eKo network at NRS reserves pioneer new ways to observe Earth!

Crossbow's revolutionary eKo system was featured in the Spring/Summer Edition of Transect. The main article focuses on the implementation of sensor networks for observation. The eKo system is being used to monitor the microclimates of the various wetlands at the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve. The goal of the deployment is to collect detailed and accurate measurements about the environment to track changes, but also determine how these changes affect the plant life and various species within that ecosystem.

Reserve Director Mike Hamilton was looking to draw on the Blue Oak Ranch Reserves proximity to the Silicon Valley to collaborate on this product development and stated how products from Crossbow and other technology companies have been deployed, "...to show different applications for the tools and relevant
applications... so we’re teaming them with faculty and students from UC Merced to monitor wetlands that support salamander populations by deploying sensor networks to measure the changes in rainfall, soil moisture, water depth, and some of the chemical parameters of the water, such as salinity, that vary
across the reserve’s ponds, depending on soil type and water source. They all have different populations of amphibians, and they’re going to be different from pond to pond, so if we can set up these test beds in a few different wetlands, we can do comparisons across the reserve. We also want to test the reliability of the systems because, in the future, the reserves will want to pick those that prove their worth.”

Using various soil moisture sensors and ambient temperature/humidity sensors with the eKo node, researchers are able to gather valuable data quickly and easily. With its ecofriendly solar-panel and weatherproof enclosure, the eKo system takes technology into the wild! Using the advancements in networking technology, engineers and scientists working at the University of California, NRS reserves are playing a key role in the global discovery occurring through monitoring. The "Alpha Node" tower at Blue Oak Ranch provides information about data above ground and underground. As Hamilton states, "It’s a solar-powered weather station, but it’s also a wireless relay point that links the Lick Observatory [owned and operated by UC and located on nearby Mt. Hamilton*] to a directional Wi-Fi radio that points down to the barn, providing us with Internet access. And this omni-directional antenna plugs into the router on the tower to create a large Wi-Fi cloud on the top of the hill that’s strong enough to get a signal down to the pond and the stream at the foot of the hill, so researchers will be able to monitor these locations using portable wireless environmental sensing systems.”

Much of this work is based on the CENS research done at the James Reserve. This research has had a major influence on ecological observatory networks throughout the world. “It’s such a huge field of integration of interdisciplinary science between engineers and computer scientists and environmental scientists,” notes Hamilton. “It seems that everyone is doing sensor networks today...There’s a lot of growth right now in using sensor systems for precision agriculture, ranging from viticulture to golf course irrigations. Those seem to be the big areas where embedded-sensing and mesh networks are playing out. Our field, ecological monitoring of microclimates across a diverse landscape, is a niche market." Hamilton discusses how these deployments reflect the change in sensor networks from engineering projects to commercial off-the-shelf solutions such as the eKo platform.  

To read the full Transect article visit the NRS site here. For more information on the eKo system contact Crossbow or click here.

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