Weather-Resilient IoT Solutions Require Thorough Testing

IoT devices used outdoors are exposed to varying weather conditions throughout the year. Temperatures can fluctuate by as much as 50 °C between seasons, yet the devices must operate reliably in both freezing winter conditions and summer heat.

To ensure reliability and stable data transmission, devices are first piloted in a controlled university testing environment before being deployed in the field. In addition, their durability and performance are evaluated in a climate chamber, which can also be used to test individual components and identify potential faults.

In the DustSense project, the performance of power adapters used in commercial IoT particulate matter sensors was tested under cold conditions. During the experiment, the adapters were placed in a climate chamber at approximately –10 °C, while their voltage output was monitored simultaneously. At the same time, the voltage quality of the adapters was analyzed using an oscilloscope. The aim was to assess their suitability for Finnish winter conditions. The results showed that all tested adapters performed reliably.

The climate chamber enables testing across a wide temperature range from –10 °C to +100 °C and at relative humidity levels between 10% and 90%, providing versatile conditions for ensuring device reliability in diverse operating environments.