6-7

Table 2.3 - List of sensors with their specifications…………………………………………...8

Table 4.1 - Parameter configurations of the router and coordinator modules…………..........11

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

1. INTRODUCTION
With depleting conventional sources of energy (coal, petrol, etc.) the world is looking
towards renewable energy sources viz solar, wind, tidal etc. Today, solar energy is an
important source of renewable energy which is being developed to replace the usage of fossil
fuels for power generation.

Sun, radiates lot of solar energy onto earth surface and is a perennial source of energy. The
18
amount of solar energy incident on the earth’s surface is approximately 1.5 x 10 kWh/year.
The density of power radiated from the sun (referred to as solar energy constant) is 1.373
2
kW/m [12]. So to utilise this available energy we can install solar PV panels to harness the
incident solar light. Here the individual solar panels are installed on poles and they produce
electricity by absorbing solar energy. However, the space around the pole and below the solar
panel is a huge potential to increase the solar power by many folds, suitably named, “SOLAR
TREE”. The advantage of using “SOLAR TREE” is due to its higher efficiency and less land
requirement than the traditional PV system.

The environmental and electrical factors such as dust, dirt, weather, accidental damage,
power dissipation, solar irradiation, temperature can reduce the efficiency of photovoltaic
(PV) panels . The lack of maintenance of the PV panels can reduce the amount of energy
generated by the panels [2]. Therefore, monitoring the energy output of PV panels will
increase the overall efficiency of the system.

Monitoring the output of panels helps to reduce the power loss from the panels in an array.
Currently, monitoring the PV system can be implemented through using many different
wireless sensors and wired protocols that are available on the market.

This project aims to implement a wireless sensor network (WSN) for monitoring PV panels
based on the ZigBee protocol. WSNs allow for communication and access to the facility of
the sensors. A measurement unit will read the output parameters of all the PV panels in an
array. A transmission unit will send readings to the receiver unit. A demonstration unit will
display the performance of PV panels in order to solve problems on the system, if there any.

The circuit design and the performed measurements were chosen based on their simplicity,
availability, and lower price. The two weather parameters were measured using Light
Dependent Resistor (LDR) for light intensity (irradiance), it is a Non-RoHS Photoconductive
cadmium sulphide, which is a light dependent resistor housed in a case of clear lens window,
its resistance value decreases as the sunlight falling on its window increases [10]. LM35 has
been used as a temperature sensor. The two electrical parameters, load current and PV
voltage were measured by a linear Hall effect current sensor (ACS712 30A) and B25 voltage
sensor respectively. A measurement of ten 20Wp solar panels connected parallely where
monitoring was conducted to test the real-time measurement system. The sampling time has
been selected for a 1 second so as to capture the sudden change in weather that sometimes
required for further analysis. The attained data from the PV are further processed, displayed
over Arduino IDE serial monitor and stored offline using Coolterm software. Therefore, the
method has the advantages of fast processing and offers an easy-to-use graphical weather that
permits the system users to deal easily the collected data with no limit and can be used in
large power capacity in renewable systems.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

2. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The projects architecture consists of two parts. The first part is the transmitting end while the
second part is the receiving end. The transmitting end is composed of PV array, data
acquisition device and Zigbee router while the receiving end is composed of Zigbee
coordinator and remote pc. PV module is monitored using data acquisition device. Data
acquisition device consists of sensors, Real Time Clock (RTC) chip, and microcontroller unit.
Microcontroller collects all the data from sensors and sends it to the Zigbee router. The data
received is transmitted wirelessly to Zigbee coordinator which is connected to remote pc via
microcontroller. The received data will be filtered and categorized before it is saved offline.

Fig. 2.1 The overall architecture of the system.

