Utilizing Cost-effective NB-IoT-based Sensors for Detecting Water Temperature and Flow

Abstract

Improperly turned off sink and shower faucets, leaking toilets, and faults in pipes can cause significant expenses in increased water bills, and cause even more serious problems if water finds its way inside building structures. Today, many kinds of sensor systems can be used to send data to the internet from a multitude of environments, and the collected data can be processed with algorithms to find anomalies. This paper presents a prototype for measuring ambient room temperature and water pipe temperatures. As an example case, this paper shows how the wireless temperature measurement prototype can be used to detect water flow within the pipes. The flow detection could be used, for example, for finding faults in water applications and devices. This papers describes the basic operating principle for the prototype, the initial findings, challenges and future directions, and introduces a technical solution for executing the prototype software within an NB-IoT module without the need to utilize a separate microcontroller or small computer.