BLE-based power efficient WSN for industrial IoT train integrity monitoring

Monitoring train integrity is a very important topic for economical, management and safety reasons. Knowing the localization, volume and other parameters is very valuable for most train and large industry companies. Current literature focuses on placing many sensors in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) around the train wagons, but do not take battery lifetime into perspective. With the increasing interest in industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications, the connectivity and battery lifetime are very important parameters. In this paper, the vibrations measured on train wagons are analyzed in order to find the most optimal trigger point to wake up or to put the WSN in a deep sleep mode. This way, a large amount of power can be saved and extend the battery lifetime significantly. Furthermore, several Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurements were performed to find the optimal Tx level and antenna topology for communication between different wireless sensor nodes on the train wagon. The proposed measurements show that an inexpensive accelerometer and a prefabricated antenna are perfectly usable in the WSN. RF measurements on the brakes results in an average Package Receive Rate (PRR) of approximately 92 % and an Average Received Power (ARP) of around −83 dBm starting from a Tx level of 4 dBm.