[SGFulton]

Dave, thanks for this. It is interesting. Do you know more about it? Do you need a cellular carrier/SIM card? I’m curious how they’re transmitting the data, i.e., on whose network. It’s not clear from their web site, and I can’t find anything in their specifications (or I’m missing it, as it’s still hard to me to understand all these communication protocols).

[SGFulton]

Thanks for all the great info, Neil, and sorry I haven’t been responding sooner. Right now we’re focused on getting the Adafruit FONA shield to work. It’s 2G but there are libraries, etc. which makes it much simpler for us to work with since we’re not engineers. We’re trying to keep it simple. This is my dissertation research and the WSN is only one aspect of the study so I’m pretty slammed trying to get up to speed on the Arduino side of the house. My advisor is doing most of the programming, etc. then once we get a prototype data logger I will build up the rest of them. I will try to keep you informed as much as I can. Thanks again.

[SGFulton]

Neil,

I’m always open to collaboration…I very much like the website you sent me and want to develop something very similar to stream live data. I’d be interested in the platform you’re using to push and store data. This is all very new to me and my learning curve is quite steep (originally a forest ecologist and remote sensing analyst back when), but one of my advisors has been developing with Arduino for several years now and is an adept C++ programmer.

My primary water quality parameter of interest is specific conductance as it is used by many regulatory agencies to determine whether streams are meeting their designated uses below mountaintop mine and valley fill (MTM/VF) sites throughout Central Appalachia (http://cfpub.epa.gov/si/si_public_record_report.cfm?dirEntryId=233809). Streams with SC > 500 uS/cm are typically degraded and have significantly reduced biological diversity. Mine waters in the region are dominated by Ca2+, Mg+, SO4-, and HCO3-. My research interest is in evaluating the effect of engineering hydrologic flowpaths to maintain downstream water chemistry. My site was experimentally mined and reclaimed to minimize the ionic strength of waters downstream from MTM/VF sites.

Prior to matriculating at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA in 2012, I worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reviewing surface coal mine permits in Kentucky for compliance with Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. In addition to surface and groundwater specific conductance, parameters of interest include climate (wind speed, precip, barometric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity), flow (I’ve got one flume installed and possibly another will be installed) and groundwater (water depth, ORD, and pH) and surface water quality (including temperature, DO, pH, ORP, Ca, and Cl). I’ve been interested in developing a wireless sensor network primarily due to limited funding and the remoteness of the site, as well as the ability to monitor and collect continuous data.

I’m well aware of the limitations you mention re: sensors, particularly cost, so one of my research objectives is to evaluate the performance of low-cost sensors that can be integrated into WSNs. For example, we’ll be testing Atlas Scientific, Pasco, an/or Cole-Palmer sensors (pH, DO, conductivity, ORP) and Pasco and/or Cole-Palmer for Ca and Cl. We’re also trying to develop a pressure transducer using shields from Sparkfun and Adafruit, but are having some difficulty with waterproofing. May have to try the acoustic systems for depth. A sensor for sulfate is of particular interest but I can’t seem to find anything out there.

Let me know any thoughts you may have regarding collaboration. Feel free to contact me a sgfulton@charter.net.

Thanks again,
Stephanie

P.S. I recognize your area code…I’m originally from San Rafael, CA.

[SGFulton]

Hi neilh,

Thanks for the info. As for the Onset U30, we’re trying to avoid paying the big bucks for commercial equipment, plus we’re designing our own custom sensors and dataloggers…hence the Arduino WSN.

Particle’s electron looks interesting…available in 2G/3G, Arduino compatible with libraries, and running on AT&T networks (service available at my remote mine site in eastern KY), all good. Sadly, they’ve run out and are not available until 11/15!

NimbeLink also looks interesting, but I was hoping for something less esoteric and easier to program with available libraries such as available from Sparkfun and Adafruit. Do you know more about using these?

The commercial grade Cradlepoint modem looks nice but expensive, and similar to (yet a little cheaper) the Sierra GX series recommended to me by folks from Metronome (who build the Neomotes I’ll also be using and comparing to our Arduino-based WSN).

Question: do you know of an app for iPhone that’s similar to the “GSM Field Test Pro” you mention? I tried to find something like that on iTunes but no luck. That would be great in remote eastern KY.

Again, thanks a bunch…I think the Particle electron looks the most promising!

Stephanie

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