A Multi-Hop LoRa Linear Sensor Network for the Monitoring of Underground Environments: The Case of the Medieval Aqueducts in Siena, Italy

• Main Authors: Andrea Abrardo, Alessandro Pozzebon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: M2M; D2D; LoRa; multi-hop; linear sensor networks; underground monitoring
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/19/2/402

In this paper, a pervasive monitoring system to be deployed in underground environments is presented. The system has been specifically designed for the so-called “Bottini”, i.e., the medieval aqueducts dug beneath the Centre of Siena, Italy. The results of a measurement campaign carried out in the deployment scenario show that the transmission range of LoRa (Long Range) technology is limited to a maximum of 200 m, thus, making the adoption of a classical star topology impossible. Hence, a Linear Sensor Network topology is proposed based on multi-hop LoRa chain-type communications. In this scenario, an ad-hoc transmission scheme is presented that optimally evaluates the wake-up time of all nodes with the aim of minimizing the average energy dissipation deriving from clock offsets. Numerical results show that the proposed wake-up time optimization leads in the best case to a 50% reduction in power dissipation with respect to a scheme that evaluates the wake-up time in a non-optimal way.