Snow monitoring with sensor networks

Abstract

We are engaged in the construction of a smart sensor network to monitor snow conditions and help determine avalanche probability in back country ski areas in the Wasatch mountains. These sensor networks will be comprised of devices having the ability to communicate, compute and sense the environment temperature, light intensity, pressure, and other properties. We have developed several distributed algorithms for such networks and demonstrated them in simulation and small-scale experiments. Our goal is to build and test a 50-100 node network through fall 2004, and to deploy it for experimental study this coming winter.