Low-cost wireless sensor testing in a fossil power plant

Low cost, battery powered wireless sensors have recently become commercially available and have the potential to radically alter traditional methods of equipment monitoring in power plants. This paper reports on a research project co-sponsored by Southern Company and EPRI to demonstrate wireless sensors in a power plant environment. The focus of the project was on the radio performance of the sensors and their battery life. Each wireless device, or mote, consisted of two small circuit boards, one for the processor and radio and the other for sensors or data acquisition. Two types of processors and radios and three types of sensor boards were deployed. The sensor boards had several built-in sensors for temperature, ambient light intensity, barometric pressure, sound, magnetic field, and acceleration in both x and y directions along with general purpose data acquisition capabilities. The wireless communication conformed to the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for low power, low data rate sensors with mesh networking capabilities. The paper presents results of a radio frequency site survey conducted before the installation of the sensors. Also included is information on radio performance, mesh networking capabilities and battery life. A thermocouple input configuration is also described.