Design of an Intelligent Sensor Network for Dam Monitoring Based on IoT Technology

The evolution of IoT (Internet of Things) technology has provided low cost tools that helps solve the integration difficulty of heterogeneous hardware and software platforms found in the Smart Grid, especially when hardware platforms presents low computational power, low power consumption energy and are geographically dispersed. This article introduces the implementation of a structural dam safety monitoring system for hydroelectric power plants that uses the standard protocol XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) to provide communication services between the different sensors installed at auscultation instruments. The XMPP protocol provides almost real-time and reliable communication between Intelligent Electronic Device (IEDs) as well as the communication between IEDS and SCADA systems. The data flow is transmitted encapsulated in a XML (Extensible Markup Language) format, using the standardization defined by the IEEE Sensei-IoT group. The system is developed and installed at CESP's hydroelectric power plant in Porto Primavera, Sao Paulo State, Brazil.