Great Duck Island Requirements

• Internet access
  The sensor networks at GDI must be accessible via the
  Internet. An essential aspect of habitat monitoring applications
  is the ability to support remote interactions with
  in-situ networks.
• Hierarchical network
  The field station at GDI needs sufficient resources to host
  Internet connectivity and database systems. However, the
  habitats of scientific interest are located up to several kilometers
  further away. A second tier of wireless networking
  provides connectivity to multiple patches of sensor networks
  deployed at each of the areas of interest. Three to four
  patches of 100 static (not mobile) nodes is sufficient to start.
• Sensor network longevity
  Sensor networks that run for 9 months from non-rechargeable
  power sources would have significant audiences today. Although
  ecological studies at GDI span multiple field seasons,
  individual field seasons typically vary from 9 to 12 months.
  Seasonal changes as well as the plants and animals of interest
  determine their durations.
• Operating offthegrid
  Every level of the network must operate with bounded energy
  supplies. Although renewable energy, for example solar
  power, may be available at some locations, disconnected operation
  remains a possibility. GDI has sufficient solar power
  to run many elements of the application 24x7 with low probabilities
  of service interruptions due to power loss.
• Management atadistance
  The remoteness of the field sites requires the ability to
  monitor and manage sensor networks over the Internet. Although
  personnel may be on site for a few months each summer,
  the goal is zero on-site presence for maintenance and
  administration during the field season, except for installation
  and removal of nodes.
• Inconspicuous operation
  Habitat monitoring infrastructure must be inconspicuous.
  It should not disrupt the natural processes or behaviors under
  study. Removing human presence from the study areas
  both eliminates a source of error and variation in data collection,
  as well as a significant source of disturbance.
• System behavior
  From both a systems and end-user perspective, it is critical
  that sensor networks exhibit stable, predictable, and repeatable
  behavior whenever possible. An unpredictable system
  is difficult to debug and maintain. More importantly,
  predictability is essential in developing trust in these new
  technologies for life scientists.
• Insitu interactions
  Although the majority of interactions with the sensor networks
  are expected to be via the Internet, local interactions
  are required during initial deployment, during maintenance
  tasks, as well as during on-site visits. PDAs serve an important
  role in assisting with these tasks. They may directly
  query a sensor, adjust operational parameters, or simply assist
  in locating devices.
• Sensors and sampling
  For our particular applications, the ability to sense light,
  temperature, infrared, relative humidity, and barometric pressure
  provide an essential set of useful measurements. The
  ability to sense additional phenomena, such as acceleration/
  vibration, weight, chemical vapors, gas concentrations,
  pH, and noise levels would augment them.
• Data archiving
  Archiving sensor readings for off-line data mining and
  analysis is essential. The reliable offloading of sensor logs to
  databases in the wired, powered infrastructure is an essential
  capability. The desire to interactively “drill-down” and explore
  individual sensors, or a subset of sensors, in near realtime
  complement log-based studies. In this mode of opera-

Figure 1: System architecture for habitat monitoring
tion, the timely delivery of fresh sensor data is key. Lastly,
nodal data summaries and periodic health-and-status monitoring
requires timely delivery.

Great Duck Island

The College of the Atlantic (COA) is field testing in-situ
sensor networks for habitat monitoring. COA has ongoing
field research programs on several remote islands with
well established on-site infrastructure and logistical support.
Great Duck Island (GDI) (44.09N,68.15W) is a 237 acre island
located 15 km south of Mount Desert Island, Maine.
The Nature Conservancy, the State of Maine and the College
of the Atlantic hold much of the island in joint tenancy.
At GDI, we are primarily interested in three major questions
in monitoring the Leach’s Storm Petrel [2]:
1. What is the usage pattern of nesting burrows over the
24-72 hour cycle when one or both members of a breeding
pair may alternate incubation duties with feeding
at sea?
2. What changes can be observed in the burrow and surface
environmental parameters during the course of
the approximately 7 month breeding season (April-
October)?
3. What are the differences in the micro-environments
with and without large numbers of nesting petrels?
Each of these questions has unique data needs and suitable
data acquisition rates. Presence/absence data is most
likely acquired through occupancy detection and temperature
differentials between burrows with adult birds and burrows
that contain eggs, chicks, or are empty. Petrels are
unlikely to enter or leave during the light phase of a 24 hour
cycle, but measurements every 5-10 minutes during the late
evening and early morning are needed to capture time of
entry or exit. More general environmental differentials between
burrow and surface conditions during the extended
breeding season can be captured by records every 2-4 hours,
while differences between “popular” and “unpopular” sites
benefit from hourly sampling, especially at the beginning of
the breeding season.
It is unlikely that any one parameter recorded by wireless
sensors could determine why petrels choose a specific nest
site, rather we hope that by making multiple measurements
of many variables we will be able to develop predictive models.
These models will correlate which conditions seabirds
prefer.

