Communication System for a Soil Monitoring

Network at Valle del Cauca

Melissa Eugenia Diago Mosquera Javier Alí Carbonell González

Electronics and Telecommunication Engineer
Colombian Sugarcane Research Center CENICAÑA
Valle del Cauca, Colombia
mediago@cenicana.org
Agricultural Engineer, M.Sc. of Industrial and Systems
Engineering, Agronomy Program Chief
Colombian Sugarcane Research Center CENICAÑA
Valle del Cauca, Colombia
jacarbonell@cenicana.org

Abstract—A network with wireless system communication has them to activate external devices, basically, they perform a
been designed and implemented for soil monitoring in a sugar programmed function due to a change in status or external
refinery at Valle del Cauca, through a hybrid based on the ZigBee variation.
standard and mobile communications technologies, that
compound the best features for forming a versatile network that III. XBEE® MODULE
provide an acquisition and display data, detected by sensors and
The XBee® modules are integrated solutions, manufactured
stored in dataloggers.
by Digi® that provide a wireless link in the interconnection and
Keywords—network; hybrid; ZigBee; mobiles technologies; communication between end devices such as sensors,
datalogger. dataloggers, computer terminals among others. These modules
use multiple types of wireless protocols to suit different network
I. INTRODUCTION architectures such as ZigBee, 802.15.14 and WiFi. In addition,
Through an agreement between Colombian Sugarcane Digi® has developed its own mesh network protocol called
Research Center – CENICAÑA and Autonomous Regional DigiMesh ™ [2], which reduces some complexities that come
Corporation of Valle del Cauca – CVC, It is carrying out the with ZigBee.
development and implementation of a soil monitoring network There are different kinds of XBee® modules that suit a
at Valle del Cauca. In telecommunications field, it consists of variety of needs; for this project and after a detailed study
designing and implementing a communication model for allowed us to define the needs of the project, the XBee – PRO®
transmitting data stored in the monitoring stations to a remote 900HP 200Kb module was chosen. TABLE I shows the
computer terminal located in this case at Cenicaña. characteristics for which this module was picked.
To meet the objective, a hybrid network based on ZigBee
TABLE I XBEE – PRO® 900 HP 200KB MODULE ESPECIFICATIONS [3]
and mobile (GPRS, HSDPA, UMTS) wireless technologies
have been designed, these have been implemented through radio XBee – PRO® 900 HP
frequency modules XBee® and cellular modems. The XBee® Reference: XBP9B-DMST-002
modules are responsible for providing a local network between Features Value
stations in the experimental site and modems act as a wireless Frecuency Band 902 a 928 MHz
link for accessing from a remote computer terminal to the
Rate 200 Kb
monitoring stations.
Topology Network DigiMesh™
The structure of the paper is as follows: Sections I to IV
describe the features, functions and selected devices for network Indoor 305 m
infrastructure, in section V elaborates on designing and Range
Outdoor 6.5 Km
implementation of the hybrid network, section VI shows the
operation network to conclude with Section VII that presents the Transmit Current 215 mA
results obtained.
Power Receive Current 29 mA
II. DATALOGGER Sleep Current 2.5 µA
The datalogger, also known as system data acquisition and
control is essential in a measuring station. Stored power sensor
signals to a given sampling rate, processes and provides outputs A. Operation Mode XBee®
to establish media [1]. Among the different brands on data The XBee® modules have two modes of operation to
logger’s market from Campbell Scientific® were selected for transmit the information received, the first transparent mode and
the data acquisition system of the project, specifically the the second mode API; these modes of operation and the
CR1000 series. They also have control functions that allow characteristics of the XBee® are configured with the X–CTU
[4] multiplatform application developed by Digi® to make In Fig. 1 one of many configurations that can be obtained
possible the interaction between developers and modules with this type of protocol is shown.
through a user – friendly interface. Fig. 1. Example of DigiMesh™ network configuration.
1) Transparent Mode: This mode is enabled by default
on the XBee® modules and therefore everything received is
transmitted to the destination XBee® (Communication point to
point). In this mode, the message is not affected or encapsulated
in a frame, this is known as transparent mode.

