Underwater acoustic monitoring sensors network

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental wireless sensor network for monitoring underwater acoustic noises. Each sensor node consists of a floating platform anchored in the location of interest, powered by solar panel and storing excess electricity in Li-Ion batteries for uninterrupted operation. The communication between the sensor nodes and the central node (gateway) will be made by a radio link operating with the LoRa standard on the frequency of 433 MHz, a link that allows minimizing consumption and maximizing the distance between the sensor nodes and the central node (several km). The network implements the star topology. The sensors continuously monitor the sounds in the underwater environment and are triggered to store 5s of noise and then send it over the radio link to the gateway where it is stored locally on a server or sent to the cloud, in a database for further processing. The trigger level is configurable. Sound acquisition can also be started on demand, remotely.