Wireless Module for Sensing Superficial Vibrations of Soils

Abstract

In the present work, the feasibility of implementing the XBee technology in wireless accelerometric sensors (WAS) development for sensing of elastic waves on soils surface is analyzed. The incidence of distance and obstacles between a coordinator and end-device pair in their radio link by examining the number of packets received successfully was verified. Additionally, it was investigated the influence of the transmission rate over the sampling frequency of signals associated to mechanical vibrations from a testing ground by measuring the effective sampling periods of the "A / D Conversion - Transmission" process. The data reception errors introduced by the channel attenuation and the presence of obstacles, impose severe restrictions on the maximum allowable distance between the communication modules. The transmission rate features provided by XBee technology in association with the A / D time sampling of the microcontroller, allow to carry out recordings to a maximum sampling frequency of 1 kHz , useful for real-time applications where seismic signals are into the spectral range 0 to 500 Hz. In order to increase the sampling frequency of the sensor for prospection applications with signals with bandwidths greater than 500 Hz , it was successfully tested a prototype that uses a fast external memory for storing data, which significantly improves the sampling signal allowing to retake XBee technology due to its excellent low consumption features.