Microcontroller Unit-Based Wireless Sensor Network Nodes: A Review

Abstract

In this paper, a detailed review of microcontroller unit (MCU)-based wireless sensor node platforms from recently published research articles is presented. Despite numerous research efforts in the fast-growing field of wireless sensor devices, energy consumption remains a challenge that limits the lifetime of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology utilizes WSNs for providing an efficient sensing and communication infrastructure. Thus, a comparison of the existing wireless sensor nodes is crucial. Of particular interest are the advances in the recent MCU-based wireless sensor node platforms, which have become diverse and fairly advanced in relation to the currently available commercial WSN platforms. The recent wireless sensor nodes are compared with commercially available motes. The commercially available motes are selected based on a number of criteria including popularity, published results, interesting characteristics and features. Of particular interest is to understand the trajectory of development of these devices and the technologies so as to inform the research and application directions. The comparison is mainly based on processing and memory specifications, communication capabilities, power supply and consumption, sensor support, potential applications, node programming and hardware security. This paper attempts to provide a clear picture of the progress being made towards the design of autonomous wireless sensor nodes to avoid redundancy in research by industry and academia. This paper is expected to assist developers of wireless sensor nodes to produce improved designs that outperform the existing motes. Besides, this paper will guide researchers and potential users to easily make the best choice of a mote that best suits their specific application scenarios. A discussion on the wireless sensor node platforms is provided, and challenges and future research directions are also outlined.

Energy balanced routing protocol based on improved particle swarm optimisation and ant colony algorithm for museum environmental monitoring of cultural relics

“…Sensors, sensing objects and observers are the three basic elements. Sensors in WSNs collaborate with each other to construct a regional cooperative monitoring system, collecting and processing information through wireless transmission [29, 30], as shown in Figure 2.…”

Wireless Sensor Networks for Water Quality Monitoring: A Comprehensive Review

“…The microcontroller unit (MCU) lies at the heart of the data collection subsystem and can be thought of as the brain of each wireless node. Its primary task is to process signals acquired by the sensing unit, which are subsequently sent to the next subsystem via the transceiver [57]. In order to accomplish this work, the MCU must meet a series of important requirements, considering the WSN application for WQM: VOLUME XX, 2023…”

“…• Processing and memory capacity: the MCU must possess the necessary tools to process all data collected by the sensing unit and store it prior to transmission. Capacities of around 2 kB of RAM, 32 kB of FLASH memory, and 1 kB of EEPROM memory are typically found in the literature [57] for monitoring applications; however, the choice depends largely on each specific application. • Connectivity to the sensing unit: the chosen MCU must have the necessary interface to connect to different sensing devices.…”

Integration of data acquisition system for rainfall measurement on IoT-based tipping bucket rain gauge

“…In hydrology research, real-time rainfall information is essential [11]. The microcontroller can be used to read the sensor output and provide customized responses, such as sending the measurement data to a website through an internet connection [12,13].…”