Original Paper

Measurement and Control

2022, Vol. 55(3-4) 136–145
Arduino Uno Wi-Fi DeMilitarized Zone-based © The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
monitoring of solar photovoltaic systems sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00202940221090553
journals.sagepub.com/home/mac

Mounir Bouzguenda, Slim Chtourou, Mohammed Alarfaj ,

Raja Mohamed Sumsudeen and Mohamed Shwehdi

Abstract
Due to global warming, governments around the world are focusing on renewable energy as the main source of energy. Gulf
countries in particular, are focusing on solar energy due to its abundance and the gulf geolocation that allows the installation of
ambitious solar photovoltaic (PV) energy systems and replace conventional power plants. In order to maximize energy
extraction from the sun, solar power operators need to constantly monitor key solar PV parameters such as panel tem-
perature, solar irradiation, voltage and current in order to detect abnormalities in the PV system operation and take the
necessary actions to keep the PV system performance at its maximum. However, monitoring such parameters on-site is
exhausting and expensive. Moreover, remote monitoring for solar PV systems is a more attractive solution once the data
collection, processing and transmission become faster and less expensive. This paper describes the design of a low-cost
remote monitoring system intended for off-grid solar PV systems. The designed remote monitoring system uses a com-
bination of an Arduino Uno Wi-Fi demilitarized zone (DMZ) communication system with router-configured network sensors
calibrated to fulfill the IEC-61,724 standards and it provides meteorological and electrical measurements with an error of 2%
or less. There are four primary features of the proposed monitoring system. First, it combines the Arduino Uno Wi-Fi with a
DMZ configuration in the router. Second, it complies with the minimum current, voltage, power, and PV-module tem-
perature values set by the IEC-61,724 in such a way that the average error does not exceed the 4% threshold. Third, it
provides an accuracy level of 98% for the meteorological and electrical parameters. This level of accuracy exceeds that of
commercial data logging equipment. Finally, its total cost is less than $100, which is less than that of available commercial solar
PV monitoring systems. Additional features include the ability to select the number of processed measurements per hour and
innovative processing, display, and access schemes. These features enable the accessibility of the data from mobile phones and
computers within the campus for teaching and experimentation purposes.

Keywords
Online monitoring system, solar photovoltaic power system, Wi-Fi, Arduino Uno Wi-Fi demilitarized zone communication
system

Date received: 28 May 2021; accepted: 4 February 2022

Introduction and batteries becomes important to ensure the continuous

In the harsh weather conditions of Saudi Arabia, solar panel
component failures can reduce the reliability and energy
production of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, thus in-
creasing maintenance and repair costs. Hence, effective
condition monitoring with data archiving and analysis is
crucial for maintaining the effective operations and high-
energy production of future PV monitoring systems.
Meanwhile, Solar cells equipped with batteries and power
management systems were used to provide electricity for
disaster monitoring systems, for structure health monitor-
ing, for aquaculture monitoring and underground mining
area monitoring.1 Such systems were placed in remote and
inaccessible areas and therefore monitoring such solar cells
power supply to the monitoring systems.
With the increasing adoption of PV systems for grid-
connected and off-grid applications in Saudi Arabia, solar PV
owners and operators should equip their facilities with remote
monitoring systems. This becomes of paramount importance
if the facilities are geographically widespread and in remote
Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Faisal
University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia
Corresponding author:
Mohammed Alarfaj, Department of Electrical Engineering, College of
Engineering, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa 31982, Saudi Arabia.
Email: mkalarfaj@kfu.edu.sa

