In the era of rapid technological growth, we are facing increased energy consumption. The question of using renewable energy sources is also essential for the sustainability of wireless sensor networks and the Industrial Internet of Things, especially in scenarios where there is a need to deploy an extensive number of sensor nodes and smart devices in industrial environments. Because of that, this paper targets the problem of monitoring the operations of solar-powered wireless sensor nodes applicable for a variety of Industrial IoT environments, considering their required locations in outdoor scenarios and the efficient solar power harvesting effects. This paper proposes a distributed wireless sensor network system architecture based on open-source hardware and open-source software technologies to achieve that. The proposed architecture is designed for acquiring solar radiation data and other ambient parameters (solar panel and ambient temperature, light intensity, etc.). These data are collected primarily to define estimation techniques using nonlinear regression for predicting solar panel voltage outputs that can be used to achieve energy-efficient operations of solar-powered sensor nodes in outdoor Industrial IoT systems. Additionally, data can be used to analyze and monitor the influence of multiple ambient data on the efficiency of solar panels and, thus, powering sensor nodes. The architecture proposal considers the variety of required data and the transmission and storage of harvested data for further processing. The proposed architecture is implemented in the small-scale variants for evaluation and testing. The platform is further evaluated with the prototype sensor node for collecting solar panel voltage generation data with open-source hardware and low-cost components for designing such data acquisition nodes. The sensor node is evaluated in different scenarios with solar and artificial light conditions for the feasibility of the proposed architecture and justification of its usage. As a result of this research, the platform and the method for implementing estimation techniques for sensor nodes in various sensor and IoT networks, which helps to achieve edge intelligence, is established.

Energy efficiency, sustainability, and renewable energy sources are becoming increasingly relevant topics in today’s world. Buildings are one of the largest consumers of energy in society, and as such, improving their energy efficiency by reducing unnecessary energy loss and utilizing solar power is crucial. This paper comprehensively analyzes a neighborhood with buildings characteristic of the researched area by applying empirical and theoretical methods and calculations that have been proven in numerous individual cases. The main contribution of this paper is its demonstration that implementing methods to increase the energy efficiency of buildings and utilizing the potential of solar power can result in significant savings in energy consumption, increase the energy sustainability of the analyzed buildings, and substantially reduce the negative environmental impact. The novelty of this study lies in the location and multiple software applications for data analysis. The data and conclusions obtained in this paper serve as a foundation and path towards sustainable development in the field of energy efficiency for buildings in this and similar areas. Heat loss was calculated by analyzing households in the urban neighborhood of Nova Kolonija. All analyzed houses exceeded the maximum allowed annual required energy for household heating (75 kWh/m2). After the reconstruction and implementation of the proposed measures to increase energy efficiency, all houses met the requirements and entered a higher energy class, C. Energy for heating was reduced from 9294.68 kWh/a to 4641.84 kWh/a, representing a reduction of 50.03%. Simulations were conducted regarding solar rooftop power plant installation of 5655 Wp capacity. Software that was used included: a Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (PVGIS), Photovoltaic System software (PVsyst 7.3.), and Photovoltaic Design and Simulation software (PV*SOL). The results of the analysis indicated that the average amount of electricity produced is 6186.98 kWh, which meets 98.12% of households’ annual electricity consumption of 6278.41 kWh. The paper contributes to the existing body of literature and provides significant insight for both practical implications and future studies.