A low cost reconfigurable sensor network for coastal monitoring

Sensor networks have experienced a fast development and extended their fields of application since their appearance for military uses. The monitoring of physical parameters in natural habitats is a typical application for assessing the risks of worsening the ecosystem. Among natural environments with scientific interest, there are the coastlines in front of cities whose industrial activities impact on them, such as San Jorge Gulf, Chubut, Argentina. For that, a low cost wireless sensor network is being developed in order to deploy nodes over the coastline for measuring physical parameters, providing a large coverage area of study. In this paper the node architecture based on reconfigurable mixed signals array called PSoC® (Programmable System on Chip) from Cypress® is presented. The use of these devices allow, on the one hand, to easily interface with sensors and communication devices by using a single chip and, on the other hand, to reprogram the hardware while the system is running allowing to perform different functions or being able to improve their performance in a remote way.