Wireless sensor network for data-center environmental monitoring

Data centers' energy consumption has attracted global attention because of the fast growth of the information technology (IT) industry. Up to 60% of the energy consumed in a data center is used for cooling in wasteful ways as a result of lack of environmental information and overcompensated cooling systems. In this project, a wireless sensor network for data-enter environmental monitoring was developed to improve energy efficiency and to optimize data-center performance. The sensor network consists of a suite of sensor nodes for data sensing, a router node to relay sensed data, and a coordinator node to establish a network, receive the data, and process the data. The prototype sensor network was built on Arduino open source hardware with a seamlessly integrated XBee RF module and configured to operate within the ZigBee mesh network standard. A 24-hour test run at Argonne's data center demonstrated that the wireless networked environmental monitoring solution is easy to integrate and manage with the existing IT infrastructure, while delivering better visibility into the data center's 3D temperature and humidity distribution and substantial improvements in energy efficiency.