2) API Mode: This transmission mode has a higher level

of complexity and it is posible the use of frames that guarantee
data transmission like TCP. The frames have the format as it is
presented in TABLE II , where parameter 2 “length” is the sum
of the number of bytes from parameter 3 to 9, in other words,
14 + N bytes; parameter 5 “Destination Address” is the MAC With DigiMesh™, if an A node has line of sight with a B
address of the destination XBee®, which is printed on the back node and at the same time B has line of sight with a C node,
of the module and is unique and unrepeatable in each XBee®. automatically A may have communication with C, see Fig. 2;
which could not be presented with a point to multipoint network,
TABLE II API FRAME FORMAT that is why the reference choice was XBee – PRO® 900HP
200Kb and not 10Kb, because the latter, manages the
Parameter
Order
Point2MultiPoint protocol.
Bytes Hexadecimal
Name
Number Representation Fig. 2. Differences between DigiMesh™ and Point2MultiPoint networks.
1 Start Delimeter 1 7E

2 Length 2 XX XX

3 Frame Type 1 10

4 Frame Id 1 01
Destination Address XX XX XX XX
5 8
(64 Bits) XX XX XX XX
Destination Address
6 2 FF FE
(16 Bits)
7 Broadcast Radius 1 00

8 Options 1 00

9 Data N XX XX … XX

10 Checksum 1 XX
In the project has been implemented the second operation
mode because of as the network type and the project's needs
require it, since it is necessary to configure the destination
MAC address manually to vary the terminal to which you want
to reach, in addition to the message you want to send.
B. Protocolo DigiMesh™
This protocol was developed by Digi® in order to unify and
have a single type of node in a homogeneous network, where all
nodes can route and exchange frames. Also, it has the advantage
to configure each node in sleep mode, minimizing battery
consumption.
IV. MODEM
The modems connect USB, serial RS 232 or Ethernet
communication ports to the cellular network, the connection
between two modems over the client/server model provides a
communication link between two endpoints, replacing a wired
connection to a wireless due to provision of coverage network
by the mobile telephony service provider to which is accessed
through the data plan assigned to the SIM card that works in the
modem.
The modem SA-G+ from Novatel Wireless™ was selected
for the implementation of the network, as it meets the required
features and 3G technology for data transfer [5].
V. DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HYBRID NETWORK and at the same time B2 see C2 then A2 is seeing C2 through
The main purpose of a hybrid network is to increase its B2.
advantages and decrease its disadvantages by incorporating the Fig. 4. Red DigiMesh™ implementada.
strengths of different topologies. For the project, the
DigiMesh™ topology (ZigBee Network) was combined with
the point to point (Cellular Mobile Network).

Fig. 3. Hybrid network deployed between the site monitoring and computer
terminal (Cenicaña).

