Wireless sensor network for substation monitoring

Abstract

We present the design and performance of a wireless sensor network that is deployed in a substation for monitoring the health of power subsystems such as circuit breakers, transformers and transformer bushings. The sensor network consists of 45 low power nodes for temperature sensing and a high power node that is capable of performing more specialized computations. All nodes communicate over a multihop mesh network that uses a dynamic link-quality based routing protocol. The nodes are solar powered and are capable of operating autonomously for multiple years.