DSAIL power management board: Powering the Raspberry Pi autonomously off the grid

Abstract

The Raspberry Pi is a credit card sized single board computer that finds its use in very diverse projects. Being a computer it runs on a full operating system and can be interfaced with a wide range of hardware. Its ability to collect and store data and its superior process- ing capabilities gives it an edge over other microprocessors. When used to collect data away from the grid, alternative methods of powering the Raspberry Pi have to be used. An ideal powering system should be autonomous, allowing the Raspberry Pi to be deployed indefinitely without the need to check on the system due to power shortcomings. In this paper we introduce the DSAIL Power Management Board that is used to power the Raspberry Pi autonomously. We have developed a prototype and used it to collect ecolog- ical data from a conservancy in Central Kenya.