Harvard, BBN Use Streetlamps to Light Up Wireless Network

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

The old Metricom approach (many years ago)



Begin forwarded message:

From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
Date: May 13, 2007 5:12:28 AM EDT
To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Harvard, BBN Use Streetlamps to Light Up  
Wireless Network

[Note:  This item comes from reader Ken DiPietro.  DLH]

From: Ken DiPietro <ken.dipietro () advantaq com>
Date: May 12, 2007 4:51:05 PM PDT
To: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Cc: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Harvard, BBN Use Streetlamps to Light Up  
Wireless Network

May 09, 2007 — CIO <http://www.cio.com> — Researchers at Harvard
University and BBN Technologies have designed an intriguing wireless
network capable of reporting real-time sensor data across an entire
city, Cambridge, Mass. Scientists will initially use the CitySense
network to monitor urban weather and pollution. The network could
eventually provide better public wireless Internet access.

The system solves a constraint on previous wireless networks—battery
life—by mounting each node on a municipal streetlamp, where it draws
power from city electricity. Researchers plan to install 100 sensors on
streetlamps throughout Cambridge by 2011, using a grant from the
National Science Foundation. Each node will include an embedded PC
running the Linux OS, an 802.11 Wi-Fi interface and weather sensors,
says Matt Welsh, assistant professor of computer science at Harvard.

For the sensors, the streetlamp approach opens up a new range of
uses—for example, performing long-term experiments like real-time
environmental monitoring, correlating microclimates with population
health or tracking the spread of biochemical agents, according to BBN.

A large challenge was how to design a network that allows remote nodes
to communicate with the central servers at Harvard and BBN. CitySense
will do that by letting each node form a mesh with its neighbors,
exchanging data through multiple-hop links. This strategy allows a node
to download software or upload sensor data to a distant server hub using
a small radio with only a 1-kilometer range, Welsh says.

People have built such networks on smaller scales before, but for
private purposes, or to provide wireless Internet links in towns such as
Madison, Wis., and Champaign, Ill., Welsh says. In contrast, CitySense
will let academic researchers worldwide log on to the project website
and submit their own research programs to run on the network.

<http://www.cio.com/article/108413/ 
Harvard_BBN_Use_Streetlamps_to_Light_Up_Wireless_Network>

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