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Applied Sciences
Volume 12
Issue 3
10.3390/app12031130
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Communication

A Comparative Analysis between Battery- and Solar-Powered Wireless Sensors for Soil Water Monitoring

by
Zisis Tsiropoulos
1,
Ioannis Gravalos
1,
Evangelos Skoubris
2,
Vladislav Poulek
3,
Tomáš Petrík
3 and
Martin Libra
3,*
1
Department of Agrotechnology, School of Agricultural Sciences, University of Thessaly, Periferiaki odos Larissas—Trikalon, 41500 Larissa, Greece
2
Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics Engineering, School of Engineering, Agiou Spyridonos, University of West Attica, 12243 Egaleo, Greece
3
Department of Physics, Faculty of Engineering, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(3), 1130; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031130
Submission received: 21 December 2021 / Revised: 19 January 2022 / Accepted: 20 January 2022 / Published: 21 January 2022
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Abstract

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) have found wide applications in many fields (such as agriculture) over last few years, and research interest is constantly increasing. However, power supply to the sensor nodes remains an issue to be resolved. Batteries are usually used to power the sensor nodes, but they have a limited lifetime, so solar energy harvesters are a good alternative solution. This study provides a comparative analysis between battery and solar energy harvesters for sensor nodes used for soil water monitoring. Experimental results show that small-sized solar panels with low-power energy harvester circuits and rechargeable batteries distinctly outperform secondary batteries in outdoor and continuous-operation applications. The power level of the energy storage device of sensor node 1, which was powered by a small PV panel, remained constantly close to 90% for all days. The power of the other three nodes, which were powered by a rechargeable battery, was initially at 100% of the charge and gradually started to reduce. Sensor node 1 performed a total of 1288 activations during the experimental period, while sensor nodes 2 and 4 behaved satisfactorily and performed a total of 781 and 803 activations, respectively. In contrast, sensor node 3 did not exhibit the same behavior throughout the experiments.
Keywords: wireless technology; sensor node; power source; photovoltaics; solar irradiance wireless technology; sensor node; power source; photovoltaics; solar irradiance

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MDPI and ACS Style

Tsiropoulos, Z.; Gravalos, I.; Skoubris, E.; Poulek, V.; Petrík, T.; Libra, M. A Comparative Analysis between Battery- and Solar-Powered Wireless Sensors for Soil Water Monitoring. Appl. Sci. 2022, 12, 1130. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031130

AMA Style

Tsiropoulos Z, Gravalos I, Skoubris E, Poulek V, Petrík T, Libra M. A Comparative Analysis between Battery- and Solar-Powered Wireless Sensors for Soil Water Monitoring. Applied Sciences. 2022; 12(3):1130. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031130

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tsiropoulos, Zisis, Ioannis Gravalos, Evangelos Skoubris, Vladislav Poulek, Tomáš Petrík, and Martin Libra. 2022. "A Comparative Analysis between Battery- and Solar-Powered Wireless Sensors for Soil Water Monitoring" Applied Sciences 12, no. 3: 1130. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031130

APA Style

Tsiropoulos, Z., Gravalos, I., Skoubris, E., Poulek, V., Petrík, T., & Libra, M. (2022). A Comparative Analysis between Battery- and Solar-Powered Wireless Sensors for Soil Water Monitoring. Applied Sciences, 12(3), 1130. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12031130

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