A LHCP Printed Cross Dipole Antenna for Glacial Environmental Sensor Networks

A left hand circularly polarized antenna called SPD-PCD (Symmetric phase difference - printed cross dipole) has been designed, developed, and experimentally validated for use with glacier telemetry surface receivers. The antenna is portable and easy to fabricate. It provides a gain of 5.9 dBic at 433 MHz, a 57 % -10 dB fractional bandwidth, and a -3 dB angular width of 60° in the vertical planes. The antenna offers good circular polarization with the axial ratio remaining below 1.1 dB between 330-580 MHz. The co-polarization is at least 10 dB stronger than cross-polarization within a beam width of 80° in both the vertical planes. This work also validates the 433 MHz band is suitable to achieve communication ranges of up to 2300 m through ice

Sensor enclosures: example application and implications for data coherence

Sensors deployed in natural environments, such as rivers, beaches and glaciers, experience large forces and damaging environmental conditions. Sensors need to be robust, securely operate for extended time periods and be readily relocated and serviced. The sensors must be housed in materials that mimic natural conditions of size, density, shape and roughness. We have developed an encasement system for sensors required to measure large forces experienced by mobile river sediment grains. Sensors are housed within two discrete cases that are rigidly conjoined. The inner case exactly fits the sensor, radio components and power source. This case can be mounted within outer cases of any larger size and can be precisely moulded to match the shapes of natural sediment. Total grain mass can be controlled by packing the outer case with dense material. Case design uses Solid-WorksTM software, and shape-matching involved 3D laser scanning of natural pebbles. The cases were printed using a HP DesignjetTM 3D printer that generates high precision parts that lock rigidly in place. The casings are watertight and robust. Laboratory testing produces accurate results over a wider range of accelerations than previously reported

Comprehensive Energy Efficient Algorithm for WSN

Wireless sensor networks has been widely used. Energy problem is one of the important problems influencing the complete application. Sensor nodes use batteries as power source and have quite limit lifetime. So, efficiency of energy management becomes a key requirement in wireless sensor network design. Based on particle swarm optimization and ant colony optimization, a comprehensive algorithm with weight analysis has been proposed in the paper. In the algorithm, optimization method would be firstly used to determine the nodes number; then, particle  swarm optimization would be used to divide the networks into some clusters; finally, ant colony optimization is used to require the best transmission path and select the cluster head. The simulation results show that the new algorithm has higher energy efficiency and balanced energy consumption. It can extend the network lifetime

The design and deployment of an end-to-end IoT infrastructure for the natural environment

Internet of Things (IoT) systems have seen recent growth in popularity for city and home environments. We report on the design, deployment, and use of the IoT infrastructure for environmental monitoring and management. Working closely with hydrologists, soil scientists, and animal behaviour scientists, we successfully deployed and utilised a system to deliver integrated information across these two fields in the first such example of real-time multidimensional environmental science. We describe the design of this system; its requirements and operational effectiveness for hydrological, soil, and ethological scientists; and our experiences from building, maintaining, and using the deployment at a remote site in difficult conditions. Based on this experience, we discuss key future work for the IoT community when working in these kinds of environmental deployments