2.1 COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION

Table 2.1 - List of components used in the project

Sl. Components Quantity Remarks

No.
1 Arduino Uno 2 ATmega328 MCU on board
2 XBee (RF) module 2 Zigbee protocol (IEEE
802.15.4)
3 Charge controller 1 12V, 17A
4 7805 Voltage Regulator 6 -
5 Battery 1 12V, 75Ah
6 Solar Panel 10 20W, 12V

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

2.1.1 MICROCONTROLLER (Arduino UNO)

The Arduino Uno is a micro-controller board which is based on the ATmega328. This section
will give an overview of the main functions. The Arduino Uno board has 14 digital
input/output pins, 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, a power jack, an ICSP
header, a USB connection and a reset button see Figure .The Arduino Uno board is a circuit
for making a computer that can monitor and control sensors which is based on a micro-
controller. It has analog input pins and digital output pins (I/O). Arduino has a development
environment for writing C/C++ program for processing information.

The function of the Uno’s digital pins are; pin mode ( ), digital write (), and digital read ().
The digital pins operate at 5 volts and each pin can deliver or receive a maximum current of
40 mA. Some digital pins also have specialized functions which follow.
The serial digital pin 0 (RX) is used to receive data and () pin 1 (TX) is used to send TTL
(Transistor Transistor Logic) serial data. These are then connected to the corresponding pins
of the ATmega328 USB-to-TTL Serial chip. The Uno has 6 analog inputs from A0 to A5,
each pin provides 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). The voltage pin is from A0
to A5 which measures from ground (Zero) to 5volts.

Fig. 2-2 Microcontroller Arduino UNO

2.1.2 ZIGBEE / IEEE 802.15.4

The IEEE 802.15.4 defines the physical layer and the data link specifications (MAC) for a
low data-rate of wireless communications between the devices with a low power
consumption. The Zigbee relies on IEEE 802.15.4 physical layer and data link (MAC) which
uses Carrier Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA-CA). The ZigBee
specification is available as an unlicensed radio frequency channel 2.4 GHz which is
available to the general public. XBee is a brand of radio that supports a variety of
communication protocols, including ZigBee, 802.15.4, and Wi-Fi, among others [11]. Each

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

ZigBee network will have a single coordinator sensor and every ZigBee network will also
have router sensor or an end device sensor.
The standard that controls this was established to address the applications requirements which
entail; a short transmitting range, low power, low data and for a low cost. Two PHY options
are supported by the IEEE 802.15.4. These are based on a direct sequence spread spectrum.
The 2.4GHz physical layer uses modulation, whereas 780/868/915MHz uses a binary phase
shift keying modulation. Both the 2.4GHz and 868/915 MHz offers a good bit error rate for
performance at a low signal to Noise Ratio. 31 channels are offered by the IEEE 802.15.4
physical layer. Four are in the 780MHz band wave for China (IEEE 802.15.4), 1 in 868MHz
band is used in Europe, 10 in 915MHz for North American countries, 16 in the 2.4GHz are
used throughout of the rest of the world. The nominal radio data rates for these four
frequency bands are 20kbps, 40kbps, and 250kbps. The ZigBee defines specifications for a
low-rate WPAN [10] [13].
The Zigbee provides a multi-hop, self-organized, and reliable star/mesh/tree/peer to peer
networking with a long battery life. Currently, the ZigBee is widely used within WSN
applications. This is because the 2.4 GHz band is an unlicensed RF band throughout the
world. The advantages of using the Zigbee as a suitable protocol for monitor this PV project
is observable above, which is that it is intended to cover longer distances, the ease of
installation, the reliability of the data transfer for a short range operation, using an unlicensed
frequency band 2.4 GHz and supporting reasonable battery life [10] [13].

Fig. 2-3 Zigbee S2C module

The network layer that supports the advanced features of the ZigBee is IEEE 802.15.4. This
creates a set of standards that define the management of its power, error correction,
addressing, message formats, and other point-to-point specifics that are necessary for proper
communication to take place from one radio to another. The ZigBee has a set of layers built
on top of 802.15.4. These layers are routing, ad hoc network and self-healing mesh [10].
The routing tables define the process of one radio passing messages through a series of other
radios on the path to their final destination. An ad hoc network creates an entire network of
radios on the fly, without any human intervention automatically. The self-healing mesh
operates a similar process where it automatically works out if one or more of the radios is
missing and reconfigures the network to repair any broken paths or routes [10].
A ZigBee network is composed of various devices, and each device specializes in certain
types of actions. There are only three kinds of device types. The ZigBee network will have a
single coordinating device and at least one other device, either a router node or an end node
[10]. The Zigbee network will use both and often will be larger than just two or three nodes:

