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NASA's Sensor Web

Posted by michael on from the finding-the-martians dept.

ddtstudio writes "PC Mag has a story about the Sensor Web: 'a cutting-edge application of networked sensor technology currently on the fast track at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).' Not only a new way to test tech, but also perhaps a pervasive and inexpensive way to explore remote places such as Antarctica -- or Mars."

13 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting technology by mjmalone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Yet another new development from NASA that could have a huge impact on daily life. If these devices were strategically located worldwide it seems like much more accurate weather pattern predictions could be made. Low cost weather stations that can communicate back to a central node could automatigically predict and track weather patterns around the globe. Maybe one day we will actually be able to rely on the local weather forcasts!

    --
    Visualize the world of wine
    1. Re:Interesting technology by demonbug · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Yet another new development from NASA that could have a huge impact on daily life. If these devices were strategically located worldwide it seems like much more accurate weather pattern predictions could be made. Low cost weather stations that can communicate back to a central node could automatigically predict and track weather patterns around the globe.


      We can already track weather patterns all over the planet. The trouble is that this does not really solve the problem of predicting what will happen in the future - there are simply too many unkown factors affecting weather patterns for us to understand how and why they do what they do at this point. This isn't to say that a worldwide network of these semsors wouldn't be helpful, I just don't think they would solve the problems we have - satellites already give us a lot of worldwide data, but our weather forecasts beyond a few days out are still pretty unreliable (and often over much shorter time periods). If we want better weather forecasting we need to put more effort into figuring out all the factors that affect weather, which will probably require huge leaps in processing power over what is currently available - many of the world's most powerful supercomputers are already used for atmospheric modelling.

    2. Re:Interesting technology by mpthompson · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sensor webs are not used so much for predicting weather as they are for inexpensively recording a fairly wide range of environmental conditions at a resolution (temporal, geographic, etc.) far greater than can be achieved by satellite monitoring.

      For instance, a sensor web could be spread over a 100 square mile area around a waste dump to help determine the regional impact of high carbon dioxide concentrations and other gasses leaching into the surrounding environment on a seasonal basis.

      Or, another type of sensor web could be setup in a metropolitan area to measure the impact of environmental pollution laws and programs before and after they are implemented. For instance, in the San Francisco Bay Area, does a "spare the air" marketing campaign have a material impact on air quality within a few hours of being broadcast? Or, would other types of campaigns to achieve the same goals be more effective. It seems that an appropriately configured sensor web could provide firm data to answer such difficult questions.

      Predicting rain next week is a very small aspect to the overall benefit of developing low-cost, commodity sensors that can be deployed in the manner described in the article. The exciting part is the technology is standardized, inexpensive, redundant, and easy to configure to continuously measure the specific aspects of an environment at whatever resolution is required.

    3. Re:Interesting technology by Slayk · · Score: 3, Insightful
      The applications in studying severe weather situations with technology like this are astounding. With severe weather, such as tornadoes, it is almost impossible to have a moblie doppler setup near the storm. If a small RADAR system were to be attached to a node such as this (though the cost and size of such an idea may prohibit an idea like this with current technology), and the dispersal rate was large enough, then environmental data never before seen of tornadic activity could be captured and relayed to the NOAA.

      The biggest current bar to giving a bigger warning lead time to tornadoes is the lack of raw data on the vortex and the variables affecting it. This could prove very handy in studying that, and much better than the current system of chasing storms and praying to get close at the right time.

    4. Re:Interesting technology by ruprechtjones · · Score: 3, Funny

      C' mon, we already learned about this in Jurassic Park. My theory is, kill that butterfly in Tahiti and there will be no tornados in Kansas this year. Problem solved.

      --
      Kip Hawley is an idiot.
  2. traffic applications by spamchang · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i was thinking you could set up a network of these at traffic intersections to determine the optimal stoplight pattern. but has anything already solved that?

  3. NASA's Web Sensoring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    NASA's sensoring the web!?!?!?

    Quick, call the EFF!!! ;-)

  4. They need to be more outspoken by mao+che+minh · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Is it just me, or does NASA tend to drop bomb shells on the public out of the blue? Rarely are NASAs projects made *largely* public during progress, but rather only at fruition.

    NASA might win more more public approval if they loudly proclaimed their endeavours while they worked on them. As it stands, only their failures get much notice.

    1. Re:They need to be more outspoken by mattkime · · Score: 5, Funny

      Isn't that the way we want it to work? "Today NASA received transmissions from what appears to be intelligent lifeforms! Scientists are working around the clock to decode their communications which appear to be mostly grunts and whistles."

      ....two weeks later...

      "Sorry, it was a hip hop video transmission that bounced off the moon and back to earth."

      --
      Know what I like about atheists? I've yet to meet one that believes God is on their side.
  5. Yet another reason for IPV6 by under_score · · Score: 4, Insightful

    These things should have Internet presense, of course. Otherwise what are they really good for? Given the sort of things they might be used for, I can see 4 billion IP addresses being used up real quick! And putting them on the Internet seems like a really small step from what is described in the article (I didn't follow the rest of the links... maybe they are already doing this?).

    If this sort of thing becomes ubiquitous, they could be really useful for a lot of things that we don't tend to like: e.g. surveillance.

    --
    Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
  6. sensorweb@home anybody? by mpthompson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is pretty neat stuff. Perhaps NASA could sponsor a type of sensorweb@home project where these pods could be purchased at a fairly low cost by tech geeks around the world and deployed wherever -- like dandelion seeds spread into the wind. If it had an 802.11b transceiver and wasn't too expensive I would be willing to put such a pod on a post in my backyard, record it's location and let it communicate it's data over my wireless network to a central data repository on the Internet. Most pods would tend to be concentrated in populated areas, but surely many would find their ways into remote locations as well.

    If such a sensorweb@home program were successful with 10,000's of pods deployed, a vast quantity of environmental data could be collected on a global scale at a relatively low cost. Such a global network could provide greater context for data captured by planned regional sensor webs or the data could be filtered to create virtual sensor webs for testing hypothesis without the effort and expense of deploying an actual sensor web.

    Do others think that people would participate in such a project that would provide any direct benefit to the participants? Downloading and installing seti@home is one thing, actually purchasing and installing a sensor pod is another.

  7. Sensorship? by swankypimp · · Score: 3, Funny
    Geez, I first read the headline as "NASA Censors Web" and figured it was some juicy YRO story.

    NOTE TO SELF: Do not drink heavily and browse Slashdot at the same time. When your judgment is so impaired that the grinning Tux icon starts looking sexy, it's time to put the cognac down.

    --

    --All your stolen base are belong to Rickey Henderson
  8. Rocket Science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The article quotes Kevin A. Delin, the leader of the JPL Sensor Webs Project, as saying, "Or the Sensor Web might be able to tell that up the hill the soil gets more dry because water tends to run downhill."

    I tend to agree. I learned this about 28 years ago, playing in the backyard with a garden hose.

    I'm currently working on a grant regarding my theory that branches tend to grow up and roots tend to grow down.

    My next project will be on my theory that lousy engineers tend to flow upwards toward management.