Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Building a "cyber forest" in complex terrain at the Andrews Experimental Forest

Author: Henshaw, Donald L.; Bierlmaier, Fred; Bond, Barbara J.; O'Connell, Kari B.

Date: 2008

Source: In: Gries, C.; Jones, M.B., eds. Proceedings of the Environmental Information Management Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 10-11: 8 p.

Description: Our vision for a future "cyber forest" at the Andrews Experimental Forest foresees high performance wireless communications enhancing connectivity among remote field research locations, station headquarters, and beyond to the university and outside world. New sensor technologies and collaboration tools foretell exponential increases in data and information flow to accommodate both research and education. We envision improving data transmission speed and bandwidth, enveloping the Andrews in a wireless cloud, installing new technologies for near real-time access to sensor networks, and assuring quality and management of streaming data. The remote location of the Andrews Forest, far beyond the reach of conventional communication infrastructure, coupled with steep mountainous topography and very tall trees present significant challenges to the realization of this vision. This paper explores the innovative approaches being tested to provide real-time access to important data streams and unique educational opportunities.

Keywords: Cyber infrastructure, wireless networks, sensor arrays, complex terrain, Andrews Experimental Forest, long-term ecological research (LTER)

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Citation

Henshaw, Donald L.; Bierlmaier, Fred; Bond, Barbara J.; O'Connell, Kari B.  2008.  Building a "cyber forest" in complex terrain at the Andrews Experimental Forest.   In: Gries, C.; Jones, M.B., eds. Proceedings of the Environmental Information Management Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 10-11: 8 p..