A. The ZigBee coordinator

B. The ZigBee router
C. The ZigBee end-device
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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

(A) Coordinator
A ZigBee network will always have a single coordinator radio device which is responsible for
supporting the network. This includes; delivering addresses, managing the other functions
that define the network, keeping it secure and maintaining its health.
(B) ROUTER
The router is a full-featured ZigBee node which can connect the existing networks. Its
purpose is to send information, receive and route information. Routers need to be
permanently connected to a battery or an electrical outlet to maintain their constant power
source. A network can have multiple router radios.
(C) End Device
The full time power connection and the hardware can seem excessive in comparison to the
job that a particular radio node is designed to do which is sending and receiving information
and connecting networks as well as acting as a messenger between other devices. An option
is to use less expensive hardware and utilising the sleep-mode where they can power
themselves down intermittently which will save energy. End devices always need a router or
the coordinator.

2.2 SENSORS DESCRIPTION

The Internet of Things (IoT) couldn’t exist without smart sensors, and the growing use of smart
technology is already transforming the implementation the IoT. Looking at the definition of IoT, as
well as some of the benefits and real-world use cases, it’s critical to examine how sensors play a
role in this equation. While software, machine-to-machine learning and other technologies work
together to analyse data from physical objects – the sensors are key to gathering the information.
All the smart systems rely on sensors for reliable, consistent and accurate data in all aspects of
automation.

Table 2.2 – Sensors description with schematic diagrams

1. ACS712 30A
The ACS712 provides economical and
precise solutions for AC or DC current
sensing in industrial, commercial, and
communications systems. The device
consists of a precise, low-offset, linear Hall
sensor circuit with a copper conduction path
located near the surface of the die. Applied
current flowing through this copper
conduction path generates a magnetic field
which is sensed by the integrated Hall IC and
converted into a proportional voltage. Device
accuracy is optimized through the close
proximity of the magnetic signal to the Hall
Fig. 2-4 ACS712 and pin diagram of current
transducer. The output of the device has a
sensor.
positive slope when an increasing current
flows through the primary copper conduction
path (from pins 1 and 2, to pins 3 and 4),
which is the path used for current sensing.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

2. B25 Voltage sensor

The B25 voltage sensor measures the DC

voltage in the circuit. The Arduino analog
input is limited to a 5 V DC input. It is
fundamentally a 5:1 voltage divider using a
30K and a 7.5K Ohm resistor. It is restricted
to voltages that are less than 25 volts.

Fig. 2-5 B25 voltage sensor & schematic

diagram.

3. LM35 Temperature sensor

The LM35 series are precision integrated-

circuit temperature devices with an output
voltage linearly proportional to the
Centigrade temperature.. The device is used
with single power supplies, or with plus and
minus supplies. As the LM35 device draws
only 60 μA from the supply, it has very low Fig. 2-6 LM35 and top view of LM35
self-heating of less than 0.1°C in still air.

4. LDR Module

The cadmium sulphide (CdS) or light

dependent resistor (LDR) whose resistance is
inversely dependent on the amount of light
falling on it, is known by many names
including the photo resistor, photoresistor,
photoconductor, photoconductive cell, or
simply the photocell. A typical structure for a
photoresistor uses an active semiconductor
layer that is deposited on an insulating
substrate. The semiconductor is normally
lightly doped to enable it to have the required Fig.2-7 Top view of LDR module and
level of conductivity. Contacts are then schematic diagram of LDR
placed either side of the exposed area. The
photo-resistor, CdS, or LDR finds many uses
as a low cost photo sensitive element.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

