Time to play blog catch up!

The Arctic Glass project has been moving along quite well, and I finally am able to sit down and document via this blog. Not only has the project weathered the storm that is Google's removal of Google Glass from the public market, but also now includes an Internet of Things (IoT) component. The IoT inclusion was to demonstrate capabilities of real-time data monitoring and collection using only consumer-grade commodity hardware (Intel Edison microcontrollers + Google Glass + Freeboard dashboard). My second visit to the Toolik research station in Alaska has also yielded new insight applied to real-time data monitoring in remote locations. I will be adding the various posts with more detail on these topics during the next week or so. For now, here is a pic of the portable wireless network I designed. The configuration is minimal and does not require networking IT assistance, so virtually any researcher could easily setup for themselves. The connection to the station's wireless backbone is through AP mode only, so no additional IT skills are need beyond what would be required to setup a basic wireless home router. The rig is solar-powered and with a -15dB high gain consumer-grade antenna, was able to extend wireless signal to the majority of research plots at the station! A second wireless rig could have picked up a few more on the other side of the hill (solid rock make wireless signal very angry). You can see the field station in the lower left corner of the picture. More details to come on the rationale, architecture, and results of this experiment and others very soon.....