CAN based smart sensor network for indoor air quality monitoring

Good indoor air quality (IAQ) can contribute to the safety, health and comfort of the people. Since indoor exposure to air contaminants penetrating from the indoor air contaminant sources depends on a number of parameters such as the ventilation rate, the geometric characteristics of the indoor environment, the indoor removal mechanisms and the concentration of air contaminants released, the implementation of smart sensor network is a promising solution to ensure good indoor air quality. This paper focuses on the application of CAN (controller Area Network) in forming a smart sensor network. The nodes are physically distributed where the serial common bus communication network CAN provides a robust means of interconnecting the nodes in the network. This paper proposes Atmel CANary based sensor nodes and motor control node for the monitoring and control of indoor air quality. The system output is a prototype of IAQ monitoring and control system which is evaluated through hardware tests.