HABITAT MONITORING

Researchers in the Life Sciences are becoming increasingly
concerned about the potential impacts of human presence in
monitoring plants and animals in field conditions. At best it
is possible that chronic human disturbance may distort results
by changing behavioral patterns or distributions, while
at worst anthropogenic disturbance can seriously reduce or
even destroy sensitive populations by increasing stress, reducing
breeding success, increasing predation, or causing a
shift to unsuitable habitats. While the effects of disturbance
are usually immediately obvious in animals, plant populations
are sensitive to trampling by even well-intended researchers,
introduction of exotic elements through frequent
visitation, and changes in local drainage patterns through
path formation.

Disturbance effects are of particular concern in small island
situations, where it may be physically impossible for
researchers to avoid some impact on an entire population. In
addition, islands often serve as refugia for species that cannot
adapt to the presence of terrestrial mammals, or may
hold fragments of once widespread populations that have
been extirpated from much of their former range.

Seabird colonies are notorious for their sensitivity to human
disturbance. Research in Maine [2] suggests that even a
15 minute visit to a cormorant colony can result in up to 20%
mortality among eggs and chicks in a given breeding year.
Repeated disturbance will lead to complete abandonment of
the colony. On Kent Island, Nova Scotia, researchers found
that Leach’s Storm Petrels are likely to desert their nesting
burrows if they are disturbed during the first 2 weeks of
incubation.

Sensor networks represent a significant advance over traditional
invasive methods of monitoring. Sensors can be
deployed prior to the onset of the breeding season or other
sensitive period (in the case of animals) or while plants are
dormant or the ground is frozen (in the case of botanical
studies). Sensors can be deployed on small islets where it
would be unsafe or unwise to repeatedly attempt field studies.
The results of wireless sensor-based monitoring efforts
can be compared with previous studies that have traditionally
ignored or discounted disturbance effects.

Finally, sensor network deployment may represent a substantially
more economical method for conducting long-term
studies than traditional personnel-rich methods. Presently,
a substantial proportion of logistics and infrastructure must
be devoted to the maintenance of field studies, often at some
discomfort and occasionally at some real risk. A “deploy ’em
and leave ’em” strategy of wireless sensor usage would limit
logistical needs to initial placement and occasional servicing.
This could also greatly increase access to a wider array of
study sites, often limited by concerns about frequent access
and habitability.

Improving Life and Industry with Wireless Sensors

Intel Research, working with the academic community and industry, is addressing many of the significant challenges for ad hoc sensor networks to become a reality. Already, a broad spectrum of sensor network pilot applications have been demonstrated. As sensor network technology emerges from research laboratories, the ability to instrument the world is likely to transform every facet of our lives. New Uses, New Users:

Intel and BP, one of the world's largest petroleum and petrochemicals companies, are collaborating on a joint research project using a wireless sensor network to provide continuous vibration monitoring of the engines on one of BP's oil tankers off the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland. View Video (WMV file, 10MB; requires Media Player).
Smart Surrogates, by Terry Knott, BP Frontiers magazine, Issue 9, April 2004BP is at the forefront of applying the latest sensory network digital technology to a broad spectrum of its businesses. Learn more.

Aging Boomers: Technology to the Rescue?The "age wave" is coming and there's nowhere to run. In the next 25 years, the 65-and-over population in America will double. The first baby-boomers will reach retirement age just six years from now. Already, healthcare is America's biggest cost, and fastest growing too. It's a huge challenge - but technology, healthcare and education leaders say it is also a huge opportunity. Reporter Rick Lockridge provides insight from CAST and Intel Sensor Net Open House events held March 2004 in Washington, D.C. View Video (WMV file, 6.93MB; requires Media Player). For more details about this new class of technology:

Instrumenting the World: An Introduction to Wireless Sensor Networks
The Promise of Wireless Sensor Networks
Digital Home Technologies for Aging in Place
Sensor Network Technology
SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN: Smart Sensors to Network the World by David Culler and Hans Mulder. An emerging class of microelectronic devices are enabling us to more freely connect the cyberworld to the real world.
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