2.2.1 SENSORS SPECIFICATION

Table 2.3 - List of sensors with their specifications

SENSORS SPECIFICATION QUANTITY OUTPUT

ACS712 30A Supply Voltage(V) 5 1 Analog
TA (°C) –40 to 85
Optimized Range, IP (A) ±30
Sensitivity, (mV/A) 66
B25 Operating voltage output : 3.3V – 5V 1 Analog
MAX

Input voltage range 0.0245V ~ 25V

MAX

Resistor Value: 30K/7.5K Ohm

Resistor Tolerance: 1%
LM35 Supply voltage(V) 4 to 20 1 Analog
Output voltage(V) -1 to 6
Output current(mA) 10
Maximum Junction °C 150
Temperature, TJmax
LDR Operating Voltage: 3.3V to 5V DC 1 Analog/Digital
Operating Current 15mA
LEDs indicating output and power
Sensitivity adjustable

3. HARDWARE OF THE MONITORING UNIT

This section gives a description of setting up the hardware components for monitoring the PV
panels of the solar tree. In hardware development, data acquisition system is built. In Fig. 2, it
is shown that the data acquisition system is composed of sensors, voltage regulator,
microcontroller and Zigbee router. Several of sensors are used in this project. The
descriptions of all the sensors used in this project are already given above. The voltage sensor
and the current sensor are used to measure the voltage and current across the PV array. In this
project temperature sensor (LM35) is used to measure PV panel temperature and Irradiation
sensor is used to identify amount of light intensity received by PV module.
All the sensors are connected to the analog pins A0, A1, A2, A3 of the Arduino board. The
Arduino board is connected to the Zigbee router where the data collected by the Arduino
from the sensors are sent to the Zigbee router.
The data collected by the router is wirelessly sent to the Zigbee coordinator which is
connected to the PC via Arduino microcontroller. The received data is shown in the host
computer and saved offline using Coolterm software.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

Fig.3-1 Overall hardware system of the monitoring project

4. SOFTWARE WORK

Since this paper propose a new 4 parameters monitoring circuit, which is recognized by the
dispense of additional Microcontroller i.e. Arduino Uno in the monitoring system of such
application. Therefore, the proper functioning of data acquisition system firmware was
developed to access the ZigBee’s microcontroller and manage the data processing though it.
The monitoring project’s software implementation was written in C and uploaded to
microcontroller using an IDE provided by Arduino.

The operation of the software is illustrated in the flowchart shown in Fig. (4-1).
1. Read voltage, current, light intensity and temperature from sensors and convert value to
decimals.
2. Transmission unit operates in cycle loop and sends readings every 1 second.
3. The receiving unit (Zigbee coordinator sensor) received data from the transmission unit
(Zigbee router sensor).
4. It needed to open a serial connection with the ZigBee coordinator and then was connected
with the computer via microcontroller by using a USB port.
5. The incoming data was read as a string and sent to a database.
6. The database portion was connected to Coolterm.
7. When the connection was ensured, the incoming data then could be fed in to the database
table.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

Fig.4-1 Flowchart of data transmission and receiving.

After initialization of all modules, the program goes into the loop part. In the loop part, the
environmental and PV data including the voltage, current, temperature and light intensity
were collected by corresponding sensors. Then the collected data was displayed and stored.
In order for the transmission unit to accept the input from different sensors, the analog signal
input must be filtered and digitized. Ideally the signal must be within acceptable ranges for
the rated values of the Analog to Digital converters within the micro-controller. These
components should allow for DC voltage and the current measurements from an individual
PV panel to be read by the display and store the readings.

4.1 COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL

The communications technique through the serial bus to access the data can be defined as the
serial interface protocol. Zigbee configuration is in transparent mode by default. This work
utilizes the AT mode operation which is synonymous with "Transparent" mode. In AT mode,
any data sent to the Zigbee module is immediately sent to the remote module identified by the
Destination Address in memory. When the module is in AT mode, it can be configured by
the user or a host microcontroller by first placing the module in Command mode and then
sending predefined AT commands through the UART port. This mode is useful when you
don't need to change destination addresses very often, or you have a very simple network, or
simple point to point communication.

