A Wireless Sensor Network for Monitoring Water Treatment

We outline an application of a wireless sensor network for monitoring a common water treatment process. The network is based on the Teco uPart wireless platform and uses a flowcell. The water treatment process involves the oxidization of contaminants in water and can be monitored using spectrophotometric methods. The reaction conditions such as temperature, light level, contaminant concentration, concentration of reagent and catalyst can all be monitored using specific sensors. The wireless sensor network was configured in a simple star topology configuration with the base-station acting as the central hub. The data was collected, stored and then analysed. The hardware consists of a pump, a fluidic chamber and several sensor nodes to monitor the colour change in the liquid. The colour change in the channel housing chamber and in the bulk solution was monitored separately. Sensor nodes are also used to monitor the ambient conditions such as light level and temperature. An experiment was carried out which demonstrates the efficacy of using wireless sensing for the monitoring of water purification treatments.