Configuration of an IoT microhydraulic power generation system for education

Abstract

Internet of things (IoT) involves the communication of all kinds of things embedded with sensors, electronics, software and people connected to the internet. Knowledge of IoT in the classroom provides an experience for engineering students to explore different career options. Under this scope, an IoT platform on the Arduino UNO and Raspberry Pi 3 development boards was built for academic purposes. The IoT platform was configured to monitor a microhydraulic power generation system used for the study of small-scale hydraulic power production, using a hydraulic head provided by a system of hydraulic pumps in series and/or parallel connection. The platform was designed considering a monitoring station for the acquisition of analog, digital, SPI and PWM data; a control station that receives data from the monitoring station and sends data to the cloud. The communication between modules was established using a publication/subscription system. The platform allows to registrate, visualize and process data directly in the cloud. Meaning that the IoT systems connected to this platform can be monitored from a cell phone, tablet or PC with internet access, promoting immediate access to the emerging information generated in the operating system.