Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network for Real Time Remote Monitoring of Sand Dynamics on Coastal Dunes

In this paper, the architecture of a heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) to be deployed on coastal sand dunes is described, the aim of which is to provide real time measurements of physical parameters to better define the sediment transport in connection with Aeolian processes. The WSN integrates different typologies of sensors and is provided with both local and remote connection. In particular, three different typologies of sensors are integrated in the network: a multilayer anemometric station, a sensor developed ad-hoc to measure the sand dune level and a sand collector capable of measuring the weight of trapped sand and its quantity. Each sensor node is made up at least of a ZigBee radio module that is able to transmit the data collected by the sensor at a distance of about 100 meters. While the sand level sensor and the sand collector are provided only with this transmission module, the anemometric station also integrates a microprocessor board in charge of data processing. A Gateway node provided with a GSM connection for remote data transmission and a Zigbee radio module for Local Area communication has also been developed. This node is in charge of collecting all the data packets sent by the Sensor Nodes and transmit them to a remote server through GPRS connection. A Web server has been set up to collect these packets and store them in a database. The proposed WSN can provide both a static and a dynamic framework of sand transport processes acting on coastal dunes.