IoT-Enabled Environmental Monitoring and Research

[scditto]

Project:
IoT-Enabled Environmental Monitoring and Research

Elevator Pitch:
This project will demonstrate how Helium can IoT-enable environmental monitoring to make research more efficient, scalable, and cost effective

Total Fiat Ask:
Grant request of $53,474 to $74,056 depending on project findings of suitable sensors.

Key Applicant:
Steven C. Ditto, BE Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University will be the project leader. Relevant work experience includes microwave and cellular network design, analytics and AI product development, and AWS cloud certification. The project leader is working in collaboration with environmental researchers at the Wild Basin Research Center which is affiliated with St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX. The project leader will arrange additional collaborations with other university, government, and environmental stakeholders.

Contact Information:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenditto/
Email: steve@dittoandassociates.com

Project Details:
Cities around the world are expanding into the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). This growth can negatively impact air, water, and soil quality while increasing the potential for wildfire. Environmental researchers face several major challenges:

• The accelerating pace of change is outstripping the ability to track, monitor, and understand ecosystems
• The current state of ecological research is a manually intensive, field-based enterprise relying on trained observers
• The data collection process is time-consuming and expensive thus limiting the resolution and extent of information

To help address these issues, this project will develop, test, and document a "research station in a box" solution consisting of sensors, gateways, dashboards, and integrations. The solution will be comprised of several components:

• Sensors: Identify, test, and deploy LoRaWAN sensors which are suitable for environmental monitoring of air, water, and soil conditions
• Gateways: Identify, test, and deploy LoRaWAN gateways and ancillary equipment which can be implemented and operated on or off grid as required by the research geography
• Dashboard: Refine prototype to make more functional, scalable, secure, and multi-tenant for replication to additional projects
• Integration: Test and refine data flow from sensors to dashboards to ensure the correct mapping and frequency of data payloads
• Usability: Particular attention will be paid to creating a user experience that removes friction and streamlines the process so researchers can shift time and funding from building infrastructure to actual research
   
  Project Phases:
  The project will follow a pragmatic path of prototyping, testing, deploying, and subsequent expansion of the end-to-end system. A working prototype has been developed using a Helium RAK gateway, SEEED environmental sensors, the Helium console, and integration to a Tago.io dashboard. See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Working Prototype

With grant funding, we will conduct further bench and controlled outdoor testing of a larger set of sensors to determine suitability for environmental research use cases. Sensor types will include air temperature and relative humidity, soil temperature and water content, barometric pressure, CO2 and other gases, and particulates. In addition, several location tracking devices will be tested to support the ability to track people and assets.

Once testing is complete, the network will be deployed in or around the Balcones Canyonlands surrounding Austin, TX. The topography of the area is a challenging RF environment with 800-foot hills descending to forested creek beds. See Figure 2 below.
 
Figure 2: Computer Simulation of LoRaWAN RF Signal Using 30-Foot Antenna

Based on preliminary planning efforts, the initial deployment will include 15 sensor sites configured as a grid and an additional 50 sensor sites on the perimeter. It is anticipated six gateways will be placed at points in or around the canyonlands to ensure adequate interior and perimeter coverage. Despite the dense concentration of Helium gateways in Austin, the gateways for this project will likely be placed in empty resolution 8 hexagons.

Once proof-of-concept is achieved, expansion of additional sensors and gateways to support even more hyper-local data collection is likely. The Balcones Canyonlands is one of the nation’s largest urban preserves covering more than 32,000 acres (about 50 square miles) and presents an opportunity to extend Helium coverage into other empty resolution 8 hexagons.

The project will be developed with an eye toward expansion outside the Austin area by leveraging the system, sensors, dashboards, etc. to other WUI geographies. A key deliverable of the project will be a reference architecture, design specifications, and documentation adequate to enable researchers to build their own end-to-end system. This information will be made "open source" and available to the Helium community to facilitate knowledge sharing of "what works".

Project Organization:
The project leader will form a not-for-profit legal entity to own the system and be responsible for the cost and effort to procure, test, implement, and maintain the gateways, sensors, and software. The DeWi grant will help offset some of the initial capital costs. Helium proof-of-coverage payments will help offset ongoing operating costs, project insurance coverage, and expansion.

The legal entity owning the system will manage the data and be responsible for data aggregation and sharing with other researchers. The system will be “open” to any researcher interested in using it for research and education purposes. It is anticipated each researcher will own their data and have access to data developed by other researchers as part of a collaboration agreement covering data ownership, aggregation, sharing, and research attribution.

Project Roadmap:

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Milestone	Description	Deliverable	Cost (USD)*
Aim 1 Q4 2021	Test LoRaWAN gateways and sensors for research and fire detection use cases in controlled and field settings	LoRaWAN sensor performance report	$18,000
Aim 2a Q1 2022	Expand gateways and sensors to test real world performance and support for research and fire detection use cases	Field network deployed	$24,000
Aim 2b Q3 2022	Complete documentation following successful activation and operation of Light Hotspots on Mainnet	Implementation documentation	$1,500
Aim 3 Q3 2022	Provide dashboards and data downloads for researchers, educators, and the public	Dashboards and data utilities deployed	$17,000

• Methodology and bill of materials for each milestone can be provided for further review

Project Significance:
This project will support the DeWi mission and the Helium community:

• Advance IoT-enabled environmental research methods
• Open source reference architecture and documentation to facilitate use by others
• Improve the usability and scalability of the Helium ecosystem by documenting and sharing "what works"
• Expand Helium network coverage and utility

[syuan100]

Thank you for your submission and we're excited to see Helium being leveraged for academic purposes. Considering the nature of the grant and the parties involved, we would like to schedule call with you and perhaps the team you're working with at the Wild Basin Research Center. A few topics to address:

• Regarding Aim 3, the scope of the deliverable seems very much localized to the Balcones Canyonlands. We would prefer to see more details around any open systems or platforms developed that the general public could potentially leverage and/or build upon.
• We would like to understand the economics and dig into the business model and team plan for the non-profit to see how this initiative could scale as well as talk through the methodologies for each milestone.
• Just to be clear, as a policy DeWi generally does not provide hotspots as part of any grant ask.

Please expect an email sometime next week. Thank you!

[scditto]

Thank you for the comments. I'd welcome a call to discuss the proposed approach and how we might adjust to better address the larger needs of DeWi, Helium, and the public. Thanks!

[scditto]

Thanks for all your feedback today. As discussed, I've revised the proposal by narrowing the scope to IoT-Enabled Environmental Monitoring and Research and removing the references to wildfire detection, 5G, and public safety. All those changes resulted in removing Aim 1b and Aim 4 and a reduction in the overall fiat ask. I also made sure to reference the deliverable around open source reference architecture, design specifications, and documentation as well as the focus on improved usability. Hope that hits the mark - please let me know if I missed or mangled anything.