POVOMON: An Ad-hoc Wireless Sensor Network for indoor environmental monitoring

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are a versatile technology that offers the ability to monitor real-world phenomena in detail and at large scale in scenarios where wired infrastructures are inapplicable or expensive. In this paper we present an ad-hoc WSN deployment for indoor environmental quality monitoring in office buildings. The indoor environmental quality and balance between inhabitant comfort level and power demands are the main objectives of this network. The presented system consists of 19 sensor devices continuously measuring vibration, temperature, humidity, light, and carbon dioxide levels in working areas. The power load of the building is measured by dedicated current sensor devices. Preliminary laboratory tests and data sets collected during 4 months of real world operation show that our system provides an accurate monitoring of indoor environmental parameters delivering high data reliability with an estimated lifetime exceeding 1.5 years, without the gas sensors. The paper presents the HW/SW architecture, the network infrastructure of the deployment and analyzes real measurement data.