1. Significance of the Laboratory Environment Monitoring System Design
The laboratory is an acidic and alkaline environment, which can greatly shorten the lifespan of cables, reduce the safety, reliability, and flexibility of the system, increase maintenance costs, and bring many inconveniences to practical applications. Therefore, it is particularly important to design a wireless communication-based laboratory environment monitoring system with good repeatability, high measurement accuracy, strong linearity, and low complexity.
2. Introduction to Wireless Communication Technology
Wireless communication technology features low power consumption, low cost, low complexity, low rate, good stability, large network capacity, short delay, and high security. In terms of network configuration, there are several types of nodes in the wireless communication network, including coordination points, routing nodes, and terminal nodes.
3. Functional Requirements of the Monitoring System
The system includes a wireless communication module and a host computer, with specific functions as follows: Temperature and humidity, light, and smoke monitoring are conducted using temperature and humidity sensors, light-sensitive sensors, and smoke sensors to monitor the temperature, humidity, light intensity, and smoke concentration in the environment. The data is sent to the host computer through the coordinator. Relay control: The wireless communication module controls the relay’s opening and closing, thereby controlling the hardware. Data display: The system collects temperature, humidity, light intensity, and smoke concentration data from the wireless communication module and draws corresponding trend graphs of environmental parameters based on the collected data. Data storage: The data transmitted by the wireless communication module is stored in a database table. Data processing: The system processes the data received from the sensor nodes and determines whether the data meets standards or exceeds threshold ranges. When smoke is detected, the system automatically starts the fan for ventilation. When the laboratory environment returns to normal, the fan automatically shuts off. If the collected temperature, humidity, light intensity, or smoke concentration data exceeds the corresponding set threshold, the host computer emits an alarm sound and displays the anomaly.
4. Design of the Laboratory Environment Monitoring System Based on IoT
The design of the laboratory environment monitoring system based on IoT includes both hardware and software components. The hardware part includes a coordinator module designed based on microcontroller chips, terminal acquisition node modules, and relay modules for control. The software part includes the communication protocol stack and the software design of each node module, as well as the design of the host computer and database. This design utilizes wireless sensor network technology to construct a tree network and achieve coverage of the laboratory environment. It collects temperature, humidity, light intensity, and smoke concentration data through sensors on terminal nodes and then sends the collected data to the host computer for processing, achieving laboratory environment monitoring and control.
5. Overall Structure Design and Hardware Structure Design of the Monitoring System
The overall structure design framework adopts a modular design approach, mainly including data acquisition terminals, coordinators, host computers, wireless communication modules, and power supply components. After the system is started, it begins monitoring the environment after initializing the serial port and each module. The collected data is stored and displayed on the host computer. If the monitored temperature, humidity, or light intensity parameters exceed the threshold, the host computer emits an alarm sound and displays an abnormal status to alert the management personnel for timely handling. When smoke is detected, the system automatically opens the fan for ventilation to reduce smoke concentration. The fan automatically closes when the laboratory environment returns to normal.
6. Software Design of the Terminal Node and Coordinator Design
The terminal node mainly performs data collection and transmission. The terminal node is implemented according to the functional requirements of each node, and the program flow of each node is basically similar. The coordinator is used to network and receive data transmitted from the terminal nodes, sending the data to the host computer and receiving commands from the host computer to pass on to the terminal nodes for execution. The host computer is responsible for receiving temperature, humidity, light intensity, and smoke concentration data, displaying it on the screen for monitoring by management personnel, and achieving hardware control and alarm functions.
7. Implementation of the Laboratory Environment Monitoring System Based on IoT and Conclusion
This system features fast speed, a simple interface, powerful functions, and high efficiency. The client side of this system uses the Arduino platform as the development platform for the host computer. Each module of the system is tested, and after testing, the displayed test interface of the system is shown. The laboratory environment monitoring system based on IoT achieves the collection and control of laboratory environment parameters. If the environmental parameters exceed the threshold, the host computer will emit an alarm sound to alert the manager for appropriate handling. When a certain concentration of smoke is detected, the fan will be activated for ventilation. The system meets the requirements for monitoring most laboratory environments and has advantages such as low construction cost, reliable data transmission, low power consumption, and easy expansion.