Design of an AutonomousWireless Weather Station

Abstract

With increasingly changing climates, measuring the weather on remote, off-grid locations has become more important in order to accurately track emerging weather patterns. Cheap and easy access to meteorological information allows communities and individuals to better manage agricultural development, track localised extreme weather events, and expand knowledge of ground-true weather conditions for remote or hard to access locations.
Nowadays, with the growth of modern technology and the rise of the Internet-of-Things, it has become possible to design a long range, low maintenance, affordable, continuously operating autonomous wireless weather station powered off-grid by renewable resources. This thesis explores the feasibility of such a self-supporting wireless station, and attempts to construct a prototype to support the findings. A multitude of solutions are discussed to tackle the different subsystems and their functions, culminating in a proposal for a weather station design. Low maintenance sensors are used to acquire weather data and LoRaWAN is used to send that data over long ranges with a low power draw. The station uses solar energy and li-ion batteries to sustain the system, which are scaled to prevent loss of power. A simple microcontroller unit manages the power and data flows of the system. Long term simulations of the design show the proposed system would be able to operate continuously throughout the year, while measuring every minute. The report also discusses the apparent strengths and shortcomings of the system, and suggests potential improvements that could help the system achieve a better long-term performance.