Design of an embedded sensor network for application in energy monitoring of a sports stadium

The deployment of energy monitoring systems is well established for industrial facilities and commercial buildings, however these systems are insufficient where large variations in activity level (production variation, one-off events) are common. In such cases, accurate planning and operation around energy usage requires the deployment of a flexible embedded sensor network that can capture data at the required level of accuracy and granularity and can associate the energy usage data with the context and activity that has caused it. This research proposes an approach and an embedded system for the association of energy usage with the actual activities in the environment and an analysis of the energy usage profile to identify activities that contribute to peak values. The cyber-physical system developed incorporates an embedded controller with sensors to monitor the physical environment, an integrated energy analyser, and a visualisation interface that associate events in the physical world with the actual energy consumption recorded. The creation of a detailed energy profile for the event can then be used in the identification of energy saving opportunities. Validated data from an energy monitoring application in a sports stadium is described to illustrate the methodology.