This weekend, while visiting Astoria on the Oregon Coast, I stopped in at the Marine Environment Research and Training Station (MERTS) which is using wireless technology to monitor the Columbia River.
I hoped someone could explain how wireless technology might be used to track birds. I had a plan for wireless birdhouses and was seeking professional expertise. The plan: a birdcam and 802.11b Access Point might be stuffed in a birdhouse. It might track bird behaviour with RF-ID while providing free Community LAN nodes.
MERTS was initially funded by a $2 million DOD grant, a make-good project after the Navy canceled plans to base two mine hunters there. Congress subsequently approved another $5 million appropriation for Phase II expanded the Station to 43,000 square feet.
The facility is home to the Center for Coastal and Land-Margin Research (CCALMR) which has developed wireless instrumentation of the Columbia River. Their CORIE Project is a pilot program for environmental observation and forecasting. It integrates a real-time sensor network, with a data management system and numerical models. They test biological water purification, too.
CORIE is supposed to be a team effort of the Oregon Graduate Institute and the Oregon Heath & Science University. Portland Mayor Katz (and citizens) are also gambling nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for a joint OGI/OHSU development in Portland.
So how about a REAL project — wireless birdhouses! They might have practical utility and provide an instrumentation platform. Sensors could be developed around ZigBee and SensorML while 802.11 could provide wireless internet access – even revenue. Control it with touch-screens. Talk to Dolphins. Everyone’s happy.
The Birdhouse Access Point project is not hard to understand. You stick a Birdhouse Spycam inside and backbone with Proxim’s 5 Ghz Tsunami or 802.16a “wireless DSL”. This is not rocket science.
Wireless birdhouses can monitor different species (via RF-ID). NSF grants are available for sensor networks. Digital Divide grants might incorporate bird monitoring. Put ‘em on roofs, utility poles or public parks. A Linksys 54G Access Point with embedded Community LAN software is available now for under $90. A 5.8 GHz backbone links it to a central antenna near the Astoria column. NoCatSplash in a Linksys hot spot needs no computer. Other one-piece, embedded Hot Spots are available from Sputnick, Soekris, Pronto Networks and FatPort. Plug in D-Link’s $100 Netcam for a birdcam. No wires are necessary with solar power ($100). Stick the self-contained units anywhere and backhaul 3-5 miles with 5 Ghz gear. A self-contained unit could probably be built for $500-$800. A Sharp Zaurus SL-6000 PDA might gather “mote” data.
Fuel cell companies like MTI Micro, PolyFuel, Neah Power Systems and Medis Technologies might provide a practical alternative when solar won’t cut it.
Synthesized (or sampled) chirping might identify the type or number of human or animal users. Every park is a Wild Life Safari – if you know where to look. Segway through Forest Park.
Cheapo wireless cameras like the X-10 and the 1.2-GHz version (below), cost less than $100. They add value to window-mounted “birdhouses”.
For larger animals, Toshiba’s IK-WB11a ($799), uses 802.11a and includes a 1.4 megapixel progressive scan CCD for high resolution video and stills.
The camera (left), features an alarm, motion detection and remote pan and tilt. The camera mounts for indoor or outdoor use and features a built-in video server, so an on-site PC is not required. A SecureDigital card slot records to the card should the network go down.
Caltrans installed RVision cameras in strategic locations and connected them to sensors in a big Homeland Security project. When a sensor is triggered, the camera is activated. The Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS) uses sensors, and cameras to assist ships traveling in and out of big-city ports like New York, SF and Florida.
Federal, state and local agencies work together sharing GIS files. Geodata.gov is a web-based portal for one-stop access to maps and data for both government and citizens. PortlandMaps and Multnomah County Maps are leading this charge. Unwired cities need unwired maps.
Medford, Ore., police have opted to replace their wireless communications network with a system based on “mesh” networking technology. The $500,000 system using MeshNetworks gear will replace CDPD and is funded in large part through grants from the Homeland Security Department.
The Transportation Security Administration has a $5 billion budget while Homeland Security is providing $58 million for Operation Safe Commerce in Ports like Seattle/Tacoma. There is a need to monitor the nation’s 95,000 miles of shoreline, but taxpayers will foot the $7.3 billion bill. Birdhouses are a happy face.
Here’s the deal; the entire town of Astoria, the end of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, could be unwired.
HP or IBM blades feed an 802.16a antenna on the Astoria Column. A hundred or more Wi-Fi birdhouses ($800) could be placed anywhere around the river and estuary. Independent ISPs could buy into the backbone, too. They could deliver a similar, window-mounted unit to businesses and homes. The whole town of 10,000 could be unwired. Seattle-based NetMotion could provide seamless roaming, management and security. Just like Hermosa Beach. It’s cheaper than a trolley and tourists can check out the wildlife. In bed. On a hand-held.
Handheld Linux Projects could be the basis of an inexpensive, stand-alone, solar powered, wireless “hot spot” that also acts as a sensor platform.
InfoSync reports that a standardized Linux-based platform, the Open Palmtop Integrated Environment (Opie) project 1.0 is now available. The GNU/Linux-based software package is designed for portability across a large number of handheld devices. OpenPDA hardware could also be used.
Opie began as an offshoot of Trolltech’s Qtopia, a Linux-based system used on the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 and other devices. The Qtopia system is a handheld-targeted version of Qt, Trolltech’s cross-platform development system, which is also the basis for Free Software projects such as the KDE Project, as well as the Opera web browser.
The OpenZaurus distribution is a free drop-in replacement for the default software package on the Sharp Zaurus line while iPAQ users can get Opie with the Familiar distribution.
It’s built upon XML, with IrDA infrared and Bluetooth support. It also includes a host of available applications, including a full PIM suite, drawing applications, a multimedia player, and the Konqueror web browser, readers for PalmDoc e-book format, PDF files, and “Plucker” web clippings.
A tiny server might use a 4 Gigabyte Compact Flash card in a device the size of a deck of cards. Apache Projects might use Java applications. A $30 hot spot driven by a Sharp Handheld (with camera) would be simple and cheap. A Linux driver for 802.11a/b/g and WifiBSD.org is available for boards like the Soekris.
Imagine government and academics working together on a project that’s advantageous to everyone.
It’s happened before.
It can happen again.
