Smart plug for monitoring and controlling electrical devices with a wireless communication system integrated in a LoRaWAN

Abstract

The application of Long-Range Wide-Area Network (LoRaWAN) in Internet of Things (IoT) monitoring applications has grown exponentially in recent history because of its cost-effectiveness, robustness to interference, low power consumption, large coverage for connectivity and licensed-free frequency band due to its adaptive data rate. In this research, an IoT-ready smart plug (SP) based on the LoRaWAN technology has been developed. Smart Plug for the LoRaWAN (SPLW) has been designed to measure and control the energy consumed by electrical loads in households, office buildings, hotels, hospitals, etc. with the purpose of achieving energy efficiency. SPLW monitors several electrical parameters (i.e., voltage, current, power, energy) and sends this information in real time to the cloud. A LoRa Bee associated to an Arduino Nano microcontroller and a PZEM-004 t sensor collects the necessary information in order to send it to the LoRaWAN gateway. This data is sent to The Things of Network (TTN) service, created specifically for LoRaWAN IoT applications. TTN offers numerous integrations, e.g. Ubidots has been used for WebApp and smartphone monitoring. Tests have been performed in six households to demonstrate the performance of SPLW in terms of its functionality, simplicity, reliability and cost.