A Data Collector with GPRS Sever for the Research of Bioelectricity in Standing Trees

Abstract: It has been observed that there is sustained bioelectricity in standing trees, which is a potential energy for wireless sensor networks. Manual measurement has been the main approach to obtain data to analyze the mechanism, which is inconvenient and possibly leads to measurement errors. In order to obtain accurate and real-time data, and to avoid human errors, an automatic data collector was designed. The collector has low power consumption and provides a reliable approach to obtain data for the research of bioelectricity in standing trees. It has the ability to automatically measure relevant parameters, including electrical potential differences between a tree and surrounding soil, air temperature, air relative humidity, soil temperature, soil moisture and light intensity, and to send data to a remote server through the GPRS network. The GPRS server has been designed and developed with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. It has the ability to receive data which are sent from the automatic data collector and to save the data in an Excel file, providing a convenience for the research of bioelectricity in standing trees. Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.