Wireless Sensor Networks

Today "Wireless Sensor Networks" has become a major buzzword. They are supposed to be the solution for the future. Right - but the future has already begun! For more than 15 years Adcon Telemetry has favored networked solutions over single stations. We want our stations to talk to each other, we want them to relay other stations' data back to base. And rather than blasting this data into the ether with high output power, burning lots of energy, we prefer to build highly sensitive receivers, using tiny solar panels charging small batteries - and still last for a very very long time.

Star Topology

Conventional star topology as shown in the diagram has several inherent disadvantages. All the stations are installed around a central base station, and they all need to communicate directly with this base. What's wrong with that?

The output power must be high enough to allow even the remotest station to talk and listen to the base station.
High output power causes high power consumption, requiring large and expensive batteries and solar panels.
High output power usually involves fees for using the frequency spectrum, which are usually much higher than the fees for low power devices.
The Base Station requires a large high gain antenna with an expensive, sensitive radio receiver.

Adcon UHF Topology

Wireless Sensor Networks

Adcon What makes the Adcon Topology so special? That's not hard to explain: every Adcon long range radio station, be it a weather station, a meter reading station or a pump monitor, can at the same time perform as a relay station for other Adcon long range or short range radio stations.

This not only extends the range of data transmission, it also largely reduces infrastructure cost, because

very low output power is sufficient,
which can frequently be radiated free of charge or against a minor fee only,
such a station needs much less power and requires much smaller - and cheaper - solar panels,
installing dedicated relay stations is usually not necessary.

Furthermore that very same base station, which collects data from short and long range radio stations, can also communicate with GSM and GPRS stations. That will easily allow the integration of remote, isolated stations.

Monitor additional sites with short range modules

To economically expand the network we have designed the A723 addIT, a data logger with an integrated 10mW radio, that can transmit up to 1km. The valve controller A724 addSWITCH can be integrated the same way. This permits to,

install soil moisture stations around a weather station,
monitor frost with dedicated temperature sensors,
remotely open and close irrigation valves with the Adcon addTIMER and the addSWITCH valve controller,
and much more.

Adcon Topology
plus GSM/GPRS

Increased coverage with GSM networks and the increasingly affordable cost of data transmission, especially since the introduction of GPRS, has made us integrate both GSM and GPRS into the Adcon topology. The very same A840 resp. A850 Telemetry Gateway, which retrieves the data from your UHF stations, is also capable to communicate via GSM (CSD connections) and also via GPRS with all Adcon GSM RTUs.

Total integration - UHF to GPRS

Now we have carried the integration one step further. Quite frequently stations need to be installed in areas, which have no GSM coverage, but also no opportunities to install an A850 Telemetry Gateways to receive radio data. The solution is our RA440. This device, which can talk both UHF and GPRS, is installed in a location covered by GSM, It communicates with the A850 by GPRS, while it talks to the RTU's by UHF. This combination allows the formation of networks without limitations.

Adcon Network

Wireless Sensor Networks

Star Topology

Adcon UHF Topology

Wireless Sensor Networks

Monitor additional sites with short range modules

Adcon Topology plus GSM/GPRS

Total integration - UHF to GPRS

Adcon Topology
plus GSM/GPRS