Wireless Operational Link for the Field (WOLF) - Results

This is the final post of a series of posts dedicated to my response to challenges deploying wireless access to research plots at Toolik field station.

Results

Overall, the entire experiment went very well. Wireless network was delivered to roughly 60% more research plots than prior to deploying the WOLF rig; for a price of around $700. An additional setup deployed on the other side of the hill would have increased coverage to approximately 80% coverage. Major issues encountered are listed below:

Issue #1: Basic Network Control: The biggest hurdle when deploying an AP that doesn't involve interaction with the IT network administrators is ability to extend existing IP ranges. This would have been desirable for managing remote sensors via IP. As a work around, I was eventually able to find a web-based service to manage my Internet of Things (IoT) Intel Edison devices communicating over http ports. Being a former HPC systems administrator, this was a difficult adjustment for me from IP to http port control as I am used to being able to ssh to my systems. However, the meshcentral.com service gave me 95% of what I needed to manage the remote sensor boxes.

Issue #2: Battery Longevity: My tests at home with mild traffic resulted in the Goal Zero battery lasting about 12-15 hours with both AP and high-gain antenna. In the field, the battery lasted for a much shorter time, roughly 9-11 hours. Even when a second solar panel was added, the performance under moderate traffic was still only slightly better. A possible reason for shorter battery life may be due to the AP occasionally losing the Toolik wifi signal. It was also overcast for a few days in a row. Also interesting is I found the Toolik network itself occasionally drops packets even with good signal. I don't believe weather (cold specifically) was a factor as the temperatures were very warm during the deployment tests.

Issue #3: Geophysical Limitations: The hills around Toolik are solid rock. Wifi signals don't go through solid rock well if at all. This reality made the wifi range uneven. In addition, the rocky hills also made the antenna pattern very noticeable. For instance, the high gain antenna emits wifi signal in an omnidirectional pattern. I found that if I stood in a lower valley, the signal from my WOLF unit disappeared even though I was physically within range. Similarly the Toolik wifi signal extended further into the field at the lower elevation, which happened to be at a similar elevation. Again, at a higher location on the hill, the same Toolik wireless signal could not be picked up at much closer range than in lower areas.

Final Remarks

The WOLF network experiment is a first step towards delivering network connectivity to research plots in the field around Toolik Field Station. The equipment was chosen for ease of use, portability and cost over high performance. The configuration of the WOLF setup is not intended as a long-term, permanent solution for wireless extension at Toolik. Instead, this experiment presents an alternative solution that can be deployed today with little effort from Toolik operations. This component of the Arctic Glass project is an initial survey to examine existing wireless range, as well as a "quick and dirty" interim solution until long-term solutions are put in place. All of which is in support of other experiments for the Arctic Glass project; including remote sensor connectivity to cloud storage and Google Glass retrieval of data while on the WOLF extended network.