SIE559: Geosensor Networks

Course Description:

In the last 15 years, several technology trends have influenced the field of geosciences in significant ways. The first trend is the more readily available technology of ubiquitous wireless communication networks and progress in the development of low-power, short-range radio-based communication networks, the miniaturization of computing and storage platforms as well as the development of novel microsensors and sensor materials. All three trends have changed the type of dynamic environmental phenomena that can be detected, monitored and reacted to. Another important aspect is the real-time data delivery by novel platforms today. In this course, we will survey the field of geosensor networks, and mainly focus on the technology of small-scale geosensor networks, decentralized ad-hoc, in-network computing and collaboration, example applications and their feasibility and lessons learned as well as the current research questions posed by using this technology today.

For an introduction to geosensor networks, please see this paper.

Topics covered:

• Motivation, history and vision
• Platforms
• Data-centric routing in geosensor networks
• Data collection, queries and data analysis in geosensor networks
• Decentralized, in-network, ad-hoc collaboration in geographic space
• Geosensor networks applications

Practical labs :

• Building an ad-hoc mesh-network with Digi XBee 3 Groveboards (mesh kit)
• XCTU
• Micropython plugin for Pycharm

Credits: 3
Prerequisite: Graduate standing, programming experience in Python, Java, C++, or C

Course Texts (not all are required):

• For an introduction to geosensor networks, please see this paper.
• Wireless Sensor Networks: An Information Processing Approach, Feng Zhao, Leonidas Guibas, Morgan Kaufman (recommended textbook)
• Embedded, Everywhere. National Academy of Engineering, 2001 (download the free .pdf)
• Decentralized Computation: Foundations of Geosensor Networks, Matt Duckham, Springer, 2013 (link)

For fun, watch this TED talk.

Installing a wireless soil moisture geosensor network in blueberry barrens, Cherryfield Farms, Maine (2016)

Tracking Farm work labor to assess labor cost per crop. (2019)