scholarly journals Low-Power Radio Communication in Industrial Outdoor Deployments: The Impact of Weather Conditions and ATEX-Compliance

Author(s):  
Carlo Alberto Boano ◽  
James Brown ◽  
Zhitao He ◽  
Utz Roedig ◽  
Thiemo Voigt
Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6206
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Wieczorek ◽  
Krzysztof Bernacki ◽  
Zbigniew Rymarski ◽  
Wojciech Oliwa

The paper presents a new, unconventional energy harvesting (EH) method for supplying low-power devices on electrified railway lines that utilises stray currents and the non-zero potential of the rails to the ground. The EH device gathers the energy and stores it in batteries. It could even work in extremely unfavourable weather conditions and could be easily placed in almost any location. The presented real-life data show that the average available power is less than 250 mW and the average useful power is about 100 mW. This is enough to supply ultra-low power microcontrollers, which only occasionally use energy-consuming modules to perform measurements or communicate. The disadvantage of the EH method is the introduction of resistance between the rail and the earth, which increases stray currents and could increase the electrochemical corrosion of the rail. To reduce the impact of this resistance, a method for balancing the flowing charge is proposed. After balancing, the average of the flowing current is zero and electrochemical corrosion should be reduced. The proposed charge balancing algorithms could reduce the unbalanced charge to nearly zero at the expense of energy gathering efficiency, which decreases by 20–40%.


2020 ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Valery Genadievich Popov ◽  
Andrey Vladimirovich Panfilov ◽  
Yuriy Vyacheslavovich Bondarenko ◽  
Konstantin Mikhailovich Doronin ◽  
Evgeny Nikolaevih Martynov ◽  
...  

The article analyzes the experience of the impact of the system of forest belts and mineral fertilizers on the yield of spring wheat, including on irrigated lands. Vegetation irrigation is designed to maintain the humidity of the active soil layer from germination to maturation at the lower level of the optimum-70-75%, and in the phases of tubulation-earing - flowering - 75-80% NV. However, due to the large differences in zones and microzones of soil and climate conditions and due to the weather conditions of individual years, wheat irrigation regimes require a clear differentiation. In the Volga region in the dry autumn rainfalls give the norm of 800-1000 m3/ha, and in saline soils – 1000-1300 and 3-4 vegetation irrigation at tillering, phases of booting, earing and grain formation the norm 600-650 m3/ha. the impact of the system of forest belts, mineral fertilizers on the yield of spring wheat is closely tied to the formation of microclimate at different distances from forest edges.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 1050
Author(s):  
Federico Zanelli ◽  
Francesco Castelli-Dezza ◽  
Davide Tarsitano ◽  
Marco Mauri ◽  
Maria Laura Bacci ◽  
...  

Smart monitoring systems are currently gaining more attention and are being employed in several technological areas. These devices are particularly appreciated in the structural field, where the collected data are used with purposes of real time alarm generation and remaining fatigue life estimation. Furthermore, monitoring systems allow one to take advantage of predictive maintenance logics that are nowadays essential tools for mechanical and civil structures. In this context, a smart wireless node has been designed and developed. The sensor node main tasks are to carry out accelerometric measurements, to process data on-board, and to send wirelessly synthetic information. A deep analysis of the design stage is carried out, both in terms of hardware and software development. A key role is played by energy harvesting integrated in the device, which represents a peculiar feature and it is thanks to this solution and to the adoption of low power components that the node is essentially autonomous from an energy point of view. Some prototypes have been assembled and tested in a laboratory in order to check the design features. Finally, a field test on a real structure under extreme weather conditions has been performed in order to assess the accuracy and reliability of the sensors.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1226
Author(s):  
Beatriz Fraga-De Cal ◽  
Antonio Garrido-Marijuan ◽  
Olaia Eguiarte ◽  
Beñat Arregi ◽  
Ander Romero-Amorrortu ◽  
...  