4.2 ZIGBEES INITIAL CONFIGURATION

In the beginning, the Zigbees (router and coordinator) were configured with the proper
parameters, so that they could communicate with each other. In both Bee radios, XCTU is
utilized to load the initial parameters as listed in Table 4.1
The designing of such wireless network, the Zigbee RF node acts as a transceiver and has
three different categories; a coordinator, end device or a router.

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A coordinator Zigbee performs as an access point and receives all incoming data packets
from end device or router one. In contrast, the end device node XBee collects, process, and
transmits data packets to a coordinator sensor. It may use a router Bee to act both as a
transmitter and receiver to hand the data packets from-two adjacent end device nodes or
routers.

Fig. 4-2 Zigbees configuration as Coordinator and Router.

Table 4.1 – Configuration parameters of the router and coordinator modules.

Parameter Router Configuration Coordinator Configuration

CH Channel C C
ID Pan ID 2110 2110
CE Coordinator Enable Enable[1]
JV Channel Verification Enable[1]
SH Serial no. High 0013A200 0013A200
SL Serial no. Low 4127FD39 417DD0C
DH Destination Address 0013A200 0013A200
High
DL (Destination Address 417DD0C 4127FD39
Low)
NI Node Identifier ROUTER COORDINATOR
BD Baud Rate 9600 9600
NB Parity No parity[0] No parity[0]
AP API Enabled Transparent mode[0] Transparent mode[0]
IU (Enable I/O Output) Enabled [1] Enabled [1]

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5. RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The Solar Tree and data acquisition equipment are shown in figure 5-1. The PV array of the
Solar Tree consists of ten PV panels connected in parallel. The LDR sensor is installed on the
side of the PV module to ensure the accuracy of irradiance acquisition. The temperature
sensor is also placed on the side of the PV module to measure the temperature. Data
acquisition module collects PV array voltage and current. The data is transmitted by the
Zigbee router module.

Fig.5-1 Overview of Solar Tree and Data acquisition gateway.

Fig.5-2 shows the receiving side where the Zigbee coordinator is connected to the
microcontroller to show the transmitted data on the IDE serial monitor.

Fig. 5-2 The Receiver side.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

The electrical parameters and the weather parameters results were recorded by the monitoring
system. The proposed solution has been assessed through full measurements for solar panels
connected in parallel which is 30 meters far out from the Lab where the measurements were
conducted to test the real-time monitoring system. The sampling time has been selected for a
1 second so as to capture the sudden change in weather that sometimes required for further
analysis. The developed sensor node has been attached to a set of Solar panel modules with
the intend on collecting DC voltage, current, light intensity and temperature, as in Fig. 3-1.
These parameters are sufficient to estimate the I-V, PV and the daily harvested energy curves
for the PV modules. The Collected Data and PV Module Performance for electrical and
environmental data was collected by the sensor nodes taking a 1 Sec sampling time. Figure 5-
3 and 5-4 show the harvested data in Serial Monitor and Serial Plotter.

Fig.5-3 Output data in the Serial Monitor of Arduino IDE

Here in Fig.5-3 the fluctuating nature of the temperature can be observed, its because of the
electrical noise due to long cable between LM35 and microcontroller. So to minimise the
fluctuations we can use a damper circuit across the GND and A1 of the temperature sensor
near the microcontroller board.
In Fig.5-4 the output data is plotted in the serial plotter of Arduino IDE which is a special
feature in the recent IDE 1.8.5 version with auto-scaling of y-axis according to the incoming
data. This makes it easier to analyse the data and detect fault.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

Fig.5-4 Output data plotting in Serial Plotter of Arduino IDE.

5.1 RELATED WORK

The implementation of a wireless sensor network to monitor PV panels’ performance is to

detect any failure. This has been explored and studied by many other projects. A similar
project about a wireless sensor network for monitoring a PV panel based on Bluetooth was
done effectively in Germany but the problem with this project was the short transmission
range of the Bluetooth sensor [9]. Bluetooth is wireless short-range communication between
several devices. Therefore the implementation of Bluetooth requires many nodes to transmit
information.
There was a similar work done on wireless monitoring based on Zigbee protocol but the
shortcoming of the project was the use of Zigbee coordinator without microcontroller on the
receiver side [2]. This led to the finding of complicated applications compatible with the
Zigbee to study the output data.
The zigbee when connected to host computer via microcontroller leads to more accurate and
precise results due to the compatibility of different applications with the microcontroller. And
microcontroller also has its own serial monitor and serial plotter.

