Design of a Wireless Cyber–Physical System for Gas Leak Detection With LoRa

Abstract

Gas detection and environmental monitoring have become essential tasks to ensure the safety of people in many industries, such as mining, wastewater treatment plants, semiconductor manufacturing, and chemical manufacturers. To limit risk and keep people safe, it is necessary to monitor the environment where these gases could possibly be present and signal an alarm when a toxic or explosive condition may occur. This article describes the implementation of a low power wide area network (LPWAN) and the use of LoRa technology to design a cloud-based environmental and gas detection system. In the article, ESP32 microcontroller with integrated LoRa modules connected via SPI communication are used to wirelessly send various sensor readings back to the main controller, where dangerous situations will be announced. The various sensor readings include gas value, temperature, humidity, and some important diagnostic information from the end device to signal improper working conditions. Some of the sensors used in this project include electrochemical (gas) and capacitive (temperature and humidity) sensing elements. Since safety is the most important factor in these situations, if an unsafe condition is found, the device will set off an alarm immediately to communicate a problem for a safe evacuation protocol. Using LoRa technology, the data can be sent over large distances of over 1 kilometer to cover entire buildings with only one gateway/main controller, and low power consumption will require minimal maintenance and updates. The novel solution presented also offers real-time monitoring and predictive capabilities through cloud-enabled features and machine learning for a wider impact. Extensive testing and analysis of latency, power consumption, communication range, and reliability are presented along with practical guidelines.