Prefabricated solutions incorporating thermal insulation are increasingly adopted as an energy conservation measure for building renovation. The InnoWEE European project developed three technologies from Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW) materials through a manufacturing process that supports the circular economy strategy of the European Union. Two of them consisted of geopolymer panels incorporated into an External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) and a ventilated façade. This study evaluates their thermal performance by means of monitoring data from three pilot case studies in Greece, Italy, and Romania, and calibrated building simulation models enabling the reliable prediction of energy savings in different climates and use scenarios. Results showed a reduction in energy demand for all demo buildings, with annual energy savings up to 25% after placing the novel insulation solutions. However, savings are highly dependent on weather conditions since the panels affect cooling and heating loads differently. Finally, a parametric assessment is performed to assess the impact of insulation thickness through an energy performance prediction and a cash flow analysis.


Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1241
Author(s):  
Stanko Vršič ◽  
Marko Breznik ◽  
Borut Pulko ◽  
Jesús Rodrigo-Comino

Earthworms are key indicators of soil quality and health in vineyards, but research that considers different soil management systems, especially in Slovenian viticultural areas is scarce. In this investigation, the impact of different soil management practices such as permanent green cover, the use of herbicides in row and inter-row areas, use of straw mulch, and shallow soil tillage compared to meadow control for earthworm abundance, were assessed. The biomass and abundance of earthworms (m2) and distribution in various soil layers were quantified for three years. Monitoring and a survey covering 22 May 2014 to 5 October 2016 in seven different sampling dates, along with a soil profile at the depth from 0 to 60 cm, were carried out. Our results showed that the lowest mean abundance and biomass of earthworms in all sampling periods were registered along the herbicide strip (within the rows). The highest abundance was found in the straw mulch and permanent green cover treatments (higher than in the control). On the plots where the herbicide was applied to the complete inter-row area, the abundance of the earthworm community decreased from the beginning to the end of the monitoring period. In contrast, shallow tillage showed a similar trend of declining earthworm abundance, which could indicate a deterioration of soil biodiversity conditions. We concluded that different soil management practices greatly affect the soil’s environmental conditions (temperature and humidity), especially in the upper soil layer (up to 15 cm deep), which affects the abundance of the earthworm community. Our results demonstrated that these practices need to be adapted to the climate and weather conditions, and also to human impacts.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 777
Author(s):  
Jan Leuchter ◽  
Radim Bloudicek ◽  
Jan Boril ◽  
Josef Bajer ◽  
Erik Blasch

The paper describes the influence of power electronics, energy processing, and emergency radio systems (ERS) immunity testing on onboard aircraft equipment and ground stations providing air traffic services. The implementation of next-generation power electronics introduces potential hazards for the safety and reliability of aircraft systems, especially the interferences from power electronics with high-power processing. The paper focuses on clearly identifying, experimentally verifying, and quantifiably measuring the effects of power electronics processing using switching modes versus the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of emergency radio systems with electromagnetic interference (EMI). EMI can be very critical when switching power radios utilize backup receivers, which are used as aircraft backup systems or airport last-resort systems. The switching power electronics process produces interfering electromagnetic energy to create problems with onboard aircraft radios or instrument landing system (ILS) avionics services. Analyses demonstrate significant threats and risks resulting from interferences between radio and power electronics in airborne systems. Results demonstrate the impact of interferences on intermediate-frequency processing, namely, for very high frequency (VHF) radios. The paper also describes the methodology of testing radio immunity against both weak and strong signals in accordance with recent aviation standards and guidance for military radio communication systems in the VHF band.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 4049
Author(s):  
Thomas Ameloot ◽  
Marc Moeneclaey ◽  
Patrick Van Van Torre ◽  
Hendrik Rogier

