Re: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Giri Baleri]

Crossbow's eKo nodes for environmental monitoring address both your
needs. 
- They have IP67 rated enclosure for weather-proofness that have been
tested during heavy rain, snow fall etc.
- They also have a rechargeable battery powered by solar panel
delivering 5+ years of battery life.
You can find further details at http://www.xbow.com/eko/

Please note that these are sold as turn-key products only and if this
doesn't meet your application needs, you can design something along
similar lines using an off-the-shelf enclosure and solar panel/battery
combo.

I hope that helps,
Giri
 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gary
Lee
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 9:36 PM
To: tinyos-help@millennium.berkeley.edu
Subject: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

We are trying to deploy a wireless sensor network in an outdoor
environment. I have the following two questions:

1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?

2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
energy? again, which company can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?

Thanks a lot,

Gary
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Re: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Jay Taneja]

For recent outdoor deployments, we used some ABS plastic and polycarbonate
plastic boxes from Hammong Manufacturing. I'll caution you against boxes
that are too large because they didn't seal all that well. The 3.5"x3.5" box
we used did just fine though.

For solar, there are modules from Sparkfun that may do the trick, but the
general trend for solar in this domain has been to spin it yourself. This is
often because each application has different requirements. If you decide to
go this route, I recommend a capacity planning exercise to figure out the
type and sizing of parts (and decide whether you need solar at all - it may
not be necessary); you can see how we did this in the following paper:

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~taneja/publications/TJCSolar08.pdf

Cheers.

-jay

On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 10:05 AM, Gary Lee <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> We are trying to deploy a wireless sensor network in an outdoor
> environment. I have the following two questions:
>
> 1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
> weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?
>
> 2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
> energy? again, which company can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?
>
> Thanks a lot,
>
> Gary
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Re: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Eric Keller]

I found a pvc pipe that the motes would fit in, I think it's 1.5".
There are threaded
fittings that would allow access, and it should be water-tight given
that it's water
pipe.

As far as batteries go,
I haven't done any tests yet, but I think a lithium polymer battery
would probably work pretty well.  And they have very good energy
density.  However, they don't
work good in the cold.  I assume solar would work, but the energy management
would still have to be well implemented unless you could live with a
large panel.
Lots of outdoor equipment is now solar powered.

I've always been somewhat concerned that an elaborate setup would disappear.
We had that happen with a mote  that was unattended in a hallway for less than
5 minutes.
Eric


On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 5:09 PM, Paul Stickney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>> 1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
>>> weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?
>>
>> You should have a look at volcanic monitoring  work led by Prof. Matt Walsh
>> at Harvard. As far as I remember, they used cases to protect the motes from
>> climatic conditions.
>
> Same goes for other hazardous/outdoor environment research with
> accessible, but fixed long-term, deployment sites.
> Sealed weatherproof metal enclosures. External connections (power,
> antenna, sensors, etc) are fitted onto the casing itself and sealed.
> For non-metal cases, pelican has a good (if not pricey) selection--and
> these cases are TOUGH.
> Otherwise, hit up your favorite search for metal outdoor enclosures.
> Spec as needed.
> (Make sure to get an enclosure with a proper door seal.)
>
>>> 2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
>>> energy? again, which comany can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?
>
> Just use bigger (external) batteries. Really.
> If these mote setups are deployed fixed long-term and are periodically
> accessible, the requirement for minimal size may be signifcantly
> reduced.
> (Consider the entire unit--housing, rigging, power, antenna, etc--may
> be several feet in each dimension for long-term environment
> monitoring.)
> It's not quite the same as attaching long-term tracking devices to
> dolphins. (Unless, maybe this is what you want...)
>
> Of course, if solar is what you want to do, the external power source
> really is just a "module" anyway...
>
> HTH,
> Paul
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Re: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Paul Stickney]

>> 1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
>> weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?
>
> You should have a look at volcanic monitoring  work led by Prof. Matt Walsh
> at Harvard. As far as I remember, they used cases to protect the motes from
> climatic conditions.

Same goes for other hazardous/outdoor environment research with
accessible, but fixed long-term, deployment sites.
Sealed weatherproof metal enclosures. External connections (power,
antenna, sensors, etc) are fitted onto the casing itself and sealed.
For non-metal cases, pelican has a good (if not pricey) selection--and
these cases are TOUGH.
Otherwise, hit up your favorite search for metal outdoor enclosures.
Spec as needed.
(Make sure to get an enclosure with a proper door seal.)

>> 2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
>> energy? again, which comany can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?

Just use bigger (external) batteries. Really.
If these mote setups are deployed fixed long-term and are periodically
accessible, the requirement for minimal size may be signifcantly
reduced.
(Consider the entire unit--housing, rigging, power, antenna, etc--may
be several feet in each dimension for long-term environment
monitoring.)
It's not quite the same as attaching long-term tracking devices to
dolphins. (Unless, maybe this is what you want...)

Of course, if solar is what you want to do, the external power source
really is just a "module" anyway...

HTH,
Paul
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Re: [Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Ittipong Khemapech]

Hi,


> 1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
> weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?


You should have a look at volcanic monitoring  work led by Prof. Matt Walsh
at Harvard. As far as I remember, they used cases to protect the motes from
climatic conditions.

>
>
> 2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
> energy? again, which company can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?


This would be interesting. Waiting for some replies.

Ittipong


>
> Thanks a lot,
>
> Gary
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[Tinyos-help] Motes for outdoor deployment

[Gary Lee]

We are trying to deploy a wireless sensor network in an outdoor
environment. I have the following two questions:

1. How can I get enclosure for MicaZ/TelosB motes, so they can deploy
weather-proof? Could someone recommend some companies?

2. battery is a problem. Is it easy to use solar energy to provide the
energy? again, which company can provide this for MicaZ or TelosB?

Thanks a lot,

Gary
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