IDEA: Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks for In Situ Observation of Ecosystem Processes

在Paul Flikkema博士的指导下，已经向北亚利桑那大学授予了一笔赠款，用于开发和部署无线传感器网络，目的是使人们能够更好地了解多个尺度上的环境和生态系统过程。微电子传感和计算、无线通信以及自主设备自组装成协作网络等一系列技术的进步启发了无线传感器网络的愿景。虽然透明地嵌入到我们的物理环境中的智能代理网络可以在许多领域促进人类福利，但研究表明，任何成功的无线传感器网络都必须仔细优化其应用。我们的目标是(I)完成无线环境传感器网络技术的开发，(Ii)通过将该技术应用于三个实地项目，在理解生物多样性的维持和测量生态系统属性方面取得重大进展，(Iii)建立对该技术对社会的益处的认识，以及(Iv)改善工程学和科学之间的合作。这个项目的仪器开发部分建立在一个成功的种子努力的基础上，在这个努力中，我们构建了一个小型概念验证无线环境传感网络。我们将建立一个“分布式仪器”--一个由数百个手掌大小的无线传感器组成的原型网络。在预计这一原型开发的情况下，我们已仔细注意确保我们的网络技术将扩展到数千个传感器，在景观地理范围内提供密集覆盖。原型网络技术将在三个不同的实地研究中实现新的数据质量。首先，我们将探讨细尺度环境现象在维持美国东部两个森林生态系统多样性中的作用。第二个实验描绘了加州沿海红杉树冠小气候的复杂性及其对生物多样性的影响。在第三个实地研究中，我们将确定尺度对亚利桑那州北部生态系统能量平衡涡动协方差测量的影响。这些研究的结果将对生物多样性和生态系统功能产生全球影响。我们的教育工作将提高从研究人员到普通公众的每个人的科学技术素养。1)我们将通过实践活动、互动光盘和网站向全球学生、公众、土地管理人员和政策制定者传达这项研究所取得的科学进步。2)我们努力培训来自代表性不足群体的学生，以及跨生物和工程学科的培训，这将有助于拓宽科学的文化视角。3)我们将通过工作坊向跨学科和国际研究人员小组传播无线传感器网络知识。该项目旨在产生更广泛的影响：1)通过动手活动、互动光盘和网站向学生、公众、土地管理人员和政策制定者传达这项研究所取得的科学进展；2)教育来自代表性不足群体和跨生物和工程学科的学生，拓宽科学领域的文化视角；以及3)通过研讨会向跨学科和国际研究人员小组传播无线传感器网络知识。

A grant has been awarded to Northern Arizona University under the direction of Dr. Paul Flikkema for the development and deployment of a wireless sensor network for the purpose of enabling a better understanding of environmental and ecosystem processes across multiple scales. Progress in an array of technologies, including microelectronic sensing and computation, wireless communication, and the self-assembly of autonomous devices into cooperative networks has inspired the vision of wireless sensor networks. While networks of intelligent agents transparently embedded into our physical environment could advance human welfare in a number of domains, research indicates that any successful wireless sensor network must be carefully optimized for its application. Our goals are to (i) complete the development of wireless environmental sensor network technology, (ii) make significant progress in understanding the maintenance of biodiversity and in measuring ecosystem properties by applying this technology to three field projects, (iii) build awareness of the benefits of the technology to society, and (iv) improve collaboration between engineering and the sciences. The instrumentation development component of this project builds on a successful seed effort in which we have constructed a small proof-of-concept wireless environmental sensing network. We will build a "distributed instrument"--a prototype network comprising hundreds of palm-sized wireless sensors. In anticipation of this prototype development, we have paid careful attention to ensuring that our networking technology will scale up to thousands of sensors, providing dense coverage at landscape geographic scales.The prototype network technology will be deployed to enable a new degree of data quality in three diverse field studies. First, we will probe the role of the role of fine-scale environmental phenomena in the maintenance of ecosystem diversity in two Eastern US forests. The second experiment maps the complexity of microclimates and their effects on biodiversity in the crowns of the coastal redwoods of California. And in the third field study, we will determine the effects of scale on eddy covariance measurements of ecosystem energy balance in Northern Arizona. The results of these studies will have global implications for biological diversity and ecosystem function. Our education efforts will improve scientific and technological literacy for everyone from researchers to the general public. 1) We will convey the scientific advances made possible by this research to a global audience of students, the public, land mangers, and policy makers through hands-on activities, an interactive cd-rom, and a website. 2) Our efforts in training students from under-represented groups and in training across biological and engineering disciplines will contribute to broadening cultural perspectives in the sciences. 3) We will disseminate knowledge of wireless sensor networks to an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers through a workshop.This project is designed to have a spectrum of broader impacts: it will 1) convey the scientific advances made possible by this research to students, the public, land mangers, and policy makers through hands-on activities, an interactive CD-ROM, and a website; 2) educate students from under-represented groups and across biological and engineering disciplines, broadening cultural perspectives in the sciences; and 3) disseminate knowledge of wireless sensor networks to an interdisciplinary and international group of researchers through workshops.