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BookmarkApril 1, 2006 — Fleets of robotic sensors, networking through thin cables, can track environmental changes such as biogeochemical cycles or loss of biodiversity, helping to manage wild lands. The technology is the basis for a $500 million project called National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, which will monitor areas across the country.
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LOS ANGELES--More than 80 percent of the earth's natural forests have been destroyed, and research shows 45 percent of lakes are too polluted to be safe for drinking, fishing or even swimming. We all know our environment is changing, but there's still a lot to learn. With new technology, we may soon have a clearer picture of exactly what's happening.
Buried deep within some of our nation's most pristine wilderness is some of the most innovative technology electrical engineers have ever developed.
William Kaiser, an electrical engineer at UCLA School of Engineering in Los Angeles, says, "It is important to use this technology really for both understanding how humans impact the environment and, of course, how the environment can impact public health." That technology is a fleet of robotic sensors like these that monitor environmental changes.
"The observation of environmental change is very important in determining how the stress we place on the environment affects the environment," Kaiser says.
Connected to thin cables, these high-tech tree-bots navigate forests all on their own to record what's happening. When they sense something important is happening, they move to collect the data.
The sensors can track plants, water, even insects. Ecologist Phil Rundel, a professor at UCLA School of Engineering, says this will transform his field. "I think people want to know about their environment. They want to know their environment is healthy and what aspects of change in their environment might be affecting them."
Kaiser says, "What this means is a better way to manage resources like the wild lands around the country and, effectively, to preserve our environment in the most intelligent way."
There are several national projects underway to spread this kind of environmental technology from coast to coast. Leading the charge is a project called National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON. Scheduled to start in 2007, NEON will include 15 circular areas, 250 miles in diameter spread across the country to measure everything from urban terrain, to agricultural and wild lands. The plans for the $500-million project are still evolving.