Mise en place d'un réseau sans fil de capteurs déployés à Salluit

Pour suivre les effets du changement climatique et aider à la compréhension et la capacité de prédiction, des capteurs ont été installés dans le nord du Québec. Salluit à Nunavik est parmi les villages où un ensemble de capteurs a été installé. Cependant, la collecte de ces données est manuellement effectuée une fois par an par des scientifiques. Étant donné l’importance de ces informations, le chantier 1.5 du projet Sentinelle Nord vise à mesurer, enregistrer, et envoyer les données en temps réel. Notre projet a d’abord pour but l’installation d’un réseau sans fil permettant aux capteurs de transmettre les données tout au long de l’année, pour anticiper les risques et dommages. La conception du projet a été lancée en 2016 et les premiers travaux ont eu lieu en été 2017. Après une collecte de données réussie pendant les premiers mois suivants l’installation, des problèmes de réseau LTE sont survenus. La connexion LTE n’étant point fiable, les capteurs n’ont été visibles de l’université qu’entre 5 et 9% du temps, avant une perte totale du signal LTE à partir du mois de janvier 2017. Les conditions environnementales et météorologiques de la région ont confirmé les défis rencontrés de tels systèmes de collecte de données sans fil. Dans ce mémoire, nous détaillons les étapes prises pour déployer un tel réseau de capteurs dans des conditions extrêmes et inconnues. Nous expliquons aussi les défis, les problèmes et les limitations rencontrés lors du projet et donnons des recommandations et améliorations pour le futur.To monitor the effects of climate change and to help the understanding and predictability, sensors have been installed in northern Québec. Salluit in Nunavik is among the villages of which a set of sensors has been installed. However, the collection of this data is manually done once a year by scientists. Given the importance of this information, Sentinel North project site 1.5 aims to measure, record, and send data in real time. Our project is primarily aimed at installing a wireless network that allows sensors to transmit data throughout the year, to anticipate risks and damages. The project design was launched in 2016, and the first work took place in summer 2017. After a successful data collection during the first months after installation, LTE network problems have occurred. Since the LTE connection is not reliable, the sensors were only visible from the university between 5% and 9% of the time, before a total loss of the LTE signal starting in January 2017. Environmental and meteorological conditions of the region have confirmed the challenges faced by such a system of wireless data collection. In this thesis, we detail the steps taken to deploy such a sensor network under extreme and unknown conditions. We also explain the challenges, problems and limitations encountered during the project and give recommendations and improvement for the future

Eulerian-Lagrangian definition of coarse bed-load transport: Theory and verification with low-cost inertial measurement units

Fluvial sediment transport is controlled by hydraulics, sediment properties and arrangement, and flow history across a range of time scales. This physical complexity has led to ambiguous definition of the reference frame (Lagrangian or Eulerian) in which sediment transport is analysed. A general Eulerian-Lagrangian approach accounts for inertial characteristics of particles in a Lagrangian (particle fixed) frame, and for the hydrodynamics in an independent Eulerian frame. The necessary Eulerian-Lagrangian transformations are simplified under the assumption of an ideal Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), rigidly attached at the centre of the mass of a sediment particle. Real, commercially available IMU sensors can provide high frequency data on accelerations and angular velocities (hence forces and energy) experienced by grains during entrainment and motion, if adequately customized. IMUs are subjected to significant error accu- mulation but they can be used for statistical parametrisation of an Eulerian-Lagrangian model, for coarse sediment particles and over the temporal scale of individual entrainment events. In this thesis an Eulerian-Lagrangian model is introduced and evaluated experimentally. Absolute inertial accelerations were recorded at a 4 Hz frequency from a spherical instrumented particle (111 mm diameter and 2383 kg/m3 density) in a series of entrainment threshold experiments on a fixed idealised bed. The grain-top inertial acceleration entrainment threshold was approximated at 44 and 51 mg for slopes 0.026 and 0.037 respectively. The saddle inertial acceleration entrainment threshold was at 32 and 25 mg for slopes 0.044 and 0.057 respectively. For the evaluation of the complete Eulerian-Lagrangian model two prototype sensors are presented: an idealised (spherical) with a diameter of 90 mm and an ellipsoidal with axes 100, 70 and 30 mm. Both are instrumented with a complete IMU, capable of sampling 3D inertial accelerations and 3D angular velocities at 50 Hz. After signal analysis, the results can be used to parametrize sediment movement but they do not contain positional information. The two sensors (spherical and ellipsoidal) were tested in a series of entrainment experiments, similar to the evaluation of the 111 mm prototype, for a slope of 0.02. The spherical sensor entrained at discharges of 24.8 ± 1.8 l/s while the same threshold for the ellipsoidal sensor was 45.2 ± 2.2 l/s. Kinetic energy calculations were used to quantify the particle-bed energy exchange under fluvial (discharge at 30 l/s) and non-fluvial conditions. All the experiments suggest that the effect of the inertial characteristics of coarse sediments on their motion is comparable to the effect hydrodynamic forces. The coupling of IMU sensors with advanced telemetric systems can lead to the tracking of Lagrangian particle trajectories, at a frequency and accuracy that will permit the testing of diffusion/dispersion models across the range of particle diameters

Deploying a wireless sensor network in Iceland

A wireless sensor network deployment on a glacier in Iceland is described. The system uses power management as well as power harvesting to provide long-term environment sensing. Advances in base station and sensor node design as well as initial results are described