Long-range, low-power wireless technologies such as LoRa have been shown to exhibit excellent performance when applied in body-centric wireless applications. However, the robustness of LoRa technology to Doppler spread has recently been called into question by a number of researchers. This paper evaluates the impact of static and dynamic Doppler shifts on a simulated LoRa symbol detector and two types of simulated LoRa receivers. The results are interpreted specifically for body-centric applications and confirm that, in most application environments, pure Doppler effects are unlikely to severely disrupt wireless communication, confirming previous research, which stated that the link deteriorations observed in a number of practical LoRa measurement campaigns would mainly be caused by multipath fading effects. Yet, dynamic Doppler shifts, which occur as a result of the relative acceleration between communicating nodes, are also shown to contribute to link degradation. This is especially so for higher LoRa spreading factors and larger packet sizes.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 996
Author(s):  
Athanasios Karagioras ◽  
Konstantinos Kourtidis

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of rain, snow and hail on potential gradient (PG), as observed in a period of ten years in Xanthi, northern Greece. An anticorrelation between PG and rainfall was observed for rain events that lasted several hours. When the precipitation rate was up to 2 mm/h, the decrease in PG was between 200 and 1300 V/m, in most cases being around 500 V/m. An event with rainfall rates up to 11 mm/h produced the largest drop in PG, of 2 kV/m. Shortly after rain, PG appeared to bounce back to somewhat higher values than the ones of fair-weather conditions. A decrease in mean hourly PG was observed, which was around 2–4 kV/m during the hail events which occurred concurrently with rain and from 0 to 3.5 kV/m for hail events with no rain. In the case of no drop, no concurrent drop in temperature was observed, while, for the other cases, it appeared that, for each degree drop in temperature, the drop in hourly mean PG was 1000 V/m; hence, we assume that the intensity of the hail event regulates the drop in PG. The frequency distribution of 1-minute PG exhibits a complex structure during hail events and extend from −18 to 11 kV/m, with most of the values in the negative range. During snow events, 1-minute PG exhibited rapid fluctuations between high positive and high negative values, its frequency distribution extending from −10 to 18 kV/m, with peaks at −10 and 3 kV/m.


Author(s):  
Natalie Rose ◽  
Les Dolega

AbstractThe weather is considered as an influential factor on consumer purchasing behaviours and plays a significant role in many aspects of retail sector decision making. As a result, better understanding of the magnitude and nature of the influence of variable UK weather conditions can be beneficial to many retailers and other stakeholders. This study addresses the dearth of research in this area by quantifying the relationship between different weather conditions and trading outcomes. By employing comprehensive daily sales data for a major high street retailer with over 2000 stores across England and adopting a random forest methodology, the study quantifies the influence of various weather conditions on daily retail sales. Results indicate that weather impact is greatest in the summer and spring months and that wind is consistently found to be the most influential weather condition. The top five most weather-dependent categories cover a range of different product types, with health foods emerging as the most susceptible to the weather. Also, sales from out-of-town stores show a far more complex relationship with the weather than those from traditional high street stores with the regions London and the South East experiencing the greatest levels of influence. Various implications of these findings for retail stakeholders are discussed and the scope for further research outlined.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 427
Author(s):  
Magdalena Rykała ◽  
Łukasz Rykała

The article describes the issues of transport of bulk materials. The knowledge of this process has a key impact on the rational planning of transport tasks. It is necessary to have knowledge about the transport services market and the competition that exists in it. In order to achieve a competitive advantage on the market, enterprises should analyze data on the implementation of transport tasks on an ongoing basis. It is also important that the costs incurred from the conducted activity are minimized, while increasing the quality of services and taking into account the sustainable development of the enterprise. The study analyzes data from a few selected motor vehicles in the period of 3 years of operation, coming from an enterprise specializing in the transport of bulk materials. Moreover, a global sensitivity analysis was performed based on a neural model describing the impact of the analyzed factors on the company’s profit. The results show that the most important factors influencing the company’s profit are the fuel consumption of individual vehicles, the driver (driving style) and the month (average temperature, weather conditions).


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