Smart Solutions for Smart Cities: Using Wireless Sensor Network for Smart Dumpster Management

Wireless sensor networks are being deployed in civil, military, environmental and health applications due to their versatility, low cost and rapid communication capabilities. Smart cities would be able to manage their services with the help of information and communication technologies relying to a great extent on wireless sensor networks. In this paper, we propose the use of wireless networking technologies to optimize the solid waste management through the use of smart dumpsters equipped with waste level sensors. These sensors can read the level of waste as being low, medium or high. The HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors, selected for this study, yield the level sense results that can be used at the municipal authority server to deploy just the sufficient number of trucks and staff for waste collection. In addition, path planning and routing can be done to minimize the time and fuel needed. We have developed a simulation model and performed simulation for optimization of fuel and time.