eKo network at NRS reserves pioneer new ways to observe Earth!
From Crossbow’s blog:
Crossbow’s revolutionary eKo system was featured in the Spring/Summer Edition of Transect. The main article focuses on the implementation of sensor networks for observation. The eKo system is being used to monitor the microclimates of the various wetlands at the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve. The goal of the deployment is to collect detailed and accurate measurements about the environment to track changes, but also determine how these changes affect the plant life and various species within that ecosystem.
Using various soil moisturesensors and ambient temperature/humidity sensors with the eKo node, researchers are able to gather valuable data quickly and easily. With its ecofriendly solar-panel and weatherproof enclosure, the eKo system takes technology into the wild! Using the advancements in networking technology, engineers and scientists working at the University of California, NRS reserves are playing a key role in the global discovery occurring through monitoring. The “Alpha Node” tower at Blue Oak Ranch provides information about data above ground and underground. AsHamilton states, “It’s a solar-powered weather station, but it’s also a wireless relay point that links the Lick Observatory [owned and operated by UC and located on nearby Mt. Hamilton*] to a directional Wi-Fi radio that points down to the barn, providing us with Internet access. And this omni-directional antenna plugs into the router on the tower to create a large Wi-Fi cloud on the top of the hill that’s strong enough to get a signal down to the pond and the stream at the foot of the hill, so researchers will be able to monitor these locations using portable wireless environmental sensing systems.”
More info here.
