Development of remote monitoring solutions for wind resources using the SODAR technique

Abstract

Long range (LoRa), a Low power wide area networks (LPWAN) technology, requires a reduced network infrastructure to cover a large area and with low power consumption. In the context of monitoring networks and wind power, LoRa has the potential to support monitoring applications and serve as a feedback device for power control systems in wind turbines, where small amounts of data can be transmitted asynchronously through network. However, the literature lacks evaluations of LoRa in the context of the transmission of wind information. Therefore, in this document we analyze the performance of this technology operating in an urban-rural environment, using LoRa terminal devices located next to a remote meteorological measurement system (Sonic detection and ranging (Sodar)) and a LoRa receiver unit. The information is sent to a control center through the application of a hybrid ARQ protocol. Metrics of interest are evaluated: Packet delivery ratio (PDR), Received signal strength indicator (RSSI), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and transmission time. A case study evaluates the Long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) in real-world and focused work environments to meet gaps in information availability, that is, evaluating error, reliability and other practical benefits. The experiments carried out with the LoRa technology are especially useful to demonstrate its applicability in the transmission of information, either for the analysis of the wind resource and as a feedback system for controllers. The field experiments are carried out on the campus of the Tecnol´ogico de Monterrey (ITESM), Mexico. The results revealed that all the metrics evaluated in the experiments are consistent for remote monitoring. In addition, in short periods it is possible to send information to feedback controllers of the turbines or the wind farm.