Alongside various improvements of sensory technology and micro PC interfaces, Internet of Things is widespread across all industries. To know the system is to observe its state in real time. In most cases, the health and the performance of the system is measured in just a few values, reflected through the key points of the network. Electrical systems are not any different, to know the voltages and currents of the key nods and branches is to observe it in total. The main idea of the implementation of an IoT structure and technology is to collect the necessary data and send it to a server so that it can be remotely monitored.
Solar Energy in IoT
Solar street lights provide wide array of opportunities regarding the IoT. This also for other solar systems and products provided by EnGoPlanet, such as the solar benches and solar bus shelters, though highlighted through solar street lights due to their disposition and placement. For any solar powered systems (including solar farms and household solar projects) the state of the battery can be observed in real time via sensory devices, as well as the energy produced from the solar panels, energy used for consumption purposes and energy sent to the grid. Problems with individual components can be identified without going on site, and low and high level warnings and alarms can be triggered based on the set parameters, thus providing an opportunity to react quickly and prevent potential hazards.
Due to the placement of the solar street lights, IoT has many other qualities and methods of implementation than mentioned in the previously - sensors for air quality measuring temperature, humidity, CO2 levels, lightning activity, rain gauge (and more) can be added, transforming each solar street pole to a micro weather station. Sensors for soil analysis can be added as well and connected to a server. Flooding and forest fire sensors can be added, triggering an alarm in real time and minimizing damage in order to preserve the environment. As the solar powered devices can be placed to cover a wide area, environmental sensors can prove to be beneficial in not only collecting data but preventing hazardous and dangerous events.
EnGoPlanet Smart Solar IoT System - EOS
EnGoPlanet will soon be launching a platform called EnGo Operating System (EOS), through which customers will be able to observe the state of their systems in real time.
Alarms and warnings will be received via emails and text messages, and trends and graphs on daily, monthly and yearly basis will always be available via the platform. This alone provides so many options for analysis and research purposes and will directly reflect on the efficiency of the system and savings as a result of going solar. Remote management will be implemented as well so that the solar street LEDs can be remotely controlled, turning them on and off (for each individual pole) or giving them a set reference or a working (dimming) scenario. All of this will be possible through EnGo microcontroller and LoRa Wan, transforming solar street lights into a truly smart network structure.