The group has begun collaboration with Riot Technology Corp. (RT) to provide real-time in field implementation of their technology.Riot Technology Corp. (RT) has been developing and testing a newer, innovative technology that is capable of much greater communication distances between individual nodes, while consuming far less power called ‘Low Power Wide Area Sensor Networks’ (LPWAN). The AU hydrology lab is testing these innovative technologies for field measurements and developing an ongoing network for distributed environmental data collection across scales.
This project aims to understand the underlying controls on the communications capabilities of the technology and goes far beyond simply field-testing the RT technologies. Communication performances will be related to detailed landscape (e.g., distance, topography and vegetation) and meteorological (e.g., rain events, air temperature) analyses to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the underlying variables that govern communication capabilities and ultimately improve the collection of data in remote locations.