Creative Commons CC BY: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
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further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-
us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Bouzguenda et al.
areas such as deserts and mountainous areas. However, a
thorough search for dedicated monitoring systems for solar
PV installations in Saudi Arabia indicates that such moni-
toring systems exist at the time being only for wind and solar
resource assessment in select Saudi universities and renewable
energy research institutions. These systems are equipped with
a range of sensors to measure radiation, wind speed and di-
rection, humidity, rainfall, shadowing, and other relevant in-
dices. For instance, the 10-Megawatt solar PV facilities owned
by ARAMCO and the Saudi Electric Company2 are well
equipped for energy management and monitoring.
Furthermore, KSA has ambitious solar energy projects of
20 MW and 40 MW in 2023 and 2030, respectively, and an-
ticipates that control, communication, and monitoring tech-
nologies affect the full operation of these megawatt projects.3
In Ref. 4, the authors built a cost-effective data acquisition
system to collect operational PV system information. The
main feature is that the system estimates solar irradiance by
directly measuring the PV panel’s short circuit current,
thereby eliminating the use of expensive tools. Furthermore,
LabVIEW software processes and stores the key parameters,
including voltage, current, and ambient and module tem-
peratures on a dedicated computer. Meanwhile, Ref. [5]
pioneered the development of an unprecedented scheme for
the on-site measurement of PV monitoring systems. The
developed system permits the collection, presentation, and
analysis of operational information. A new data logger in
Ref. [6] has been designed for remote areas in developing
countries using the Arduino open-source electronic platform.
Along similar lines, Ref. 7 designed a system for data
monitoring and indirect PV system control using the Lab-
VIEW graphical user interface facility based on the IBM PC
compatible Windows 2000 environment and the TCP/IP
protocol-based add-on card. The limitations of such a
monitoring system include personnel expenses, location
restrictions, and used in unmanned plant generation systems.
Arduino-based low-cost open-source instruments in-
cluding wireless ZigBee connectivity have been proposed by
Ref. [8] in a system in which the DHT22 is used for tem-
perature and humidity monitoring via direct support provided
by the Arduino IDE technology. The real-time monitoring of
PV parameters can only be accomplished using a few XBees,
a commonly recognized power supply, and passive electronic
components are presented in the work of Ref. [9]. These data
are used as a reference to assess the PV system’s efficiency
and energy-saving capabilities. Along similar lines, Ref. [10]
initiated the application of the Reliance SCADA and the
Arduino Uno on a small solar PV system to monitor voltage,
battery status, and efficiency. The system was built by em-
ploying low-cost sensors including an Arduino Uno-based
microcontroller and software provided by Reliance SCADA.
The microcontroller gathers sensor information and connects
with a laptop via a USB cable. Furthermore, the Modbus
library is uploaded to Arduino to communicate between the
Arduino and the SCADA system via the Modbus RTU
protocol. On the other hand, an Internet PV surveillance
system has been proposed by Ref. [11]. In this system, the
ZigBee system integrates the surveillance scheme. Parame-
ters such as irradiation, temperature, PV output, and grid
inverter output are tracked online for short-term and long-
term performance analysis. The ZigBee-based system was
137
tested on a small-scale grid-connected PV system of 1250
Wp. The results proved that the developed monitoring system
performed as expected. Another alternative is proposed to
monitor the PV panel using a global system for mobile
(GSM) technology.12 The monitoring system PLC. modules
evaluate the individual voltage and power for each PV panel
in this system. With the aid of GSM technology, operators
can view the status of each PV panel via mobile phones. If
any abnormal operation condition arises in any panel, the
operator will receive a message with the relevant data.
Internet Of Things (IoT) has been used in renewable energy
systems monitoring and control. In one,13 the main criteria are
switching between two energy sources without interruption
through a website using the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module to control
the energy sources. This system is cost-effective, and it enables
the user to control the sources of energy manually and remotely
using a smartphone or personal computer. However, no cost was
given in the paper. Other studies reviewed the importance and the
applications of IoT in controlling and monitoring hybrid re-
newable energy systems.14–16
Meanwhile, other research activities focus on modeling
and improving the performance of hybrid energy systems.17
In this study, three control algorithms were designed and
compared in terms of efficient and effective energy of three
different hybrid energy-generating systems. Meanwhile, the
authors claim that the most effective controller method needs to
be accomplished by applying advanced controllers such as
Fuzzy Logic, Fuzzy Proportional, Integral, Derivative (PID),
Neuro-Fuzzy, and Neuro-Fuzzy PID. instead of microprocessor-
based controllers on hybrid energy generating systems.
A recent study reported in Ref. [18] indicates that research
trends of solar PV monitoring systems in the last decade grew
significantly. From 2010 to 2020, the number of research
papers has increased from 2 to 75, respectively. In 2020, there
was a substantial increase from 2017 to 2020, highlighting
the importance of such monitoring systems. This study stated
that the main issues and challenges of monitoring are data
handling and security, signal interference—energy efficiency,
