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SELECTING MCU TO CREATE WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS IN AGRICULTURE MONITORING AND CONTROL

satisk kumar
Prodigy 105 points
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC2530, Z-STACK, CC2591, CC2530EM

sir,

 I am a student pursuing M.E in EMBEDDED SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY, now i am in final year and selected project area in WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS(WSN).

        Actually I need to create WSN in AGRICULTURE sector.

I need to sense soil moisture, Humidity,atmospheric temperature , co2 percentage i air etc., and need to process this values and need to transmit this values to the control room which would be around  1Km from field. For this application i am planing to use WSN. FOR that purpose I require a MCU and RF transceiver. I found that Zigbee(IEEE802.15.4) is best technology which consumes less power so that WIRELESS SENSOR NODE can work with battery back up to one year and more.

        Also i need to create mesh topology between the Wireless sensor nodes so that i can save power. also i need to install  TinyOS on the MCU .

I also attached a picture which would make you under stand more clearly  about my project idea sir .

 MCU with 128k of flash RAM is enough.

When i gone through TI product list I found that CC2530 has MCU+Zigbee modules in single chip(SoC) does i suites my application or not.

 Suggest me which one is best for low power wireless sensor networks i agriculture sector.


                                 THANKING YOU

  • 0
    Guru 31280 points

    Hi Satisk,

     

    It sounds like the cc2530 is the best solution for your project.

    Two things I have to add:

    1. The distance can be a problematic issue here, even in an open field like environment.
      So it probably be wise to get the cc2530+cc2591 RF front end in order to extend the
      distance between nodes.
    2. In case you want to run the full ZigBee mesh networking, you have to run the Z-Stack,
      therefore, the cc2530 with 128K of flash aren't suitable (if you thinking in short 
      time-to-market concept), so my suggest, cc2530 with 256K of FLASH.
      One more thing to keep in mind, if you are choosing to use the Z-Stack, you will probably
      have to add routers (as the default setting to ZigBee - single parent can have no more
      than 14 children, however it is subject to change). Routers aren't sleeping devices, thus,
      should be, but not have to, powered from the grid (solar power can be a solution here).

    So take this fact into consideration.

    Do you have any budget/budget limitation?

     

    Good luck with your project!

     

    Br,

    Igor

     

  • 0 in reply to Igor Sherer
    Prodigy 105 points

    sir 

    thank you for ur suggestion .

    my budget limitation is around 15k to 20k.

    i am planing to establish three sensor nodes and one gateway.

    please suggest me the  hardware requirements.

    whether TI provides any deveolpment kits or else should i bulit it on my own by purchasing the cc2530,cc2591 if so what type of antennas should i required,connectors and circutary to construct this all.

     which software are required.

     thank you  sir

  • 0 in reply to satisk kumar
    Guru 31280 points

    Hi Satisk,

     

    For your project you can purchase the following kits:

    1. Two cc2530-cc2591 Evaluation Module kits, which will provide you with 4 cc2530+cc2591EM 
      (evaluation modules). Price per kit is ~100$
    2. One "cc2530ZDK (ZiGbee Development kit)" includes (price ~650$):
      a) Two smartRF05EB boards (essential for downloading code to evaluation modules
      and debugging, etc..)
      b) 7 cc2530EM (Evaluation modules, attached to smartRF05EB or smartRF05BB, can act like
      any logic ZigBee device) 
      c) 5 Battery boards (Can be placed with batteries for far distances with any of above mentioned
      Evaluation Modules)
      d) One USB dongle (essential for debugging wireless networks and can act as an USB gateway).

    Regarding the software:

    1. For writing the microcode and debugging you will have to work with IAR EW for 8051. You can get
      an evaluation version (30 days free of charge), the license is pretty expensive.
    2. Z-stack, ZigBee stack from TI (free of charge). Distributed with a lot of examples and valuable tools.
      Using it will save you a lot of time. Even if you are not familiar with the device nor with Z-stack, a
      significant progress and results can be achieved during first month of evaluation. 
    3. SmartRF flash programmer, useful tool provided by TI (also free). This tool covers a lot of devices,
      so you better have this one at your disposal once you've decided to work with TI devices (not all of
      them of course) :).
    4. SmartRF Packet sniffer, free of charge SW for sniffing wireless traffic (works along with hardware
      like USB dongle).

    Building (designing) your own PCBs, Antennas and connectors:

    1. You can use the Evaluation modules as is, those are relatively small and comes with dedicated
      antennas. So basically no new design is required.
    2. Connecting sensors to the Evaluation Modules (in other words to the cc2530 SoC), the battery
      boards in the cc2530ZDK should be enough for connecting any sensors to it, so do a little
      adjustments and you are set (again, it is your consideration, as only you know what kind of sensors
      you want to attach and what type of interfaces needed for these sensors).

    Misc:

    1. Still, the distance can be an issue here, so you have to know for sure what these devices 
      are capable of (meaning distances), and whether it suits your requirements!
    2. Every kit, device and software comes with (a lot of) documentation, so before you dive into  
      conclusion, I kindly suggest you to read the relevant documentation\design notes (It is true that
      sometimes it is hard to know what is relevant and what is not, so here's your chance to post
      questions and be answered). As my team leader says, if it doesn't work for the fifth time now,
      read the manual, it should take you through. 

     

    As a matter of fact I'm not familiar much with other devices (like cc1111, etc..) may be those are better for

    your project, so please hear at least one more advice of an (TI) expert who can pinpoint you to the

    differences, pros and cons. In that way you will have the complete information to make the "right" choice.

     

    If you have any additional questions, feel free to ask.

  • 0
    Prodigy 220 points

    may i know which sensors  and controller you have used for your project.

  • 0 in reply to Igor Sherer
    Prodigy 220 points

    Igor,

    may i know where and how can i connect external analog or digital sensors to the battery boards of cc2530zdk.

  • 0 in reply to sri vytla
    Intellectual 560 points

    Hello sri vytla,

    "may i know where and how can i connect external analog or digital sensors to the battery boards of cc2530zdk."

    I think  this was already answered in a different post.  Anyway again the answer is do you know the available pins of CC2530 that you are using.   Kindly read and understand which GPIO pins & interfaces are available.  See what sensors can be used with these available GPIO and interface pins then decide.

  • 0 in reply to Igor Sherer
    Intellectual 560 points

    Hi ,

    I think with the suggestions from Igor, Satish your budget will shoot up.

    My advice for you is, come up with a small number of sensors and devices and find out all low-cost options. May be see "Zigbee Mini Development kit" that was discontinued by TI ( I am not sure) but available in digikey.

  • 0 in reply to Karthikeyan Janardhanan
    Prodigy 10 points

    hello, can you suggest me what component i have to use in solutions with more 120 nodes ZeeBee.

    thanks

  • 0 in reply to SignalSensor
    Prodigy 220 points

    hi,

    I am using cc2530ZDK for my project. in my project i need to log the data for all the day..but the kit stops responding after some time and the zsensor monitor software shows "sink no response". how to solve this problem and make the sink respond continuously..please help..

  • 0 in reply to sri vytla
    Guru 735685 points

    Hi sri,

    Would you specify which Z-Stack version and what example you use to test? Your descriptions for the problem are too rough.