Progress
on ASA (formerly ISA - click on thumbnail to the left for larger diagram) continued
this year with the deployment of a prototype system. The CME04 investigators
requested over 50 temperature soil probes to be deployed in an extensive spatial
array.
This
provided the opportunity to design a prototype of the lowest level of the ASA
system, the microscale array. A single prototype unit, referred to as a mote,
included 6 temperature probes, sufficient data processing capability to provide
calibrated data, an RF communication link, and a small solar-charged battery
for power. Each mote was in communication with the new data system and had
built-in command control capability to permit critical operating parameters
to be adjusted in real-time. All temperature probes were individually calibrated
to achieve accuracies better than 0.10 C. The use of stand-alone power sources
and RF data communication allowed extensive site selection flexibility. A total
of 12 motes supporting 72 temperature probes were deployed. Future plans are
to expand the design to allow other ISFF sensors to be fully autonomous and
networkable using wireless communication techniques incorporating dynamic routing
algorithms. Additional upgrades to the new data system are planned to permit
independent adaptation of sampling and response in addition to manual control.