Take that mesh network practically anywhere

Setting up wireless networks can be difficult even within a quiet, secure and known location. But trying to set one up in a volcanic environment, with unstable elements such as power outages and climate changes, proves extra challenging, as one Harvard computer science professor recently learned. Matt Welsh was intent on gathering data about Reventador, an active volcano in Ecuador. He wanted to track seismic activity a better way than the traditional approach--carting up heavy sensor stations to the volcano along with data-logging and data-collection equipment. Since Welsh already knew that a mesh network could handle environmental data collection (he set up a 190-node system at his university to monitor temperature and humidity in his office building on campus) he figured he could build a mesh net to handle the data collection on the volcano. But, as he continually learned throughout the process, Mother Nature and human elements can wreak havoc on wireless efforts. He and his team built a 16-node mesh network that covered nearly two miles on one side of the volcano. He didn't go the 802.11 route as it would have needed too many power resources and instead used IEEE 802.15.4 low data-rate radios with a FreeWave radio modem that then sent collected data to a laptop sitting 2.5 miles away a hotel room. The goal was to achieve a data stream featuring no dropped packets with the data time-stamped to within 10 milliseconds. It took nearly half a year, but he accomplished that goal while learning a few hard lessons along the way. Article