Sustainable IoT-Based Data Logger System for Marine Applications Using Renewable Energy

Navigational data is vital for various fields of applications. Satellite communications are costly while Automatic Identification System (AIS) data has considerable interval which can make crucial incidents during the voyage unrecoverable. The storage attached to the existing loggers are limited and the GSM900 communication link is slow. This paper presents the design and implementation of an Internet of Things (IoT) based data logging system tailored for marine applications that improves cost, power consumption and durability while providing efficient and reliable data logging capabilities in the harsh marine environment. A programmable multithreaded low-power UR32 industrial router from Milesight replaces the simple Microcontroller Unit (MCU), providing a dual-SIM 4G connectivity failsafe. The proposed design minimizes the required components and enables seamless data acquisition and remote monitoring. Using photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, our logger can run entirely on renewable energy giving an endurance of almost 24 hours on a single charge. It can log data from various sensors over serial communication ports with uninterrupted log intervals. The communication link is improved from 2kbps to more than 7 mbps while storage is improved by 32 times. The complete system is packaged into an IP68 rating enclosure. The proposed solution contributes to cost-effective and energy-efficient IoT-based data logging systems for marine applications, enabling better understanding and managing marine resources and ecosystems using renewable energy.