An Evaluation of Low Power, Low-Rate Wireless Data Communication

E.Vading & G.Enander & E.Vading An evaluation of low power, low-rate wireless data communication technologies for battery powered sensor networks Master’s Thesis An evaluation of low power, low-rate wireless data communication technologies for battery powered sensor networks Einar Vading Gustav Enander Department of Electrical and Information Technology, Faculty of Engineering, LTH, Lund University, June 2014. http://www.eit.lth.se An evaluation of low power, low-rate wireless data communication technologies for battery powered sensor networks Einar Vading and Gustav Enander Department of Electrical and Information Technology Lund University Advisors: Marcus Johansson (Axis), Jon Hansson (Axis) and Stefan Höst (EIT) June 23, 2014 Printed in Sweden E-huset, Lund, 2014 Abstract One major cost driver in sensor system installations is the cost of labor. With wireless sensors the installation cost can be lowered since no cables needs to be routed. For the total cost of ownership to be low, however, the battery life of the sensor must be long. A wireless sensor system is more susceptible to interference than a wired counterpart and since the transmission is done over the air, it is easier to intercept and possibly forge communication. For this thesis work, a wireless sensor prototype was developed with the aim of being both secure and low power. We found that it was possible to achieve a battery life of at least 5 years with a range of about 30 m and message authentication. i Executive summary I. INTRODUCTION data rate. Measurements and tests concluded that 868 MHz Wireless sensors are becoming increasingly popular, mainly was the best choice for this application, mainly because of the because of simplified installation since there is no need for good range. There are also regulations that limit the maximum laying cables. Typical wireless sensors measure temperature, output power and transmission time on this frequency band humidity, atmospheric pressure or can be used as alarm which minimizes the risk of interference from other systems. sensors. Wireless sensor systems imply low installation costs, To minimize power consumption the sensor spends most of especially in large systems where many sensors need to be its time in a low-power sleep mode, consuming only about connected. 1.3 µA. This corresponds to the energy produced by a drop There are however demands on wireless sensor systems of water falling from 1 cm height! The sensor then wakes up that do not exist for wired systems. Long battery lifetime is periodically (for example every 60 s) to announce itself. It also probably the most important demand – if there should be any wakes up for events, for example at a defined relative change long term benefit from the simplified installation, battery life in temperature. The time in active mode is much more power must be long enough. consuming than when waiting and it should therefore be kept There are also security issues that do not exist for wired to a minimum. systems, for example the risk of someone interfering or The prototype’s main hardware consists of a microprocessor jamming the wireless communication, be it deliberately or by (MCU) and a radio chip. Both the MCU and radio chip mistake. were chosen to minimize power consumption, while still being The goal of this work was to develop a sensor prototype secure and reliable. The sensor is powered by a small button for measuring temperature with focus on long battery lifetime, cell battery (CR2032). good range and secure communication. IV. V ERIFICATION II. EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES The manufactured sensor’s performance was evaluated by There are several technologies that are suitable for wireless measuring power consumption and maximum possible range. sensors. ZigBee, Bluetooth and Z-wave are examples of some, Range was measured in two typical office environments, one that can be used for this type of application. These technolo- with a majority of gypsum walls and the other with a majority gies include both hardware specifications for the electronics of thick concrete walls. and software for handling the wireless communication. A common property of many wireless systems is that they V. R ESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS utilize license free frequency bands. There are three license Results conclude that the manufactured prototype sensor is free frequency bands available in Europe, these are: 433 MHz, working well and should be able to reach a battery lifetime of 868 MHz and 2.4 GHz (for example used by wireless internet, about 5 years. Wi-Fi). Another feature of the existing technologies is that The choice of MCU and radio chip is very important for as little data as possible is transferred, to minimize power maximizing battery lifetime. Making the software as efficient consumption. as possible in order to minimize the power consuming active It was decided not to use any of the existing techniques for time is also crucial. this prototype, and instead develop a new solution using our Maximum indoor range is highly dependent of the en- own software together with a pre-fabricated radio chip. This vironment. Tests show that concrete walls result in much gave the possibility to further minimize power consumption higher attenuation of the radio signal and thus a much shorter by tailoring the hardware and software to fit the exact needs achievable range. A maximum range of 20 m to 30 m is of the application. however possible in most indoor locations. The developed security solution makes it impossible to send III. PROTOTYPE DESIGN fake messages. Thanks to the sensor’s function of announcing The prototype sensor works at 868 MHz, which is one of itself every 60 s, any attempt to jam the data communication the license free frequency bands that is available in Europe. will be discovered. Similar frequency bands exist in most part of the world, for This work concludes that wireless sensors are a good example 915 MHz that is available in the US and can be used alternative to wired sensors. Microcontrollers and radio chips without hardware modifications. are being further developed, which can provide even better The choice of frequency is important as it directly affects the battery lifetime. Other technologies such as energy harvesting, maximum possible communication range – higher frequency for example by using solar cells, could also be used for further results in shorter range. The data rate is also frequency extending battery lifetime. dependent, a higher frequency results in a higher possible Acknowledgements We would like to thank our supervisors Marcus Johansson and Jon Hansson at Axis Communications who both provided us with great support and a great deal of inspiration. We would also like to thank our examiner Stefan Höst at LTH who has given us new perspectives for this thesis as well as help with administrative details. A big thanks also goes out to all the employees at Axis that have helped us and answered all our questions. iii iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Background ............................... 1 1.2 Specications .............................. 1 2 Theory 3 2.1 Multiple access methods ........................ 3 2.2 Modulation techniques ......................... 4 2.3 IEEE 802.15.4 ............................. 5 2.4 Bluetooth Low Energy ......................... 7 2.5 ZigBee ................................. 7 2.6 Z-Wave ................................. 9 2.7 DASH7 ................................. 9 2.8 Proprietary ............................... 10 3 Evaluation 11 3.1 Range .................................. 11 3.2 Frequency bands ............................ 11 3.3 Evaluation results ............................ 13 4 Prototype design 17 4.1 Hardware design ............................ 18 4.2 Software design ............................. 24 5 Verication 29 6 Results 31 6.1 Power consumption ........................... 31 6.2 Range .................................. 31 7 Discussion 37 7.1 Power consumption ........................... 37 7.2 Range .................................. 37 7.3 Open issues ............................... 38 7.4 Summary ................................ 39 v References 41 A Schematic 45 B PCB layout 49 vi List of Figures 2.1 Network topologies in IEEE 802.15.4 with star topology on the left and peer to peer topology on the right. Dashed circles represent reduced function devices and stroked circles represent full function devices. 6 2.2 ZigBee mesh network with ZigBee Endpoints, dashed circles, ZigBee Routers, smaller unbroken circles, and ZigBee Coordinator, larger thick circle. .................................. 8 3.1 Probability of collision during a communication event as a function of the number of sensors, 0100 sensors. ................ 15 3.2 Probability of collision during a communication event as a function of the number of sensors, 010000 sensors. ............... 15 4.1 Overview of the complete system with A1001 access controller on the far left. The A1001 is communicating with a microcontroller which in turn handles the communication with all the sensors via radio. ... 17 4.2 Silicon Labs EFM32 Zero Gecko, bottom (left) and top (right). ... 18 4.3 Anaren radio modules. ......................... 21 4.4 CR2032 lithium battery. ........................ 22 4.5 Sensor hardware, radio module and MCU. ............... 23 4.6 Packet description ........................... 28 6.1 Current consumption when transmitting a packet at 0 dBm. ..... 32 6.2 Current consumption when transmitting a packet at +10 dBm. ... 32 6.3 Current consumption when transmitting

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