Open Source Dataturbine (OSDT) Android Sensorpod in Environmental Observing Systems

Abstract:

The OSDT Android SensorPod is a custom-designed mobile computing platform for assembling wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring applications. Funded by an award from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the OSDT SensorPod represents a significant technological advance in the application of mobile and cloud computing technologies to near-real-time applications in environmental science, natural resources management, and disaster response and recovery. It provides a modular architecture based on open standards and open-source software that allows system developers to align their projects with industry best practices and technology trends, while avoiding commercial vendor lock-in to expensive proprietary software and hardware systems. The integration of mobile and cloud-computing infrastructure represents a disruptive technology in the field of environmental science, since basic assumptions about technology requirements are now open to revision, e.g., the roles of special purpose data loggers and dedicated site infrastructure. The OSDT Android SensorPod was designed with these considerations in mind, and the resulting system exhibits the following characteristics – it is flexible, efficient and robust. The system was developed and tested in the three science applications: 1) a fresh water limnology deployment in Wisconsin, 2) a near coastal marine science deployment at the UCSD Scripps Pier, and 3) a terrestrial ecological deployment in the mountains of Taiwan. As part of a public education and outreach effort, a Facebook page with daily ocean pH measurements from the UCSD Scripps pier was developed. Wireless sensor networks and the virtualization of data and network services is the future of environmental science infrastructure. The OSDT Android SensorPod was designed and developed to harness these new technology developments for environmental monitoring applications.