PermaDAQ: a scientific instrument for precision sensing and data recovery in environmental extremes

• Main Authors: Beutel, J, Gruber, S, Hasler, A, Lim, R, Meier, A, Plessl, C, Talzi, I, Thiele, L, Tschudin, C, Woehrle, M, Yuecel, M
• Other Authors: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Corporation, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Corporation, ( )
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 2009
• Subjects: Institute of Geography; 910 Geography & travel; permafrost
• Online Access: https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/31231/; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/31231/1/Gruber_PermaDAQ_A_Scientific_2009.pdf; https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/31231/2/Gruber_PermaDAQ_IEEE_2009.pdf; http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=5211923&tag=1; https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-31231

The PermaSense project has set the ambitious goal of gathering real-time environmental data for high-mountain permafrost in unattended operation over multiple years. This paper discusses the specialized sensing and data recovery architecture tailored to meet the precision, reliability and durability requirements of scientists utilizing the data for model validation. We present a custom sensor interface board including specialized sensors and redundancy features for end-to-end data validation. Aspects of high-quality data acquisition, design for reliability by strict separation of operating phases and analysis of energy efficiency are discussed. The system integration using the Dozer protocol scheme achieves a best-in-class average power consumption of 148μA considerably exceeding the lifetime requirement.