Design and implementation of a sensor network for recording a temperature profile in living and office spaces
Design and implementation of a sensor network for recording a temperature profile in living and office spaces
Background
Common heating systems in residential buildings usually only have a limited number of temperature sensors for basic control. Individual control of the heat supply in the individual rooms can also be achieved using thermostatic valves. Often, however, a standardised temperature is desired for all rooms in use. This is not always easy to achieve, as the necessary settings of the thermostatic valves are difficult to determine with sufficient accuracy: Conditions are often very different in different rooms, for example in terms of radiator performance and thermal insulation, and consequently require different heating. The same thermostat setting can sometimes result in very different temperatures. Open doors also mean that completely independent control is not possible. Some rooms may also be heated automatically so that no heating is actually required at all.
A longer-term recording of the temperature distribution in the heated rooms can provide more precise information on the heating output required in the respective rooms.
A wireless sensor network is ideal for recording the temperature distribution. Such a sensor network consists of a large number of small, battery-operated sensor nodes. These communicate with each other wirelessly, making it easy to record a distributed phenomenon, in this case the temperature at various points in the building. Thanks to the mains-independent power supply and wireless communication, such a system can be deployed without great effort.
In addition to pure, passive data acquisition, the measured values determined by a sensor network could also serve as the basis for intelligent temperature control using automatic valves.
Job description
In this thesis, a sensor network for recording the temperature distribution of a building is to be designed and implemented. The sensor network is to be used to create a profile of the temperature and any other relevant measured values at neuralgic points in the building. A particular challenge here is the temporal and local synchronisation of the measured values. The offices of the System Software and Distributed Systems department, for example, can be used as an exemplary field of application for the system.
As a basis, an overview of the current state of the art will first be compiled in a literature review and existing technologies and systems will be analysed for their suitability. The sensor network is to be constructed from commercially available hardware components so that it is not necessary to develop our own hardware. The use of proven algorithms and protocols for data acquisition is also desirable at the software level. However, these must be expanded to include missing, task-specific components and functions as part of the work.
In addition, the recorded data should be made accessible for easy analysis, possibly through graphical representation, and initial analyses should be carried out to bring about more favourable, environment-specific heating control with the aim of global temperature standardisation.