MoleNet

Today, 21 June, we presented our MoleNet project to interested members of the public at the UMZU pavilion in Bremen city centre. The project and the idea were presented and discussed from 14:00. This event took place as part of the FutureNow! event organised by the Digital Impact Lab.
Would you like to find out more about MoleNet? Visit our project homepage at www.molenet.org

From the 25th to 29th March 2024, first field tests were conducted with the new IoT-based water quality monitoring system. The node, which is capable of measuring temperature, pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), and dissolved oxygen (DO) was tested at the wastewater treatment plant of the Hospital for Tropical Medicine, Bangkok, Thailand. Through the use of the system, we aim to automatize the process of monitoring water parameters that can be indicators for pollution and the effectiveness of wastewater treatment.

The production and shipping took almost three weeks and finally, the new version of our MoleNet PCB arrived mid of February 2024.

After  we achieved the 2nd place at  “Das Goldene Plietsch” in 2023, we designed an ordered a new version of our MoleNet-PCB. It has some exiting features like for example:

• Based on the ESP32-S3 chip offering more computing power and require less energy.
• Built-in USB-C connector: No more adapters are required to connect to the board.
• With the Ra-01H shield, we have 868MHz LoRa-transceiver on board. It is based on the commonly used SX1276 chipset.
• More GPIOs and pins are placed on headers which simplifies debugging, precise power measurements or flexible adaptations.
• Finally, we have our debugging LEDs
• Also the Switchable SDI-12 connector is available.

Right ...

We finally made the 2nd place in the award “Das Goldene Plietsch”, which honours research and teaching projects aimed at sustainability, for our work on MoleNet. The prize which is awarded by the Foundation of University of Bremen, is endowed with 7000 Euro. This funding allows us to purchase new hardware for the further development of our MoleNet experimental platform. Thanks to all staff and students who have contributed to MoleNet over the last years!

On September 12th, 2023, the Foundation of the University of Bremen and its trust foundations will once again honor innovative, original, or courageous ideas with the GOLDEN PLIETSCH and award up to 25,000 euros to bright minds.
We are happy to announce that our MoleNet project got selected for the final round! Let’s keep our fingers crossed that we will get the price!
More information about the GOLDEN PLIETSCH can be found online:
https://www.uni-bremen.de/kooperationen/foerderer-alumni/die-stiftung-der-universitaet-bremen/foerderung

Our bachelor students interns from Sri Lanka have finished their stay and presented their results today. They have developed a prototype, based on MoleNet, and targeted to use in rubber tree farms in Sri Lanka. Congratulations!

After the first batch of new MoleNet PCBs have arrived some weeks back, we are in the phase of testing and evaluating them. This short clip shows the first blinking example: It is not a lot but kind of the first word of your own kid. 😊 👶

After a long period of discussion the required features, thinking about the hardware requirements and trying to find the most reliable manufacturer, we finally managed: Today, the first batch of completely redesigned MoleNet PCBs finally arrived!

We changed from our self-soldered approach to a factory assembly and will now start testing. Let’s see how far everything works.

Are you interested in the MoleNet project and hardware design and testing? Are you also located in Bremen or nearby? Contact us for student jobs! -> projects@comnets.uni-bremen.de

After a long time, we can report on the progress of the project. A new field test was carried out in June 2021 at Grolland, Bremen.

The field test consisted of 2 nodes that were buried in the ground at the depth of 20 cm. A single base station collected the data from the nodes and forwarded it to The Things Network. The nodes were powered by batteries and the base station was powered from the mains.

Even though the field test did not go as planned it was crucial in identifying the problems in the current system and gave insights about the improvements that could be made. The test was also a reminder to keep up to date with the changing hardware and adapt to the new requirements. The team is working towards creating a completely new system that is more advanced and dynamic...