Revealing Characteristic IoT Behaviors by Performing Simple Energy Measurements via Open Hardware/Software Components

Abstract

The vast progress in the electronics industry, being experienced in the last decade, made available many devices of amazing characteristics, at very affordable price levels. This dynamic has drastically affected the way that people live and work. In this context, the modern computers tend to be of credit card size and, quite often, can be found in non-conventional places, like “smart” home appliances, autonomous vehicles or in rural area sensor-actuator equipment. Apparently, the underlying diversity in computing and networking activities creates new opportunities but is also posing new challenges, as a huge number of interconnected devices have to operate for long periods, while many of them cannot be powered by fixed lines. For this reason, the energy optimization/minimization problem of the participating equipment is of key importance for providing fluent functionality and autonomy. The first step towards minimizing the energy footprint of these devices is to measure and study their energy requirements in a comprehensive and simple manner. This work is trying to highlight the feasibility of performing similar measurements by exploiting some cost-effective recently appeared hardware and software components. The proposed method is accurate, generic, and flexible enough, and thus can be easily followed by non-expert personnel and assist in making them more sensitive about energy consumption issues.