Design of a Wireless Sensor Network for Long-term, In-Situ Monitoring of an Aqueous Environment

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 2; no. 11; pp. 455 - 472
• Main Authors: Yang, Xiping, Ong, Keat G., Dreschel, William R., Zeng, Kefeng, Mungle, Casey S., Grimes, Craig A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2002
• Subjects: Acoustics; aqueous environment; Communication; Drinking water; Electrical engineering; Materials research; Power supply; Process controls; sensor array; Sensor network; sensor node; Sensors; underwater; Water quality; United States > US
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s21100455

An aqueous sensor network is described consisting of an array of sensor nodes that can be randomly distributed throughout a lake or drinking water reservoir. The data of an individual node is transmitted to the host node via acoustic waves using intermediate nodes as relays. Each node of the sensor network is a data router, and contains sensors capable of measuring environmental parameters of interest. Depending upon the required application, each sensor node can be equipped with different types of physical, biological or chemical sensors, allowing long-term, wide area, in situ multi-parameter monitoring. In this work the aqueous sensor network is described, with application to pH measurement using magnetoelastic sensors. Beyond ensuring drinking water safety, possible applications for the aqueous sensor network include advanced industrial process control, monitoring of aquatic biological communities, and monitoring of waste-stream effluents.