Intelligent composting assisted by a wireless sensing network.
Monitoring of the moisture and temperature of composting process is a key factor to obtain a quality product beyond the quality of raw materials. Current methodologies for monitoring these two parameters are time consuming for workers, sometimes not sufficiently reliable to help decision-making and thus are ignored in some cases. This article describes an advance on monitoring of composting process through a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) that allows measurement of temperature and moisture in real time in multiple points of the composting material, the Compo-ball system. To implement such measurement capabilities on-line, a WSN composed of multiple sensor nodes was designed and implemented to provide the staff with an efficient monitoring composting management tool. After framing the problem, the objectives and characteristics of the WSN are briefly discussed and a short description of the hardware and software of the network's components are presented. Presentation and discussion of practical issues and results obtained with the WSN during a demonstration stage that took place in several composting sites concludes the paper.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: marga.lopez@upc.edu.
Marga
M
López
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: xavier.martinez-farre@upc.edu.
Xavier
X
Martinez-Farre
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: jaime.oscar.casas@upc.edu.
Oscar
O
Casas
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: marcos@eel.upc.edu.
Marcos
M
Quilez
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: jose.polo@upc.edu.
Jose
J
Polo
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: oscar.lopez@upc.edu.
Oscar
O
Lopez
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: gemma.hornero@upc.edu.
Gemma
G
Hornero
Iris - Innovacio i Recerca Industrial i Sostenible, Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia, Avda. Carl Friedrich Gauss no 11, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: mpinilla@iris.cat.
Mirta R
MR
Pinilla
Iris - Innovacio i Recerca Industrial i Sostenible, Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia, Avda. Carl Friedrich Gauss no 11, Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: crovira@iris.cat.
Carlos
C
Rovira
Instituto Superior Técnico-UL, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: pedro.m.ramos@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
Pedro M
PM
Ramos
Instituto Superior Técnico-UL, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: bborges@lx.it.pt.
Beatriz
B
Borges
Instituto Superior Técnico-UL, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: hdsm@lx.it.pt.
Hugo
H
Marques
Instituto Superior Técnico-UL, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, Portugal. Electronic address: psgirao@tecnico.ulisboa.pt.
Pedro Silva
PS
Girão
D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D018505:Waste Management; D014867:Water / Q000032:analysis; D059015:Wireless Technology
D012987:Soil; D014867:Water
Composting monitoring; Moisture measurements; Temperature measurements; Wireless sensor network