Previous Article in event
Previous Article in session
Next Article in event
Next Article in session
An Open-Source and Low-Cost Monitoring System for Precision Enology
Published:
02 June 2014
by MDPI
in International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications
session Applications
Abstract: Many critical points in winemaking can affect final product quality. Wine is a dynamic system where conditions could be strongly different between products of the same vineyard and even among each wine vat, due to microbiological and chemical process. This high variability means an increase in work in term of control and process management. As for Precision Viticulture, the winemaking process required a site-specific methodology, in order to optimize cellar practices management and quality production. This kind of approach suggest a new concept of winemaking, which could be identified as Precision Enology. The Institute of Biometeorology of the National Research Council has developed a wireless monitoring system, which consists of silicone barrel bungs equipped with sensors for the measurement of physical and chemical parameters in wine stored in barrel. The preliminary prototype was published on the Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. In the present work is presented an open-source evolution of the system, with Arduino based technology. Results have shown good performance in terms of data transmission and accuracy, demonstrating characteristics perfectly suited for monitoring with minimal size and power consumption. The system has been designed to create a low-cost product, which allows to monitor in real-time wine evolution in each barrel directly from the office or smartphone, minimizing costs and time for sampling and laboratory analysis. The possibility to integrate a wide range of sensors on the system makes it a flexible tool capable to satisfy various monitoring needs in winemaking.
Keywords: Precision Enology; Wireless Sensor Network; open-source; Arduino; winemaking.