PermaSense: Investigating permafrost with a WSN in the Swiss Alps

Currently, there is a lack of stand-alone geo-monitoring systems for harsh environments that are easy to configure, deploy and manage, while at the same time adhering to science grade quality requirements. In a joint computer and geoscience project we have built and deployed a wireless sensor networ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the 4th workshop on Embedded networked sensors - EmNets '07
Main Authors: Talzi, I. (Igor), Hasler, A. (Andreas), Gruber, S. (Stephan), Tschudin, C. (Christian)
Format: Other/Unknown Material
Language:English
Published: 2007
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Online Access:https://ir.library.carleton.ca/pub/19180
https://doi.org/10.1145/1278972.1278974
Description
Summary:Currently, there is a lack of stand-alone geo-monitoring systems for harsh environments that are easy to configure, deploy and manage, while at the same time adhering to science grade quality requirements. In a joint computer and geoscience project we have built and deployed a wireless sensor network for measuring permafrost related parameters. Using these high-precision data, geo-scientists will be able to calibrate their heat flux models in order to better predict the stability of steep rock slopes in the alps. In this paper we describe our system from a computer science and system point of view and report on some lessons learned, especially in the domain of sensor design, power-awareness and reliable data flow.