AWSAM-3: A low power miniaturised wireless sensor mote

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks have become an active topic of research over the last decades with a growing demand and interests. Wireless sensor nodes (or motes) are the fundamental unit in forming wireless sensor networks. There are many ready-made devices now available aiming for various wireless sensor network applications. In this paper, a novel mote, AWSAM-3, is presented targeting flexibility, low power consumption, miniaturisation, and long communication range. AWSAM-3 is designed with a modular hardware architecture allowing the sensor node components to be mixed and matched based on the needs of the application. Low power consumption is achieved through careful component selection, particularly the voltage regulator. Radio communication experiments show the communication range of over 1km can be achieved depending on the data rates. With its small physical size and modularity, the AWSAM-3 provides a flexible mote for creation of wireless sensor networks for research and in-field applications.