Wireless sensor network based on UAV for weevils surveillance in Saudí Arabia

Abstract

The Red Palm Weevil o Rhynchophorus ferrugineus is an invasive spice that had become a catastrophic plague for lots of palm trees in Saudi Arabia, but all around the world too. Nowadays, the surveillance of the plague is done using tramps placed near the palm trees, and one person comes to the tramp and counts manually the number of weevils into the tramp. This project is aimed to improve the actual surveillance method. To realize it we have been created a Wireless Sensor Network and different nodes able to obtain the number of weevils into the tramp and they must transmit this data to a mobile node that collect all the data for processing. These sensor units are placed into the tramps, so they measure the weight of the weevils, and the number of them. The sensors are Strain Gauges and the signal conditioning system. This signal obtained from the gauges is processed into the Arduino board. To this microcontroller we can add one shield in order to conect communication devices, in our case, Xbees. This devices use the ZigBee communication protocol, a low power Radio Frequency protocol. Once the network is created, and the communication between devices is allowed, we send the Package information via Serial communication, with the Arduino COM. Due to the distance between ground nodes, they are no able to communicate between them, because the coverage is not enough to establish communication. For this project we use a drone that overflies all the ground nodes and collect the data from each node. This information is stored in the non-volatile EEPROM Memory. The ground node only can talk with the mobile node, but the mobile node must be able to talk with all the nodes. This project is thought-out to be a adaptable method. So, we must be able to readapt the finality of the project, but maintain the network, infrastructure or sensing unit. The necessities can vary, but the base of the project must be the same.