and data transmission range. Such research activities include
the study by Jamil et al. to design an Arduino-based perfor-
mance monitoring system for land and floating solar PV plants.
The central controller is an Arduino Nano which measures PV
parameters, including voltage, current, and output power.19
Vargas et al.20 also implemented a low-cost data logger system
for monitoring remote PV systems using Arduino Uno. The
proposed design complies with the International Electro-
Technical Commission’s criteria (IEC). The Arduino-based
low-cost data logger could operate in remote regions with
economical maintenance expenses. To circumvent Arduino
Uno’s restrictions, the author proposed adding a 12C bus to the
PCB, a Real-Time Clock (RTC), two external ADCs, SD flash
memory, a visual interface, and a power consumption module
to make the system IEC-compliant. The system, however, does
not offer wireless monitoring of the collected data.
Based on the above discussion and to enhance the online PV
monitoring systems, the present paper focuses on designing an
affordable measurement system for a small-scale solar PV
system with a focus on its design, implementation, and trou-
bleshooting capabilities. The system can collect operational
data such as voltages and currents, temperature (ambient and
module), radiation, humidity, and power. Another important
138
feature of the device is the ease with which the performance data
can be accessed through a mobile phone and computer. Unlike
conventional data acquisition systems, the designed controller
code can be easily modified. The user can display the instanta-
neous values of the system input and output parameters using
either a computer or a mobile phone. The DMZ configuration is
used to limit the access to the monitored data to the network
university/enterprise only, allowing therefore only valid employees
to access the data while protecting it from external cyber-attacks. A
small-size prototype was built and tested on campus to implement
and test the proposed hardware and software configurations.
The remainder of this manuscript is arranged as follows. The
next section provides an overview of a PV monitoring system.
Next, A The next section detailed description of the proposed
remote measurement system is presented After that, authors
describe the experimental tests, analysis, and discussion. Finally,
the last section includes the conclusions, design limitations, and
recommendations.
Overview of photovoltaic
monitoring systems
In present-day PV monitoring systems, the four main sub-
systems shown in Figure 1 require careful integration. The
first subsystem is the sensor network. A wide range of sensors
exists that can measure various variables in real-time. The
second subsystem is the signal-conditioning unit. This unit
performs signal amplification and sensor measurement fil-
tering for further processing. The third subsystem transmits
the outputs of the signal-conditioning unit to the fourth
subsystem, which is the data storage and display device. This
device is either a personal computer or a mobile device used
for the real-time display of the processed data based on the
operator’s internal analysis and external commands.
According to the IEC-61,724,21 six groups of parameters need
to be monitored for both on-grid and off-grid solar PV systems.
a. Group 1 – Meteorology: This group includes total ir-
radiance, ambient temperature, airspeed, and direction.
b. Group 2 – PV Arrays: This group includes the output
voltage, the output current, the output power, and the
module temperature.
c. Group 3 - Energy Storage: This group includes the
operating voltage, the storage current, and the dis-
charging current.
d. Group 4 – Load: This group includes load voltage,
current, and power.
e. Group 5 – Utility Grid: This group includes utility
voltage, current, and current from the grid.
Figure 1. General block diagram of a photovoltaic monitoring system.
Measurement and Control 55(3-4)
f. Group 6 – Supporting Supply: This group includes
output voltage, current, and power.
Description of the proposed remote
measurement system
Monitoring system structure
The proposed Arduino-based remote measurement structure
for a single-phase off-grid system is shown in Figure 2; it
consists of four main elements. These elements include the
Arduino Mega microcontroller board, the Arduino Uno Wi-
Fi board, the sensors, and the display.
As per design requirements, the monitoring system reads
the PV voltage and current to calculate the power. It also
measures the solar panel temperature as well as the ambient
temperature and humidity. Figure 3 displays the monitoring
operation flowchart. As the battery is being charged, the
monitoring system measures the battery voltage as well as the
current and compute power. The monitored and computed data
are stored as a CSV file on the SD card at a time interval
specified by the operator. In this case, the data logging frequency
was set at 8 s. The RTC module tracks the measurement time
and date for 24 h. A full day of data storage requires 500 KB,
and a 4 GB SD card can store data for a period of up to 18 years.
Measured data consultation
The measured data can be displayed in one of the following
approaches:
1. On an LCD: The measurement values are displayed
one by one.
2. Opening the CSV file stored on the SD card on-site
would require the operator to be on-site and retrieve
the SD and store the data on either a smartphone or a
computer. During this time, the monitoring data
system stops recording measurements.
3. By retrieving the real-time measurements on a web page.
This can be achieved using the Arduino Uno Wi-Fi Rev2
board which has an embedded Wi-Fi chip providing a
connection to wireless networks. The program will
generate the HTML code corresponding to the page
currently viewed with the data updating every 8 s.
Photovolataic monitoring system
router-configured network
The Internet network at the university uses the WPA2-
Enterprise encryption method. The Arduino Uno Wi-Fi and
Bouzguenda et al. 139

