I am trying to figure out the most optimal way of achieving something. I have an mkr wifi 1010 that sends analog data to a database online every 5 seconds. This is no problem. However, I would like to add many more sensors to this structure and none of the sensors are connected to one another via hardware. Is it better to simply push data to the internet on each device or have all devices send data to a centralized location locally, which then sends the data out to the database? I was thinking the latter is better but I am getting a little confused with options here. Should I go Bluetooth or Wi-Fi if this is the case? I don't want to strain the Wi-Fi network if I have 20 sensors sending data every few seconds.
Interesting project, but you failed to tell us which parameter you wish to optimize. Is it initial cost, ongoing maintenance, recurring cost, data throughput, errors in the data transmission, etc.
Paul
I would like to keep cost at a minimum while also keeping the strain on the wifi netowrk at minimum. The sensors are simply sending an integer value every few seconds. So it is not a lot of data but it is constant.
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Thanks, that is really helpful
justinoberle:
I would like to keep cost at a minimum while also keeping the strain on the wifi netowrk at minimum. The sensors are simply sending an integer value every few seconds. So it is not a lot of data but it is constant.
You do not need to worry about straining your WiFi network with 20 sensors sending a few bytes every second. Home network routers handle a lot more in an average home with a couple of kids.
The issue with WiFi for your sensors will be power. You cannot run WiFi sensors from batteries. An 18650 will run a WiFi sensor for a day or two. Because you want to send data every few seconds there are limits to power optimization. If you can collect data for an hour or so, you could disconnect from the network in between and save a lot of power.
The advantage of WiFi is IP at the sensor. You can send data without any hardware/central node additionally to your router.
On the other side having a central node would allow you to use a more power friendly protocol.
Thanks for the information. For now I am ok with all the devices being plugged in to a wall outlet, however, in the future I will need to make some battery powered. I think I have a way to do this though. Basically just lower the data rate to every 1 hr or something and put the device to sleep during downtime. I am guessing this can work? I will just have to figure out the details later. Thanks for the info. This helps.
Practically, you can not use Bluetooth to update data to a remote database without using a Bluetooth gateway. If you use a Bluetooth gateway, it becomes complicated. You can use WiFi or Ethernet. See Arduino - MySQL tutorial
One way to do the thing.
I run 6 ESP32's that do various things and are 'networked' together, locally. The ESP32's connect to a RPi and use MQTT broker for communications. On the RPi, Node-Red can be used as a message manager getting items from the MQTT broker, sending those items to a web site database and the ESP32's. I wrote a Python script as my message manager. Works fine, lasts a long time.
Thanks, that is good information. I will try to keep my current setup of mkr wifi 1010 arduino's and see what I can do. I was more concerned about killing the wifi but that shouldn't be an issue thanks to a comment above. I do like the idea of creating a local network of microcontrollers though. I'll probably eventually do this.
I did have the ESP32's directly connecting to the AWS, worked great but was going to cost me 1 USD per day.
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