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

在Paul Flikkema博士的指导下，北方亚利桑那大学获得了一笔赠款，用于开发和部署无线传感器网络，以便更好地了解多个尺度上的环境和生态系统过程。 一系列技术的进步，包括微电子传感和计算，无线通信，以及自主设备到合作网络的自组装激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对其应用进行仔细优化。 我们的目标是：（一）完成无线环境传感器网络技术的发展，（二）在理解生物多样性的维护和测量生态系统特性方面取得重大进展，通过将该技术应用于三个实地项目，（三）建立对该技术对社会的好处的认识，以及（四）改善工程和科学之间的合作。该项目的仪器开发组件建立在一个成功的种子努力，我们已经构建了一个小型的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。在此原型开发的预期中，我们已经仔细注意确保我们的网络技术将扩展到数千个传感器，在景观地理尺度上提供密集覆盖。原型网络技术将被部署，以使三个不同的实地研究中的数据质量达到新的水平。首先，我们将探讨在美国东部两个森林的生态系统多样性的维护中的作用的精细尺度的环境现象的作用。第二个实验绘制了小气候的复杂性及其对加州沿海红杉树冠生物多样性的影响。在第三个野外研究中，我们将确定尺度对生态系统能量平衡涡动相关测量的影响，在北方亚利桑那州。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和技术素养。1)我们将通过实践活动、互动光盘和网站向全球学生、公众、土地管理者和政策制定者传达这项研究所取得的科学进步。2)我们在培养来自代表性不足群体的学生以及在生物和工程学科的培训方面所做的努力将有助于拓宽科学领域的文化视角。3)我们将通过研讨会向跨学科的国际研究人员传播无线传感器网络的知识。该项目旨在产生更广泛的影响：1）通过实践活动，互动CD-ROM和网站向学生，公众，土地管理者和政策制定者传达这项研究的科学进展; 2）教育来自代表性不足的群体和跨生物和工程学科的学生，拓宽科学的文化视角; 3）通过研讨会向跨学科和国际研究人员传播无线传感器网络的知识。

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.