An Autonomous City-Wide Light Pollution Measurement Network System Using LoRa Wireless Communication
Krystian Erwinski,
Dominika Karpinska,
Mieczyslaw Kunz,
Marcin Paprocki,
Jaroslaw Czokow
Affiliations
Krystian Erwinski
Department of Automatics and Measurement Systems, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Physics Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Dominika Karpinska
Department of Geomatics and Cartography, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Mieczyslaw Kunz
Department of Geomatics and Cartography, Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Marcin Paprocki
SPE Labs, Wloclawska 167, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Jaroslaw Czokow
Department of Automatics and Measurement Systems, Institute of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Physics Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Grudziadzka 5, 87-100 Torun, Poland
Light pollution is an ongoing problem for city populations. Large numbers of light sources at night negatively affect humans’ day–night cycle. It is important to measure the amount of light pollution in order to effectively ascertain the amount of light pollution in the city area and effectively reduce it where possible and necessary. In order to perform this task, a prototype wireless sensor network for automated, long-term measurement of light pollution was developed for the Torun (Poland) city area. The sensors use LoRa wireless technology to collect sensor data from an urban area by way of networked gateways. The article investigates the sensor module architecture and design challenges as well as network architecture. Example results of light pollution measurements are presented, which were obtained from the prototype network.
