Remote GSM module monitoring and Photovoltaic system control

Abstract

In this paper, we are interested in Photovoltaic systems (PV) which generate electricity from solar radiation. More precisely, our contribution consists in the implementation of a remote monitoring and control PV system for standalone applications located in an open environment. The novelty of our approach relies on the fact that it is operational even in the case of a huge spread deployment of PV system. Our solution aims to be a good replacement of manually module checking which is not recommended because of time-consuming, less accuracy and potentially dangerous to the operator. The proposed solution consists in two essential parts. First, we suggest robust and reliable measurements and control system based on a star architecture of a group of sensor network. The supervisory control system is assumed by a microcontroller chip and a human-machine interface (HMI). A software is designed and developed for interacting and managing remote sensor systems by applying LabVIEW, a virtual instrument platform. Then, we introduce, as a communication technology, a full duplex digital system using the infrastructure of mobile radio system. The result of our demonstration shows that the system can monitor and control the remote communication between the monitoring center and the remote PV station. Thus, the remote monitoring functions are realized in real-time.