RFID Aids Restoration of Australian Rainforest

The first phase of the project is a proof of concept, Wark says, with staff members looking to identify potential problems and determine how to operate the technology effectively within a rainforest environment. The challenges include the high rainfall and humidity present at the site (which can interfere with the node's and gateway's RF signals), how to store the vast amounts of information generated by the project and providing power to the nodes in a cost-effective manner.

"Power is one of the biggest challenges," Wark says, "because there are times when little sunlight is available to provide power to the compact solar panels, and there is limited energy in rechargeable batteries. So we need to be clever and minimize the time the radio is on, or limit the time the nodes sense information. We need to consider what sensors we can pull back on when we need to conserve power. This will become an even bigger challenge when we introduce acoustic and video sensors."

Tim Wark

Microphones will enable the scientists to identify specific birds and other animal by their calls, while video cameras will supplement the acoustic data by taking digital snapshots through motion, infrared or sound triggers. This information will allow the group to determine population numbers and trends, search for patterns regarding when the animals appear and determine which factors foster reproduction cycles.

"This project is unique in its scale and duration," Wark says. "Other wireless sensor networks have been bigger but not operated for several years, and others have operated longer but not been as big. This truly is an ambitious project, and will produce an iconic result."

According to Wark, the next stage is slated to begin in January 2009. This will entail the deployment of acoustic and video sensors, as well as additional nodes to gather extra information, such as light, tree diameter, sap flow, rainfall and barometric pressure.

The project, Keto says, has the potential to run for 10 or 20 years, and to provide significant information regarding the restoration of rainforests around the world. The network could be suited to a variety of applications, including agriculture, forestry, horticulture, water quality and climate change monitoring.