Development of a Lo Ra-based multi-node wireless sensor network for real-time vibration and tilt monitoring of high-voltage transmission line towers using MEMS accelerometers
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a distributed system of spatially dispersed autonomous devices that sense physical quantities, process the data locally and transmit the results to a central gateway over a low-power radio link. This research describes the design, deployment and field validation of a LoRa-based multi-node WSN for real-time vibration and tilt monitoring of high-voltage transmission line towers in the Khon Kaen province of northeastern Thailand. Eight sensor nodes, each built around an ESP32 microcontroller, a LoRa SX1276 transceiver operating at 923 MHz and a three-axis MEMS accelerometer (InvenSense MPU-6050), were installed in pairs on four 115 kV steel-lattice towers representing different exposure conditions: a sheltered rural site, a hilltop site, a river-crossing span and an urban site adjacent to a highway. Each node sampled the accelerometer at 200 Hz, computed the root-mean-square (RMS) vibration amplitude and the static tilt angle on-board, and transmitted a 24-byte LoRa packet to a Raspberry Pi gateway every 10 seconds. The gateway forwarded the data via 4G cellular to a cloud dashboard for real-time visualisation and threshold-based alerting. A seven-day continuous field trial conducted in March 2025 generated 1200 data points per node. The overall packet delivery ratio (PDR) across the network was 96.8 %, ranging from 99.1 % at the nearest node (0.8 km from the gateway) to 93.4 % at the farthest node (4.7 km). Vibration RMS varied from 18.3 ± 3.2 mg at the sheltered rural tower to 49.8 ± 9.1 mg at the river-crossing tower, correlating strongly with the mean wind speed recorded at each site (r = 0.96, P < 0.01). Static tilt remained below 0.12° at all towers, well within the 0.5° serviceability threshold specified by the tower operator. The system drew an average current of 5.3 mA from a 3.7 V lithium-polymer cell (peak 120 mA during LoRa transmission, 3.2 µA in deep sleep), yielding an estimated battery life of 47 days on a 6000 mAh cell without solar recharging. These results demonstrate that a LoRa-based WSN with MEMS accelerometers can provide reliable, low-cost structural health monitoring for transmission towers in tropical environments, reducing the need for periodic manual inspections and enabling early detection of abnormal vibration or tilt events.
Author: Suthichai Wattanapruk
Language: English
Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7212403174