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SouthEast Alaska MOnitoring Network for Scientific TElecommunication & Research: SEAMONSTER—Application of distributed sensor arrays to Southeast Alaska Science Matt Heavner1 1Dept. Rob Fatland2 Edwin Knuth1 Natural Sciences, University of Alaska Southeast, [email protected], [email protected]; 2Vexcel Corporation, Boulder, CO, [email protected] ABSTRACT BENEFITS WHAT IS SEAMONSTER? Long Duration Data Acquisition SEAMONSTER, the SouthEast Alaska Monitoring Network for Scientific Telecommunication and Research, is a network being developed to provide infrastructure to benefit research throughout Southeast Alaska. The array will be composed of ‘bricks,’ which are small Linux-based computers with digitizers and wireless network communication capabilities. The first use of this network is for bioacoustic monitoring of bats is Southeast Alaska for species identification and measurements of population dynamics. Additional projects during summer 2004 included experiments for testing network link range, brick durability in adverse conditions, power requirements, and brick capabilities. We conducted several trial scientific measurements during the 2004 summer including monitoring of Lemon Glacier and Columbia Glacier. SEAMONSTER is a multi-tiered data acquisition network with communication capabilities and some One analysis capability at the sensors. The multi-tiered nature of the network is intended to flexibly SEAMONSTER is to facilitate long-duration (multi-year) observations accommodate and take advantage of appropriate spatial scale sizes and communication technologies. For of various biological and environmental parameters in a robust manner. example, monitoring soil chemistry or snow accumulation of a single watershed may require closely spaced Data Retrieval sensors communicating over Blue Tooth links. The data would be fed to a backbone of longer distance communication technologies. A hydrophone network monitoring Glacier Bay would have a much larger spatial separation and may use 900 MHz modems. Southeast Alaska in general, and Glacier Bay in particular, presents a challenging environment for both data acquisition and wireless communication. SEAMONSTER is an ambitious project to address both of these issues to benefit the scientific community studying Southeast Alaska and Glacier Bay. This computer manages communication, allows for data acquisition reconfiguration (e.g. adjust sampling rate or sensitivity), and provides a method for setting alarms if the data does not pass defined validation tests (if the sensor reports a value out of a This poster is to illustrate the capabilities of SEAMONSTER and seek collaborators who will benefit from using the network to enhance their ongoing monitoring of the Glacier Bay region. Sensor separation can vary from 10 meters to 10 km or more. This schematic shows multiple telemetry options: in situ investigator, overflying plane, satellite. SEAMONSTER will be linked into the internet and provide data access from the investigators “desk-top” as well. the main motivations behind the development of Long-duration observations are currently possible, but often involve data loggers which much later be retrieved. If the data logger is lost (e.g., a radio collar is lost or destroyed, or a remote site is “visited” by a SEAMONSTER nodes include a small, low-power computer. defined range, or if a data value is missing). of Next Generation (Mini-BRICK, Geo-BRICK) bear) then the entire data set is lost. SEAMONSTER provides real time data flow from the sensors to overcome this problem. Real-Time State of Health Information BRICK Network Node Capabilities Existing Prototype GPS 5 meter accuracy 1 cm differential Digitizer 3000 Hz 4-channel (e.g. seismic) 250 Khz 4-channel (bioacoustics) Data Storage 60 MB 1 GB solid state – 80 GB hard drive Flexible Spatial Scale Power 8 watts: Commercial-off-the-shelf components ½ watt: custom computer, intelligent duty cycling The multi-tier model of SEAMONSTER specifically provides data Operating System Linux, Open Source paradigm Linux, Open Source paradigm sampling over diverse spatial scales. For example, animal radio collar Wireless Range 500 meters 10 km Telemetry Fixed station Internet tracking through SEAMONSTER would require receivers at a larger Data rate 2 Mbps TBD Sample Timing Uncertainty 20 microseconds 5 microseconds Interface options USB / Ethernet / RS232 / Digital I/O Pins / 802.11 wireless link / Parallel port Same as Existing, also Radio reception (for radio collar), Ultra-wideband wireless Operating Temperature Down to –60C in the laboratory Down to –60C in the field Cost “Parts” TBD Real-time access to the data allows for both on-going data validation and monitoring of the instrument state of health information. spacing than required for an ongoing soil-chemistry monitoring project. Existing Systems