Figure 2. Hardware design of the monitoring system.

even existing Wi-Fi modules do not support such a protocol; it

can only support the WPA2-Personal encryption method.
Thus, the wireless monitoring area is limited to the area
covered by that specific router, which will be of short range.
Consequently, there is a need to use a dedicated router to
connect the system to the wireless network regardless of
whether it is Internet-enabled. To overcome this issue, the
dematerialized zone (DMZ) approach was used in such a way
that even if the router does not have an Internet connection, the
router is recognized within that network and can be accessed
from anywhere in the university as long as it is connected to
the university network through an Ethernet cable. This feature
would allow measurements in labs and classrooms for
teaching purposes. Each Ethernet slot has a unique Internet
Protocol (IP) address assigned by the university IT depart-
ment, and the router IP address remains the same.
It is worth mentioning that the DMZ allows for the router’s
incoming connections to be forwarded to an IP address,
providing the external users with access to the device con-
nected to that address. This is possible given that once the
Arduino Uno Wi-Fi module connects to the router, an IP
address is assigned to it. Further testing revealed that the
Arduino board remembers the latest assigned IP address and
uses it automatically for the next connection if another process
is not using this IP address. This will not be the case since the
router was used solely for this project. Figure 4 explains the
network architecture and data access using the university
system.

Experimental setup
Figure 3. Operation flowchart of the photovoltaic monitoring The proposed PV monitoring hardware is shown in Figure 5.
system. Under standard test conditions (STC) of 1000 W/m2 and 25°C,
140
Figure 4. Photovoltaic monitoring system router-configured network.
Figure 5. Remote photovoltaic monitoring system hardware.
the PV panel has a maximum power of 15 W, an efficiency of
14.12%, an open circuit voltage of 25.02 V, and a short
circuit current of 0.82 A. The maximum power point is
obtained when the voltage and the current are 20.10 Vand 0.72
A, respectively.
The DHT11 sensor measures the panel temperature and
humidity. While the LM35 sensor measures the ambient
temperature. The PV panel, battery voltage, and current
are measured by the Arduino Voltage Module 25V’ and
ACS712 sensors. A PWM charge controller is used to
Measurement and Control 55(3-4)
maintain a constant D.C. voltage while charging the
battery. In addition, the prototype was equipped with
one SD card module for data storage, one LCD, one
Arduino Uno Wi-Fi module, and one Arduino Mega
equipped with the DS3231 Real-Time Clock module. It is
worth mentioning that the ACS712 sensor has the fol-
lowing features:
1. It measures the DC and AC currents regardless of the
current flow direction.
Bouzguenda et al. 141

