Best of What's New 2009

Voltree Power Javelin Rapid Deploy

Interconnected, tree-powered, smart monitoring stations for forest fires

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Voltree Power Javelin Rapid Deploy

The U.S. Forest Service will now know more about where blazes are about to hit. This month, it’s installing Javelin, the first system that can send temperature, humidity and wind data from beneath the tree canopy, letting officials monitor at-risk areas.

Unlike satellite-connected units, which must sit in a clearing, Javelin nodes can beam data out of thick, leafy woods. Their short-distance radios relay information to each other in a web and pass it to a satellite unit at the edge that feeds into the National Interagency Fire Center’s network. Coming this summer: a Javelin system that runs off the natural voltage difference between a tree and the soil.
voltreepower.com

2 Comments

Sounds like this would cost a lot, why can't they hook up something using something similar to the cell phone tech, where they use each other as a connection to the main grid. That way we don't need a satellite.

I think they mean a satellite unit on the edge of the forest that collects all the data from the other javelins then relays it to wherever.

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