Can Be Included Existing data acquisition systems can easily be incorporated to the SEAMONSTER architecture. Please contact us if you are interested! NETWORK ELEMENTS The image at right shows a brick (the silver box) with a three-axis geophone (orange cylinder) and an 802.11b wireless bridge. This is the prototype for the main nodes of SEAMONSTER. The bricks are designed to not only acquire and forward data, but also form an “intelligent” network used for data storage. If the main link to the internet goes down for some reason, the data collected is distributed among the bricks for redundancy. . The photograph at left shows a “waysmall” computer (the white box with two black dots), a USB wireless network adaptor, a USB sound card, (with cable) and a pocket knife to indicate scale. The 400 MHz computer provides significant processing power at very low power, and is currently being evaluated for use as a SEAMONSTER node for a location with less Other SEAMONSTER elements acquisition requirements than a can include radio tracking brick. receivers (for relaying radio collar data) or other existing sensors. FUTURE PLANS The wireless communication network is currently being established in the Juneau area to allow easy access and testing. A robust network will be in place by spring 2005, when we will be expanding the network to encompass a greater part of Southeast Alaska. Glacier Bay is a high priority for near-term establishment of the SEAMONSTER network and a link to the internet for real-time data transmission to investigators. PROTOTYPE EXPERIMENTS Photo courtesy Tad Pfeffer’s online Columbia Glacier archives. Locations of bricks with geophones, Columbia Glacier A large part of why glaciers—like many other environmental and biological phenomena—remain so mysterious is the difficulty of observations over long periods of time in fine detail. This is primarily because doing so is prohibitively expensive. We are taking advantage of rapidly-evolving technology to build better, cheaper, robust, telemetry-equipped field equipment. Results May 2004: Successful air-to-ground telemetry data recovery using a Cessna 172. June 2004: Columbia Glacier seismic data acquisition: Main trunk centerline serac, 4 geophones, 4 days, 100 samples per second. Additionally several more Bricks were deployed at the margin near the calving terminus. Recorded seismicity includes teleseisms and local events; probable ice fracture events, possible calving events. June 2004: Lemon Creek Glacier (Juneau Icefield) seismic acquisition, 4 geophones, 5 days, 100 samples per second. Seismic record includes the June 28 magnitude 6.7 earthquake on Queen Charlotte Island, 350 km distant from Brick sensor. The Fish Creek Knob study site is located on the northeast ridge of Mount Ben Stewart on Douglas Island 8 km southwest of Juneau, Alaska (58° 16' 29" N and 134° 31' 48" W). The meteorological tower is located in a flat 20 m by 40 m open area just below treeline at 700 meters above sea level and 100 meters below the top of Eagle Crest. The meteorological tower monitors wind speed and direction, temperature, relative humidity, and net radiation. Additionally, a sonic snow depth sensor allows observation of real time snow accumulation during storms. Last year we added a network link and real time data publishing on the web. The three plots show representative data (snow depth and temperature) and state-of-health information (battery voltage). The Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game has funded a project to build bat detectors based upon the concept of wirelessly networked small, lower-power computers for long term (approximately a year or longer) monitoring of the bat population in Southeast Alaska. This project is currently underway and is based on the brick technology and the SEAMONSTER network for data communication. Brick Deployed on Lemon Glacier We are currently developing the bricks to decrease power requirements, further develop the data communication and networking software, and add additional sensors. A network of bricks is scheduled to be deployed in Antarctica this fall. Other sensors, such as video cameras, weather station information, snow depth sensors, and radio collar animal tracking information is being tested for integration into the SEAMONSTER network. The project has successfully recorded bats onto computers and is developing the at-the-sensor software requried to descriminate the audio signal of bats against background noise (such as rain hitting the microphone). The bat project is a prototype for the biological monitoring applications possible with a SEAMONSTER network. CONTACT US We are very interested in working with researchers who want to investigate the utility of the SEAMONSTER network. Initially, we would work in parallel with existing data retrieval techniques. If you would like to find out more about SEAMONSTER please contact us!