2. It needs only 5.0 V for operation and measures usually need additional components for data storage and
currents of up to 30 A. management for subsequent analysis.
3. It provides extremely stable output offset voltage,
low-noise analog signal path, and nearly zero mag-
netic hysteresis.
System implementation
The proposed PV monitoring hardware shown in Figure 5 is
Software design tested throughout the design process as well as in the final
stage.
The router was connected to the university network
through an RJ45 cable. By knowing the IP address of this
slot, it was possible to access the router configuration page Solar photovoltaic monitoring system measurements
from anywhere within the university. The DMZ feature is
enabled by accessing the router configuration page for the Figure 6 depicts the online monitoring summary for 6
DMZ setting and specifying the PV system’s IP address. October 2020, at 10:43:57 a.m. and depicts that the panel
The university network administrator executes the above
two tasks. In this project, the router’s assigned IP address is
10.154.28.35. Once the DMZ was successfully deployed,
it is then possible to access the PV data using that same IP
address. The P.V. could then be monitored from any place
within the university. The system can only be accessed
when using the university’s network and is not exposed to
the outer internet, protecting it therefore from external
cyber threats and providing an extra layer of security for
sensitive data.

Economic evaluation
As mentioned in the introduction, the main objective and
features of the proposed monitoring system are to provide
a flexible and low-cost solution. The flexibility is facili-
tated through a distributed architecture through which
information is exchanged employing a wireless protocol
solution. The hardware components were selected based
on open-source projects with a significant cost-
effectiveness threshold to guarantee a low-cost system.
Table 1 lists the monitoring system cost. All prototype
components are included. The global cost of the proposed
system is US$96. This cost is lower than those of com-
mercial solutions that usually provide less information
with a lower number of parameters22–25 or do not provide
online monitoring.20 Moreover, these commercial solutions Figure 6. Measurement sample for 6 October 2020.

Table 1. Cost breakdown of the proposed photovoltaic system monitoring system.

Item Unit cost ($) Number of units Total cost ($)

Arduino Uno Wi-Fi Rev2 30 1 30

Arduino Mega 6 1 6
SD card 1 1 1
SD card module 1 1 1
Current sensors 2 3 6
Voltage sensors 2 3 6
LCD modules 1 3 3
Breadboards 1 2 2
Temperature sensors 2 2 4
Wiring 2 1 2
Housing 10 1 10
Solar panel 20 1 20
Solar charge controller 5 1 5
Total cost ($) 96
142 Measurement and Control 55(3-4)

Table 2. Measurement samples for 26 April 2019. power output exceeded its rated capacity and reached
16.99 W.
Time 9: 25 13: 32 17: 00
Table 2 summarizes the experimental results of the solar
PV temperature (°C) 22 26 32 PV monitoring system at three different times during the day
Ambient humidity (%) 49 14 48 on 26 April 2019. The results include 10 quantities, including
Ambient temperature (°C) 20 28 20 the panel and the ambient temperatures.
Radiation (W/m2) 938 330 835 The estimated solar panel efficiency of 13.62%, 13.61%,
PV voltage (V) 13.57 12.55 12.73 and 13.63% at 9:25 a.m., 13:32 p.m. and 17:00 are about 1%
PV current (A) 1 0.38 0.95 less than the 14.12% nameplate efficiency.
PV power (W) 13.57 4.77 12.09 Table 3 summarizes the 1-min measurements on 24
Battery voltage (V) 15.01 12.5 15.01 April 2019, between 13:14:08 and 13:32:03. The maxi-
Battery current (A) 0.9 0.57 0.9 mum, minimum, and average values of each measured
Battery power (W) 13.51 7.13 13.51 parameter are included as shown at the end of Table 3. This
PV, Photovoltaic.

Table 3. Sample of the 1-minute measurements for 26 April 2019.

