If you’ve been considering using new technologies to do your environmental monitoring then here are 4 key things that the environmental monitoring technology should have:
So what makes for suitable environmental monitoring communications technology?
#1. Power Consumption
For devices that are required to report from remote locations with minimal servicing and no fixed electrical connection, power consumption must be as low as possible. With processors available designed to live for years on coin cell batteries, transmission power costs must not push the battery life below the limit where regular servicing makes the application unfeasible. Power consumption can be reduced by limiting data rates, using smaller packets and shorter ranges.
#2. Data Rate
The speed at which an amount of data can be transmitted must be high enough to allow all data to be sent in a timely manner but low enough not to cause a power drain. IoT devices typically send very small amounts of data but environmental data capture may require more.
#3. Range
While many IoT applications can be found in urban/industrial/domestic settings, many others will be situated far from a fixed power source or wired data connection. These applications will need to be able to communicate with a network gateway or base station from tens of kilometres away and again, this must be achieved within the power constraints of the system.
#4. Open Source Vs Proprietary
Open-source systems allow a user to modify software and/or hardware to suit the need of the application. While this can allow greater control over a system, a certain level of expertise is required. Proprietary systems, on the other hand, tend to be more straightforward to configure and maintain with the caveat that usage will incur costs owed to a service provider.
