Footprint Reduction of Sensor Control Modules for Remote Portable Laboratories

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 22; no. 4; p. 1483
• Main Authors: Arghirescu, Sebastian-Alexandru, Drăgan, Maria, Fratu, Octavian
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.02.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Automation; Autonomy; Battery chargers; Battery cycles; Cities; Control systems; Design; Gas leaks; Gases; Indoor air quality; Laboratories; LPG; Nature reserves; Nitrogen dioxide; Outdoor air quality; Pollution levels; Pollution monitoring; Project Report; Remote control; Remote sensors; Robotics; Robots; Sensors; Signal processing; Cities; autonomy; automation; sensors; robots
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s22041483

Following the automation of monitoring systems for pollution levels in cities or protected nature reserves, there comes a need to increase the autonomy of robotic vectors deployed in the field. Thus, it is important to consider the weight that these robots must hold in order to be able to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the environment. A balance must be struck in the size, weight, and complexity of the mobile laboratories used for measurement and the autonomy of robots, especially given that current technology does not allow, in most cases, a completely autonomous battery charging cycle. Thus, in this paper, we consider a microcontroller-based architecture for a mobile laboratory control system that will be used for installation on both an aerial and an aquatic mobile vector. We found that such a system can be repurposed for several sensor types and configurations, thus being able to massively reduce the space allocated when compared to embedded widespread products.