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5.2 TESTING CONNECTIVITIES AND NETWORKING

Many challenges were encountered while testing and implementing the monitoring system.
There were many technical challenges that were explored with the existing monitoring
project. Communication was also challenging.
The technical challenges with the Zigbee wireless sensor were internal, such as the power
consumption as well as the networks such as a connection to the Internet. The two aspects
affect each other and make matters more complex for the Zigbee power consumption.
The problem with the current sensor was the initial calibration. The Hall effect current sensor
needs to be calibrated before connecting it to the main circuit.
The increased electrical noise due to long cable between the sensor and Arduino had to be
minimised by using damper circuit across GND and A1 of LM35 sensor.
The multiple graphs plotting in a single window without using separate application for graph
plotting was a major problem so regular changes were made in the Arduino transmitter code
so that multiple plotting could be done easily.

The calculation also occurred in the processing part where a micro-controller read the data,
defined the communication protocol and made the data ready to be transferred. The power
consumption of the Zigbee is a critical factor because it consumed more power in a short time
during the monitoring test. The high consumption was due to processing information inside
the micro-controller and the transmission period.

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDED FUTURE WORK

This work proposes a concept of monitoring the parameters of the ‘SOLAR TREE’. The
presented experimental result highlights that the real-time parameters monitoring for a PV
array can be implemented via only a pair of Zigbees. Commercially power supply is also used
as a DC-DC to maintain the power for active devices. The proposed prototype promises for
high quality available monitoring devices to measure the system performance with more
energy savings. However, providing such low cost systems and tailored to fit user profiles is
a strong start for offering real-time feedback in easy way. Finally, the designed tool is also
useful for the researchers to understand the behaviour of different photovoltaic technologies
in natural conditions and for the analysis of degradations in PV modules with respect to age
and environmental effects.
From this project a series of recommend points have become noticeable for future work:
Implementing and monitoring of multiple solar tree located at different places is possible
and achievable.

Using google drive or iCloud to display the status of the monitoring system would allow
access to the data from any internet linked computer

A human machine interface can be integrated with the LabVIEW or MATLAB to be able
to monitor changes more precisely.

An alert system can be installed for detecting faults in the circuit.

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

7. REFERENCES
[1] R. F. Gusa , I. Dinata, W. Sunanda, T. P. Handayani, “Monitoring System for Solar Panel
Using Smartphone Based on Microcontroller”, 2018 2nd International Conference on Green
Energy and Applications.

[2] A.H. Sabry , W. Z. Wan, Mohd Amran Mohd Radzi, Suhaidi Shafie, “Wireless
Monitoring Prototype for Photovoltaic Parameters”, Article · July 2018
DOI: 10.11591/ijeecs.v11.i1.pp9-17.

[3] Joydip Jana, Hiranmay Saha, “An IoT Based Smart Solar Photovoltaic Remote
Monitoring and Control unit”, Conference Paper · January 2016 DOI:
10.1109/CIEC.2016.7513793

[4] Martín E. Andreoni López, Francisco J. Galdeano Mantiñan, and Marcelo G. Molina,
Member, IEEE “Implementation of Wireless Remote Monitoring and Control of Solar
Photovoltaic (PV) System”.

[5] Ali Almaliky, Alireza Gheitasi, Debbie Hogan, “Development of wireless monitoring
system for photovoltaic panels”.

[6] Oran Chieochan, Anukit Saokaew, Ekkarat Boonchieng, “Internet of things (IOT) for
smart solar energy: A case study of the smart farm at Maejo University”, 2017 International
Conference on Control, Automation and Information Sciences (ICCAIS) October 31-
November 3, 2017, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

[7] Shrihariprasath.B, Dr.Vimalathithan Rathinasabapathy, “A Smart IoT System For

Monitoring Solar PV Power Conditioning Unit”, 2016 World Conference on Futuristic
Trends in Research and Innovation for Social Welfare (WCFTR’16).

