Design of a Distributed Wireless Sensor Platform for Monitoring and Real-Time Communication of the Environmental Variables during the Supply Chain of Perishable Commodities

Abstract

Monitoring the main environmental conditions during storage and transportation of perishable foods is necessary to predict quality losses throughout shelf life. By far, temperature is the main factor affecting quality and shelf life, but there are other variables that would greatly affect quality losses such us relative humidity, O2, CO2, ethylene, etc. Thus, the real-time knowledge of the evolution of these parameters during the whole supply chain allows suppliers to prevent for food losses. This paper deeply describes the design of a flexible monitoring system with real-time communication to be used in the supply chain of perishable commodities, using Wi-Fi wireless communication as collaborative networks between different measurement points. Aspects such as consumption, performance and feasibility of the system are described in detail to check the adaptability of its use.