A Study of the Performance of Solar Cell Powered IoT-based Air Pollution Sensor Node in Indoor Environment

Abstract

The Internet of Things is boosting indoor solar technologies. It is suitable for low-power applications. However, many low-power communication protocols are not widely used in society, despite the fact that user-friendliness is important for implementation. A sensor node for tracking indoor air pollution is introduced. The sensor module can measure up to 100 ppm of carbon monoxide gas concentration and share real-time data via wifi protocol. One cycle of the carbon monoxide measurement process required 1.093 mWh of total energy capacity over a duration of 33.51s to operate. The system power mode strategy uses a minor current consumption of 31.40 mA, while data transmission uses the most, approximately 113.20 mA. The sensor node could be powered on for 726 cycles with a voltage range of 4.1V-3.3V without solar cells. While including solar cells, the cycles increased to 889 (500 lx) and 1056 (750 lx). It can also be optimized by increasing the luminance and solar cell area. All the carbon monoxide gas concentration data were collected to the IoT server and made online for visualization throughout the testing.