There are two options for gathering measured data from remote locations: data loggers and sensor networks. Below, I listed my impressions on some of the solutions and their pros and cons. Some of the impressions outlined lead to the decision to start a new wireless sensor framework, and some of the impressions were gathered during the development.

• Academic WSN (e.g., Mica, Telos, Wispes)
  • + Mesh networking
  • + Battery powered
  • + Tested
  • – Seem to be outdated / not active
  • – Not really open source
  • – Small community
  • – Seem to be complicated
    • Meant for electrical engineers
    • Meant for research on wireless networks and not on the measured data
  • – Rather expensive
• Commercial WSN (e.g., Libelium, Advanticsys)
  • + Battery powered
  • + Mesh networking
  • + Flexibility regarding internet access (Libelium)
  • + Flexibility regarding sensor choice (Libelium)
  • + Lots of documentation (Libelium)
  • + Tested
  • – Expensive
  • – Not really open source
• Commercial data loggers (e.g., Testo, Hobo)
  • + Battery operation
  • + Tested
  • – They are data loggers: You only know after the measurement, whether it was successful or not.
  • – Limited selection of sensors from one supplier. You may need products from multiple suppliers
  • – Expensive despite limited functionality
  • Not open source
• Academic data loggers (e.g. OSBSS, Cave Pearl)
  • + Arduino based
  • + Tutorials available
  • + Battery powered
  • – Still in prototyping stage
  • – Not modular
  • – They are data logger (see above)
• Arduino + Shields / Proto-boards (e.g., Arduino, Moteino)
  • + Huge community
  • + Open source
  • + Modular sensor arrangement is possible
  • – Not clear if battery operation is possible
  • – Time for Manufacturing
  • – Still rather expensive
  • – Larger form factor
  • – Not tested
• Custom Arduino based solution
  • + Potentially cheaper
  • + Huge community, since it is based on the Arduino ecosystem
  • + Potentially fast(er) to manufacture (if SMD parts are used)
  • + Potentially small (enough) form factor
  • + Virtually infinite flexibility (if modular)
  • – Risks: reliability, manufacturing

Despite the plethora of papers on WSNs, I could not find a framework that is truly open source and simple enough that I would dare to tinker with it. This led me to think that there is a niche for a simple and modular framework for remote measurements. Although our research field is buildings, I could imagine that it could be used in other fields.

I would like to mention two academic data logger projects, which inspired me to publish our work on GitHub and on hackaday.io:

• The Cave Pearl Project (https://hackaday.io/project/6961-the-cave-pearl-project)
• OSBSS: Open Source Building Science Sensors (http://www.osbss.com/)

Both provide source files, build instructions and tutorials. Check them out!

If there is a modular open-source framework for remote measurements that I am not aware of, let me know in the comments.