PV PV Battery PV Battery PV Battery Ambient

Temp Ambient Voltage voltage current current Power power humidity Radiation
Date Time (°C) temp (°C) (V) (V) (A) (A) (W) (W) (%) (W/m2)

26-04-2019 13:14:08 26 28 12.84 12.79 0.28 0.57 3.57 7.31 14 243

26-04-2019 13:15:08 26 28 12.7 12.6 0.38 0.57 4.77 7.19 14 324
26-04-2019 13:16:01 26 28 12.89 12.79 0.33 0.57 4.21 7.31 14 286
26-04-2019 13:17:00 25 28 12.7 12.6 0.33 0.47 4.15 5.96 15 282
26-04-2019 13:19:20 25 28 17.48 17.38 0.38 0.52 6.57 9.08 15 446
26-04-2019 13:20:03 25 28 13.09 12.96 0.38 0.57 4.91 7.4 14 334
26-04-2019 13:21:05 25 28 17.48 17.38 0.38 0.52 6.57 9.08 14 446
26-04-2019 13:22:01 25 28 17.38 17.31 0.38 0.52 6.53 9.04 15 444
26-04-2019 13:23:04 25 28 18.04 17.94 0.52 0.52 9.42 9.37 14 640
26-04-2019 13:24:07 25 28 12.96 12.84 0.08 0.23 1.07 2.94 15 73
26-04-2019 13:25:06 25 28 13.06 12.92 0.02 0.38 0.2 4.85 14 14
26-04-2019 13:26:06 25 29 13.18 13.09 0.11 0.42 1.49 5.55 14 101
26-04-2019 13:27:05 26 30 13.79 13.01 0.03 0.28 0.46 3.62 14 31
26-04-2019 13:28:06 27 31 19.38 12.77 0.18 0.23 3.49 2.92 13 240
26-04-2019 13:29:05 28 31 19.58 12.74 0.13 0.28 2.57 3.54 13 180
26-04-2019 13:30:05 28 32 19.65 12.77 0.13 0.13 2.58 1.68 13 180
26-04-2019 13:31:04 28 32 19.41 12.72 0.18 0.13 3.49 1.67 11 237
26-04-2019 13:32:03 29 32 19.46 12.79 0.03 0.18 0.65 2.3 12 44
Maximum value 29 32 19.65 17.94 0.52 0.57 9.42 9.37 15 640
Maximum value 25 28 12.7 12.6 0.02 0.13 0.2 1.67 11 14
Average value 26.1 29.3 16.2 14.0 0.2 0.4 3.5 5.2 13.8 238.5
PV, Photovoltaic.

Table 4. Sample of 10-second measurements for 22 November 2020.

PV Ambient PV Battery PV Battery PV Battery Panel

Temp temp Voltage voltage current current Power power Humidity Radiation efficiency
Date Time (°C) (°C) (V) (V) (A) (A) (W) (W) (%) (W/m2) (%)

22-11-2020 9:12:43 20 19 2.76 2.81 2.42 2.37 6.67 6.66 46 454 13.83
22-11-2020 9:12:51 20 19 2.71 2.66 2.32 2.22 6.29 5.92 46 428 13.82
22-11-2020 9:12:59 20 19 2.61 2.61 2.47 2.37 6.45 6.19 46 439 13.84
22-11-2020 9:13:06 20 19 2.59 2.61 2.27 2.22 5.88 5.81 45 401 13.82
22-11-2020 9:26:46 20 19 2.17 2.12 2.03 1.88 4.41 4 46 300 13.82
22-11-2020 9:26:54 20 19 2.12 2.2 2.17 2.22 4.62 4.89 46 315 13.83
22-11-2020 9:27:03 20 19 2.03 2.12 1.2 1.25 2.43 2.65 46 165 13.84
22-11-2020 9:27:11 20 19 2.12 2.15 1.05 1.1 2.23 2.36 46 153 13.76
22-11-2020 9:27:19 20 19 3.64 3.61 2.96 3.01 10.76 10.86 46 732 13.84
Maximum value 21 20 3.64 3.61 2.96 3.01 10.76 10.86 47 732 13.84%
Minimum value 20 19 2.03 2.03 1.05 1.1 2.23 2.36 45 153 13.76%
Average value 20.0 19.0 2.28 2.27 1.97 1.99 4.53 4.55 46 308 13.82%
Bouzguenda et al. 143

feature is not currently available and will be added in
future work.
Table 4 includes the 10-s solar panel performance for 22
November 2020, for a time period of 15 min.
The measurements were taken 19 months later than
those of Table 3. Table 4 shows while the ambient tem-
perature remains constant for the entire period, the panel
temperature remains about 1°C below the ambient tem-
perature, while the solar radiation oscillates between
153 W/m2 and 732 W/m2. Meanwhile, the PV power
output varies between 2.23 W and 10.76 W with an ef-
ficiency between 13.76% and 13.84%. The panel effi-
ciency is expected to be high due to low ambient and solar
panel temperatures.

