FRONT-END GATEWAY UNIT FOR REMOTE ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20090252086A1
• Filed: 08/20/2008
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Original Assignee: National Taiwan University (Government of The Republic of China)
• Inventors: Yang, En-Cheng, Jiang, Joe-Air, Tseng, Chwan-Lu, Lu, Fu-Ming, Lin, Shih-Hsiang, Chen, Chia-Pang, Lin, Tzu-Shiang, Yen, Chung-Wei, Wu, Yung-Cheng, Wu, Zong-Siou, Liao, Chih-Sheng, Lin, Kuang-Chang, Tseng, Chu-Ping, Lin, Chen-Ying, Szu, Shih-Hao
• Granted Patent: US 8,078,711 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: A01M 1/026 combined with devices for monitoring insect presence, e.g. termites bait stations A01M1/2005; detecting other animals in a given area A01M31/002
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A front-end gateway unit is designed for integration to a remote ecological environment monitoring system that is equipped with a wireless sensor network (WSN) system installed at a remote site, such as a farmland or a garden, for the purpose of allowing the WSN system to exchange data with a back-end host server via a wireless communication system. The front-end gateway unit is characterized by the capability of using either the WSN system or a built-in sensing module for collecting ecological data, and the capability of combining geographical location data in the ecological data. This feature allows the collection of a comprehensive set of ecological data (including geographical location, temperature, humidity, sunlight data, wind speed, and pest number) for transfer to the back-end host server, such that research/management personnel at the local site can conveniently browse these ecological data and learn the ecological conditions of the remotely monitored area.

Claims

1. A front-end gateway unit for use with a remote ecological environment monitoring system that is equipped with a sensor network, a wireless communication system, and a back-end host server, wherein the sensor network includes at least one sensor node capable of producing a set of ecological data by sensing the surrounding ecological environment where the sensor node is installed, and the front-end gateway unit is capable of providing a front-end gateway function for the sensor network to exchange data with the back-end host server via the wireless communication system;

the front-end gateway unit comprising;

a sensor network linking module, which is used for linking to the sensor network for data exchange with each sensor node in the sensor network to receive each set of ecological data acquired by each sensor node;

a geographical location detection module, which is capable of detecting the geographical location where the front-end gateway unit is located to thereby generate a set of geographical location data in electronic form;

a data transmission module, which is capable of converting a combined collection of data including each set of ecological data from the sensor network and the geographical location data from the geographical location detection module into a specific data transmission format based on a wireless communication protocol that is compliant with the wireless communication system;

a wireless communication linking module, which is capable of linking to the wireless communication system for transmitting the formatted data from the data transmission module to the wireless communication system; and

a sensor network management control module, which is capable of performing a set of management control actions on the sensor network system in response to a set of management control commands issued by the back-end host server and received via the wireless data communication system.

2. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, wherein the sensor network is a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) type of sensor network.

3. The front-end gateway unit of claim 2, wherein the sensor network linking module utilizes a multihop linking and routing scheme for linking all the sensor nodes in the wireless sensor network.

4. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, wherein each sensor node in the sensor network is responsible for sensing a set of ecological data including temperature, humidity, sunlight, wind speed, and pest number collectively.

5. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, wherein each sensor node in the sensor network is responsible for gathering the data of number of clustered pests.

6. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, further comprising:

a built-in ecological environment sensing module, which is capable of providing a set of built-in ecological environment sensing functions for generating a set of ecological data.

7. The front-end gateway unit of claim 6, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a temperature sensor unit for acquiring temperature data about the surrounding ecological environment.

8. The front-end gateway unit of claim 6, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a humidity sensor unit for acquiring humidity data about the surrounding ecological environment.

9. The front-end gateway unit of claim 6, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a sunlight sensor unit for acquiring sunlight data about the surrounding ecological environment.

10. The front-end gateway unit of claim 6, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a wind speed sensor unit for acquiring wind speed data about the surrounding ecological environment.

11. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, wherein the geographical location detection module is implemented with standard GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.

12. The front-end gateway unit of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication linking module is compliant with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for wireless linking to a GSM communication system.

13. The front-end gateway unit of claim 12, wherein the data transmission format utilized by the data transmission module for transmission of the ecological data is SMS (Short Message Service).

14. The front-end gateway unit of claim 12, wherein the data transmission format utilized by the data transmission module for transmission of the ecological data is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service).

15. A front-end gateway unit for use with a remote ecological environment monitoring system that is equipped with a wireless sensor network (WSN), a wireless communication system, and a back-end host server, wherein the wireless sensor network includes at least one sensor node capable of producing a set of ecological data by sensing the surrounding ecological environment where the sensor node is installed, and the front-end gateway unit is capable of providing a front-end gateway function for the wireless sensor network to exchange data with the back-end host server via the wireless communication system;

the front-end gateway unit comprising;

a wireless sensor network linking module, which is used for linking to the wireless sensor network for data exchange with each sensor node in the wireless sensor network to receive each set of ecological data acquired by each sensor node;

a built-in ecological environment sensing module, which is capable of providing a set of built-in ecological environment sensing functions for generating a set of ecological data;

a geographical location detection module, which is capable of detecting the geographical location where the front-end gateway unit is located to thereby generate a set of geographical location data in electronic form;

a data transmission module, which is capable of converting a combined collection of data including each set of ecological data from the wireless sensor network and the geographical location data from the geographical location detection module into a specific data transmission format based on a wireless communication protocol that is compliant with the wireless communication system;

a wireless communication linking module, which is capable of linking to the wireless communication system for transmitting the formatted data from the data transmission module to the wireless communication system; and

a wireless sensor network management control module, which is capable of performing a set of management control actions on the wireless sensor network system in response to a set of management control commands issued by the back-end host server and received via the wireless data communication system.

16. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the sensor network linking module utilizes a multihop linking and routing scheme for linking all the sensor nodes in the wireless sensor network.

17. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a temperature sensor unit for acquiring temperature data about the surrounding ecological environment.

18. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a humidity sensor unit for acquiring humidity data about the surrounding ecological environment.

19. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a sunlight sensor unit for acquiring sunlight data about the surrounding ecological environment.

20. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the built-in ecological environment sensing module includes:

a wind speed sensor unit for acquiring wind speed data about the surrounding ecological environment.

21. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the geographical location detection module is implemented with standard GPS (Global Positioning System) technology.

22. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the wireless communication linking module is compliant with GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) for wireless linking to a GSM communication system.

23. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the data transmission format utilized by the data transmission module for transmission of the ecological data is SMS (Short Message Service).

24. The front-end gateway unit of claim 15, wherein the data transmission format utilized by the data transmission module for transmission of the ecological data is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service).