Design of a Wireless Sensor Node based on MSP430FR5969 for Environment Monitoring Applications

Environment monitoring using Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is considered as a challenging and demanding field, which enables to collect and process large amount of data related to the deployment environment. Thus, the performance of the monitoring system is dependent strongly of the hardware capability of the deployed nodes, as well as of the communication protocols and data transmission strategies. In this work, a new wireless sensor node is introduced. The node uses MSP430FR5969 microcontroller, which offers a high processing capability with reduced energy consumption and has a maximum operating frequency of 16 MHz. The node is compact in size with a dimension of dimensions $53\times 33\ mm^{2}$. The node consumes an average of 27.35 mA during transmission. Current consumption during the sleep and idle modes are 0.33 mA and 31 mA, respectively. An outdoor application is presented, where the node is equipped with a solar panel for energy harvesting. The battery voltage variation and the Received Signal Strength (RSSI) were continuously measured and evaluated.