Little Sensors Are Heavyweights in Rainforest Information Gathering

University of Alberta scientists are creating wireless sensor networks for use in remote locations. One of the first projects, called ECOnet, will place small sensors in rainforests in Brazil and Panama this fall. The sensors will form a network that will create a 3D image of what is happening in the atmosphere, says Alberta professor Arturo Sanchez-Azofeifa. He says the sensor network is like taking a MRI of the forest. To test the system, six sensors have been placed in the university’s Atrium Oasis, a tropical display greenhouse. Data collected during ECOnet is available online for anyone to examine, allowing scientists to collect information daily from remote locations without having to travel. “You can take a snapshot of the environment you’re monitoring, or you can get more, long-term data, which will allow scientists to determine if there are certain patterns that emerge or if there are any anomalies occurring,” Sanchez-Azofeifa says. The sensors are still evolving, and Sanchez-Azofeifa expects them to become smaller and less expensive to the point where it may be possible to fly over a location and drop thousands of the sensors into the canopy. The sensors are currently powered by small lithium batteries and have a life of about three years, though that may change as well. Sanchez-Azofeifa says the school’s computer engineers are working on using the motion of the forest to power the sensors.

University of Alberta (06/02/08) Poon, Ileiren

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