Environmental Monitoring with LabVIEW
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THE CHALLENGE
Developing a single device to take environmental measurements in the Costa Rican rain forest canopy to perform a carbon flux study.
THE SOLUTION
Using NI LabVIEW software and CompactRIO hardware to develop a wireless sensor system for collecting and analyzing environmental data.
SensorKit uses CompactRIO and LabVIEW to traverse on a cable between towers at La Selva Biological Station.
To better understand the impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the environment, UCLA researchers are conducting a study at La Selva Biological Station in the Costa Rican rain forest. We developed a portable, reconfigurable integrated wireless sensing system, called SensorKit, using LabVIEW and CompactRIO. Because of its flexibility, SensorKit can be deployed in several ground locations. More importantly, it can drive a mobile, wireless, aerially suspended robotic sensor system that measures the transfer of carbon and other materials to the atmosphere.
We deployed two SensorKit systems at La Selva Biological Station, with 10 other systems awaiting deployment. The wireless sensors are arranged on the forest floor and on the suspended robotic shuttle, creating an environmental monitoring system that takes measurements in 3D.
Using LabVIEW tools for real-time embedded processing, we can perform local mass flux analysis and postprocessing. In the near future, with the Web capabilities of LabVIEW, we plan to make the data remotely accessible to researchers worldwide.
Dr. Bill Kaiser and Dr. Phil Rundel
Center for Embedded Networked Sensing (CENS) at UCLA
Discover more ways engineers and scientists are using NI products to help improve the world.
This article first appeared in the Q3 2008 issue of Instrumentation Newsletter.
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