SensorWare Systems, Inc.
Map thumbnail Lancaster Farms - Sensor Web 3.0
We partnered with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University and Lancaster Farms in Virginia to move Sensor Web technology beyond Southern California. In a bold experiment, we shipped a Sensor Web to Lancaster Farms to determine if new users could set it up without prior training or instruction. The test was a success; on October 23, 2001, an eight-pod Sensor Web began running. The pods used in this field experiment are of the same design as in other Sensor Web 3.0 deployments. Each pod measures light levels, air temperature and humidity, with optional measurements of soil temperature and soil moisture. In addition, battery levels for each pod can be monitored for diagnostic purposes.

This deployment also tested the technology in an outdoor environment very different from previous deployments. In addition, 8 months into the test, additional pods were added to the Sensor Web thereby demonstrating that this measuring technique is spatially expandable during long-term monitoring.

This Sensor Web operated continually for 19 months (October 2001 to April 2003) in the open fields before being used to monitor greenhouses. The hardware still functions despite long exposure to the elements, clearly demonstrating the robustness of the Sensor Web 3.0 pod design.

Pod in the fields Pod at Brown 0 Pod at Brown 4
 
Pod at Flat Top 8C Pod at P&P 6B Pod at Prop 2B