Z-Node

Together with industrial partner Zolitron Technology GmbH from Bochum, Z-Node is developing an intelligent sensor system for retrofitting recycling containers for used glass as well as an associated cloud infrastructure in which waste disposal companies can query the fill levels of their containers. This enables waste disposal companies to empty the containers as required and to plan the routes of the disposal vehicles in an economically and ecologically optimal way. The architecture of the system is shown in the diagram.

The main innovations in the Z-Node project are

• maintenance-free operation of the sensors for up to 10 years (no need for batteries thanks to micro energy harvesting and energy-efficient design),
• simple retrofitting of existing containers by gluing on the sensor and smartphone-supported registration (vibration measurement instead of weighing or optical ultrasound measurement; distributed data evaluation on the sensor and in the cloud based on machine learning methods),
• efficient support for development with data-driven machine learning approaches (use of data loggers and manual recording of fill levels in the learning phase; transfer and storage of extensive raw data in the cloud; easily modifiable
  algorithms in the cloud) and
• Update capability of the sensor network to support an agile approach to development with iterative improvement cycles (use of NB-IoT wireless technology).