[8] Farihah Shariff, Nasrudin Abd Rahim, Wooi ping Hew, “Photovoltaic remote monitoring
system based on GSM”, Conference Paper November 2013 DOI:
10.1109/CEAT.2013.6775660

[9] E. Engineering, "A GUIDE TO PHOTOVOLTAIC (PV) SYSTEM DESIGN AND

INSTALLATION," 14 06 2001. [Online]. Available: http://www.energy.ca.gov/reports/2001-
09-04_500-01-020.PDF. [Accessed 15 05 2014].

[10] L. Houda, A. Hossam and D. S. Costantino, "Wi-Fi™, Bluetooth™, Zigbee™ and

WiMax™," 30 08 2007. [Online].Available: http://books.google.co.nz/books?id =
1DThCUwfRAIC&dq=WI-FI+T+M+,+BLUETOOTH+T+M+,+ZIGBEE+T+M+A+ND+
WIMAX+TM&source=gbs_navlinks_s. [Accessed 26 02 2014].

[11] R. Faludi, "Building Wireless Sensor Networks," 12 2010. [Online]. Available: http://ab-
log.ru/files/File/books/WirelessSensorNetwork.pdf. [Accessed 24 05 2014].

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

[12] Mr A P R Srinivas, Asst Professor, “Design and Development of a SOLAR TREE”,

International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 7, Issue 10, October-
2016 ISSN 2229-5518

[13] Atmel, "Atmel AT02845: Coexistence between ZigBee and Other 2.4GHz Products," 09
2013. [Online]. Available: http://www.atmel.com/Images/Atmel-42190-Coexistence-
between-ZigBee-and-Other-24GHz-Products_AP-Note_AT02845.pdf. [Accessed 26 02
2014].

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

8. APPENDIX
Transmitter unit code

int offset =20;// set the correction offset value

const int lm35_pin = A1; /* LM35 O/P pin */
void setup() {
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop() {
//Serial.print(" Light Intensity:");
Serial.print((Light(analogRead(A3))));
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print(" Lux");

float value = analogRead (A0);

Serial.print(" Current ");
Serial.print((((value-100)*5)/1023)/0.066);
Serial.print(" ");

int volt = analogRead(A2);// read the input

double voltage = map(volt,0,1023, 0, 2500) + offset;// map 0-1023 to 0-2500 and add
correction offset

voltage /=100;// divide by 100 to get the decimal values

Serial.print("Voltage: ");
Serial.print(voltage);//print the voltge
Serial.print(" ");
Serial.print("V ");
int temp_adc_val;

float temp_val;

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

temp_adc_val = analogRead(lm35_pin); /* Read Temperature */

temp_val = (temp_adc_val * 4.88); /* Convert adc value to equivalent voltage */

temp_val = (temp_val/10); /* LM35 gives output of 10mv/°C */

Serial.print("Temperature = ");

Serial.println(temp_val);

Serial.print(" Degree Celsius\n");

Serial.print(" ");

delay(1000);

int Light (int RawADC0)

double Vout=RawADC0*0.0048828125;

//int lux=500/(10*((5-Vout)/Vout));//use this equation if the LDR is in the upper part of the
divider

int lux=(2500/Vout-500)/10;

return lux;

Receiver unit code

void setup( )
{
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop( )
{
while (Serial.available( ) ) {
Serial.write(Serial.read( ));
}
}

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 Design and Implementation of IOT Based Monitoring System for Solar Tree

Dhanraj Gupta is an undergraduate student (Dept. of Electrical Engineering) at the Sant

Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal. He has undergone a
summer research internship on IoT-based project and has also designed and simulated
1KW ‘SOLAR TREE’ at IIT, Patna in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering. He has done a
short term course on Hydro-electric power at NPTI, Nangal and has a basic knowledge of
PLC-SCADA, MATLAB and Simulink.

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