Milestone 2

2.1 Project Plan

Fig. 2.1. Gantt chart for project.

2.2 Concepts

The team's initial concepts involved choosing between various power monitoring solutions and deciding how those solutions would be implemented. 

The first concept involved utilizing a plug-style power monitoring sensor. Typically these types of sensors also include other uses, such as changing the state of the device currently connected to the sensor. 

One such plug the team reviewed is the LW005, which is a wireless meter plug with the ability to monitor power consumption as well as remotely control the device connected to it. The main issue the team had was with the number of meter plugs needed to cover a large area, as well as the potential difficulty with users having to install a large amount of plugs. Another issue the team had was with the size of the plugs, as they are bulky and cause issues with the standard 2 plug outlets used in most homes and buildings.

The second concept involved using a breaker-style power monitoring sensor. These types of sensors utilize current-transformer clamps that directly attach to the breakers and can provide a larger overall view of the power usage than the plugs. The issue the team had with the breaker power sensors was the loss of per-device current detection. The breaker sensors are more suited for larger-scale monitoring, so the team decided to use this information to create a third and final concept.

The final concept involved utilizing both breaker and plug-style sensors to give users the large-scale monitoring of the breaker-style sensors but also retain the per-device current detection of the plug-style sensors. The team also believes the issue with the number of plugs needed can be offset by only using the plug sensors on devices that consume a large amount of power, such as heaters, refrigerators, or cooking appliances. 

2.3 Concept Selection

The combination of CT clamps and plug sensors was the optimal choice for this project given their complementary advantages. Because the CT clamps measure current flow without being part of a circuit, it makes installation easy for consumer applications without the hazardous possibility of contact with any wires. Furthermore, the plug sensors are helpful to pinpoint issues with specific devices. 

2.4 Design

System Design & Process

Design Flowchart

Graphic depicting design flowchart. Heading reads, "Design Flowchart." Four boxes are vertically arranged on the righthand side, connected by upward pointing arrows. Two boxes are vertically arranged on the righthand side, connected by a downward pointing arrow. A rightward arrow connects the uppermost box on the lefthand side and the upper box on the righthand side. The boxes on the lefthand side, from bottom to top, read, 1: "ELECTRICAL PANEL," 2: "CT CLAMPS," 3: "LORWAN TRANSMITTER," 4: "VEEA HUB." The boxes on the righthand side, from top to bottom, read, 1: "CLOUD," 2: "USER INTERFACE."

Process Flowchart

Graphic depicting process flowchart. Five boxes are vertically arranged connected by upward pointing arrows. Reading from bottom to top, the boxes read, 1: "User attaches CT clamps (typically at panelbox, one time setup)," 2: "CT clamps measure change in current," 3: "Current readings transmitted vis LoRaWAN," 4: "VEEA Hub transmits data to cloud," 5: "User able to access usage data from personal devices."

Fig. 2.2. Design flowchart.

Fig. 2.3 Process flowchart.

2.5 Analysis

The hardware for this project consists of three main components: (1) Veea hub, (2) collection of CT clamps, and (3) collection of meter plug sensors. 

(1) The Veea hub, which will act as the data collection center of the sensor network, and will reroute the sensor data to a cloud server, where it can then be accessed remotely via a computer or other device. 

(2) The CT clamps we selected are made by Netvox. We selected these CT clamps, as they have three sensors, allowing for monitoring of multiple devices with a single sensor. The CT clamps will collect power consumption data on a larger (room) scale from a breaker box, before it will be transmitted to the Veea hub.

(3) The meter plug sensors we selected are made by MOKOSmart. We selected these meter plug sensors, as they offer easy integration to home outlets and easy connectivity to the Veea hub. The meter plug sensors, like the CT clamps, will collect power consumption data that is transmitted to the Veea hub, however, this data will be on a smaller (individual appliance/device) scale from individual outlets.

Computers will also be required for connecting to the Veea Hub wirelessly to monitor the data collected. 

The software for this project will consist of a user interface that will be developed on the Veea developer platform. The user interface will provide users with both summarizing statistics regarding the power consumption data collected, and detailed power consumption data from individual sensors. 

2.6 Test plan

The team will incrementally test each component one by one, as the system is heavily linked and dependent on all of the prior stages working. Once approval for testing from Stevens is secured the team can first begin testing the CT Clamps by taking individual measurements, then build off of that and test the wireless transmission, and then create a bare-bones UI to test integration with the Veea cloud.

Once the stack is functional, the team will flesh out the visualization of the data and improve the UI.