Mobile Sensor Node for Real Time Monitoring of pH Level in Domestic Water Resources

Abstract

With increased levels of environmental pollution, access to clean water is hampered all over the world. As typical laboratory experiments and official water quality tests take considerable amount of time to obtain results, demand for real time monitoring of pH value in household water is ever increasing. Moreover, incidents of serious nature had occurred in the past where people’s lives, especially in rural areas, have been lost due to issues pertaining to pH value in drinking water. This happens mainly due to non availability of a simple device that can measure such water quality parameters in real time. This paper presents a technique implemented based on wireless sensor networks and mobile technologies to measure pH value in water in a domestic environment in real time. It consists of a sensor node that measures pH and transmit the values to a mobile device, such as a mobile phone, using wireless communication principles. The proposed system facilitates storing of monitored records that can be viewed graphically on a mobile phone. Real time measurements taken using three water samples indicate that the system performed with a high accuracy and low transmission delays between the sensor node and the mobile device. The system can be readily implemented as a low cost consumer device that can be used even by non-technical persons.