Having clear the network design, the configuration of each

XBee® module must comply with TABLE III settings for all
modules have the same communication scheme and can
exchange information without any problem; the TABLE III
shows the change values from the default configuration, in the
In Fig. 3 the link together two topologies and their case of PAN ID, is a hexadecimal representation of a number
convergence point is shown. With red is highlighted the that indicates the network to which the module belongs, so it is
DigiMesh™ topology implemented, which provides the option important to clarify that all modules must belong to the same
of connecting all nodes as a mesh network. With blue, the network so that there will be dialogue between them.
second topology that follows a client/server model, where the
client modem is connected serially to one of the XBee® modules TABLE III SETUP PARAMETERS DIGIMESH™ NETWORK.
and the server modem to the remote computer terminal, located
Parameter Value
in this case at Cenicaña. It is noteworthy that for the server
modem has communication with the client, it must be located in Baud Rate 115200
any area (Colombia) within the coverage providing by the Data Bits 8
mobile telephony service provider.
Port Serial Parity None
To set the network is essential to configure all three devices Setting
(XBee®, dataloggers and modems) so that everyone has a Stop Bits 1
common language and work as one. The serial interface allows Flow control None
the interconnection of devices, in other words, the XBee® that
are assembled in serial cards (provide a serial interface to the Modo de Operación API
module) plug into the dataloggers and to the modem through its PAN ID 10A
RS 232 serial port.
A. XBee® Network Setting
B. Datalogger Setting
The XBee® modules configuration is done through the X-
Due to the handle operation mode (API) XBee® modules,
CTU tool, where it is essential to consider the MAC address of
the dataloggers should have instructions in their base code to
each module since it is required for routing packets.
follow a sequential logic to receive serially an order
To implement the hybrid network designed (Fig. 3) begins encapsulated in the API frame. Therefore, the datalogger answer
by setting three XBee® modules, of which two will be plugged must also be encapsulated; otherwise the answer will not arrive
to the dataloggers located on monitoring site and the third will at destination. This answer goes along with the datalogger ID, in
be plugged to the client modem. All of this, with the purpose of order to verify that the datalogger that has been asked is
establishing communication with the dataloggers over a third responding, to this network the ID corresponding to 1440 and
one. 1441.
In Fig. 4 two links can be identified: the initial setup with All this must be programmed into the datalogger and for this,
green color that is done by X-CTU tool, in which a default Campbell Scientific® provides a software used to establish,
destination is established (which is taken into account only if the configure and retrieve data from the dataloggers. In this case, PC
operating mode is transparent); with red, DigiMesh™ network 400 [6] and its CRBasic editor is the software for creating the
who is generated when there are line of sight between pairs of program that will be run in the datalogger.
devices, which means that it is not necessary that A2 have line
of sight with C2 to transmit information, because if A2 see B2
C. Modem Setting In Fig. 5 an example of the API frame (ASCII format) that
The modems must follow a client/server model such a way has been sent from the computer terminal with the “dl”
for achieving wireless communication link, where everything command (Line 1) and the corresponding answer of the
must enter at one end appear on the other. This entire setup is datalogger (Lines 2 to 5) is shown, highlighted in orange is the
done through AT commands, coded instructions that make up destination MAC XBee® that prompted the answer, in blue the
the communication language between a computer terminal and hexadecimal representation of “dl” command and in red
a modem. datalogger answer.
Fig. 5. Example: Send “dl” command to the datalogger 1440 through the
Modem configuration is performed through a tool that SerialMon tool [7].
allows the establishment of a serial connection; it is vital to have
clear three parameters before starting the setup: the APN from
mobile telephony service provider, the IP address that has been
assigned to the SIM (must be fixed and not dynamic, otherwise
it will be necessary to reprogram the modem whenever this
change) and the rate between client and server.
VI. NETWORK OPERATION
Periodically, each datalogger stores data detected by a TABLE V shows the format of the API frame that have been
sensors, in this case every 10 minutes. What is sought with the sent by the datalogger in response to the “dl” command in
network implementation is access to this data remotely without hexadecimal representation.
the need to relocate staff to the monitoring site. The dataloggers
have been programmed for answering to four types of TABLE V EXAMPLE: API FRAME ANSWER
commands, described in TABLE IV , which are typed from the
remote computer terminal. Parameter
Bytes
Name Hexadecimal Representation
Number
TABLE IV ANSWERS FROM THE DATALOGGER.
Start Delimeter 1 7E
Command Answer from the datalogger
Length 2 00 15
dl ID datalogger + OK
Frame Type 1 10
tn Number of stored records
Frame Id 1 01
Returns the last “a” records stored in the
ta Destination Address
datalogger, where a>0 8 00 13 A2 00 40 DA F2 6B
Returns a range of records from “a” to “b”, (64 Bits)
ta-b Destination Address
where b>a, a>0 and b>0 2 FF FE
(16 Bits)
The commands shown in TABLE IV must be encapsulated Broadcast Radius 1 00
in an API frame, where the command refers to 9 parameter Options 1 00
“Data” in TABLE II , in addition to command a carriage return
and line feed (CRLF) is appended. This API frame is created Data 7 31 34 34 30 20 4F 4B
with the frame generator that brings the X-CTU tool and should Checksum 1 42
be sent in hexadecimal representation for the XBee®
destination issue the response.
The sequence and path of a command and its corresponding VII. RESULTS
response is as follows, considering Fig. 3: after the API frame With the hybrid network designed and implemented, the
with the desired command is generated, this is sent serially from paper include the following results:
the computer terminal to the server modem and having
established a wireless communication link between the client  By using cellular technology network coverage is
and the server, the message is transmitted to the client modem. expanded, who is limited by the scope of XBee®
There, through the serial port, the message arrives at A2 XBee® modules (≈ 6.5 Km), providing and extensive coverage,
module that interprets the received frame, identifies the as long as there is signal from the mobile telephony
destination MAC XBee® (parameter 5 TABLE II ) and service provider.
redirects the message, when the message reaches its destination
gets datalogger that is serially connected. So, it is decapsulated  With DigiMesh™ topology is possible to interconnect n
to interpret the command that was requested and then the (n is limited by rate, 200Kb) devices at once, with the
datalogger generates a new API frame with the response into possibility of acquiring information of any terminal in
the parameter 9 “Data” and destination in parameter 5 real time, without need line of sight between all XBee®
“Destination Address” with the MAC of XBee®, that it is modules.
connected to the modem “client”. When the answer arrives at  By implementing network with XBee® devices
A2 XBee®, it is sent to the server that serially replicates the acquiring data plans is avoided, since for each modem is
message and is displayed on the remote computer terminal. indispensable a SIM card, otherwise the information
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Available: http://www.nvtl.com/index.php/products/integrated-m2m-
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