CSIRO wireless sensor commercially available
Wireless sensor networks are used in more and more homeland security roles such as monitoring water quality at sprawling water facilities and in perimeter defense of critical infrastructure facilities; they can also help keep the environment healthy
A new wireless sensor system originally developed at the Australian research institute CSIRO will be commercially available early next year. Tasmanian company Powercom Group — through its subsidiary Datacall Telemetry — has been chosen by CSIRO to make the new Fleck system, which comprises a number of wireless sensor modules that can gather information in the field and deliver it to a server and then the Internet. The system itself has been designed for outdoor use. Its solar-powered sensor nodes are durable, capable of long-range communications and can easily be added to the network. Almost any kind of sensor can be hooked up to them.
Fleck networks are already in use monitoring salinity in Queensland’s Burdekin irrigation area and stock movements, environmental variables and animal behavior near Rockhampton, Queensland. “Our original test-bed network in Brisbane has been running for more than three years, making it the longest running ad-hoc wireless sensor network in Australia,” said CSIRO’s Dr. Tendulkar.
Invented by Dr. Peter Corke, the Fleck sensors have also been measuring temperature, humidity, leaf wetness, and wind speed and direction every five minutes since May this year at Mt. Springbrook — part of a World Heritage rain forest precinct in south east Queensland. The project is a collaboration between CSIRO, the Queensland EPA and the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society to monitor rain forest ecosystems.
Wireless sensor networks are good not only for environmental purposes, but also for homeland security purposes: Many types of such sensors are already employed in monitoring water quality at sprawling water facilities, and in perimeter defense roles in critical infrastructure facilities.
