MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
INTERNET ADVISORY
June 29, 2000
SENSOR WEB INTERNET SITE NOW ONLINE
A web site is now available that provides information,
pictures and animation about wireless "webs" of small sensors
that have been placed in gardens on Earth by scientists at NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The site address is
http://sensorwebs.jpl.nasa.gov .
Sensor webs will someday help make possible a key NASA goal
to establish a virtual presence for exploration throughout the
solar system. They are currently being tested at the Huntington
Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens in San Marino,
Calif.
A sensor web consists of a number of small pods that each
house transducers to collect data from the environment and
communication chips that move the data around the web to primary
pods. The information is then transmitted to the Internet or an
overhead satellite. "Hopping" the data in short distance from
pod to pod makes the overall data transmission more energy
efficient. In addition, the "hopped" data is shared by all of
the pods, allowing each one to know what is being collected
elsewhere on the web.
The pods that are being tested in the Huntington's Botanical
Gardens monitor local temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and
light levels. Pods are housed in small plastic containers about
the size of a sandwich box. Other sensor web pods look much like
a gumball toy, but contain specialized instruments.
Dr. Kevin Delin is leader of the Sensor Webs Project at JPL.
Shannon Jackson is lead engineer on the project.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena.
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