Figure 7. Variation of (a) the ambient and solar panel temperature; (b) the photovoltaic power output and the efficiency of the solar panel
being monitored and (c) the solar radiation using 10-s measurements on 22 November 2020.
144
Figure 7 displays the variation of the ambient and solar
panel temperature; the PV power output and the efficiency of
the solar panel being monitored and the solar radiation using
10-s measurements on 22 November 2020.
Monitoring system power consumption
The power consumption of the proposed monitoring
system was carried out to estimate the energy requirements
over time. The KEWEISI Voltage Current Tester was
connected and displayed the power consumption with and
without data transmission. It was found that the designed
system consumes 1050 mW (at 5 V and 210 mA) and
300 mW (at 5 V and 60 mA), respectively. In contrast to the
system designed in Ref. [20] which does not provide
online monitoring, the proposed system consumes less
power.
System design limitations and future work
Although recent Arduino boards technology has evolved and
has several advantages, including the low cost, the adapt-
ability to various operating systems such as Linux, Windows,
and Macintosh, and flexible programming environment.
Nevertheless, the technology has some limitations, such as
low bit resolution of up to 10 bits, the inability to accom-
modate intricate and advanced systems with sophisticated
platforms, and the ability to manage complex data involving
simultaneous processes. According to comprehensive solar
PV monitoring technologies,26 small-scale PV system
monitoring requires irradiance, panel output voltage, current,
humidity, temperature, load output voltage current, and the
inverter output voltage and current. The last two parameters
were not monitored due to the DC nature of the load and
instrumentation.
Finally, more precise sensors such as the LM36, DHT22,
and D18B20 are chosen. Due to availability limits when the
prototype was created, two independent sensors (LM35 and
DHT11) are used instead. Except for the power range, these
two sensors are Arduino compatible and offer similar features.
The LM35 can be powered by voltage sources ranging from
4 V to 30 V, whereas the DHT11 requires voltage sources
ranging from 3 V to 5.5 V given by the Arduino board. A
summary of the solar PV system performance can be included
at the end of each recording session for future work. This type
of summary provides statistical findings from the recording
session, such as the maximum, minimum, and average values,
as well as the total energy produced by the solar PV system
and consumed by the load since it started operating.
Conclusions
A unique remote monitoring system for PV systems is de-
scribed in this paper. The proposed design is based on a low-
cost and open-source system according to Arduino Uno
Wi-Fi requirements. It gathers both meteorological and
electrical data on-site, providing a wireless architecture ca-
pable of being implemented in most PV installations. It is
capable of reading, processing, displaying, and storing critical
parameters including solar radiation, the ambient and solar
module temperatures, air humidity, voltages and currents of the
Measurement and Control 55(3-4)
solar panels, the charging current, the discharging current, and
the load current and voltage. To overcome the university
network encryption issue, the authors proposed a DMZ ap-
proach so that the designated router is recognized within that
network and accessed from within the university without
exposing it to external unauthorized access. This feature would
also allow the lab and course instructors to access the solar PV
performance data. The sensors were calibrated, and the re-
sults comply with the IEC-61,724 minimum accuracy values
in terms of current, voltage, and power. The PV-module
temperature was reported with an average error of 4% or
less. Moreover, data are measured with an error of 2% and can
be accessed from a mobile phone or a computer.
From an economical perspective, the proposed monitoring
approach is less expensive than current commercial solu-
tions. Table 1 provides detailed cost information. Sensors and
hardware requirements for the gateway and related nodes are
included in the price.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for
the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work
was funded by Deanship of Scientific Research, King Faisal Uni-
versity (186352).
ORCID iD
Mohammed Alarfaj  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6089-9319
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