Progress 08/15/10 to 09/30/15
Outputs
Target Audience:
Nothing Reported
Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?No accomplishments to report since annual report dated 5-31-15 due to resignation of project director. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?No accomplishments to report since annual report dated 5-31-15 due to resignation of project director. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
No accomplishments to report since annual report dated 5-31-15 due to resignation of project director.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/14 to 05/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:Target audiences included the South Carolina Farm Bureau Board, Palmetto Agri-Business Board, nonprofit organizations, state and federal regulators, state and federal legislative members, South Carolina Commission of Agriculture, South Carolina Forestry Commission, Aiken Chamber of Commerce, and a broad audience of stakeholders. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? People throughout South Carolina and the southeastnow have open access to real-time data at the river-basin scale. Monitoring 312 miles of Savannah River has clearly demonstrated the utility of real-time remote data acquisition to monitor and optimize management of natural resources at the river-basin scale. Significant interest in the technology by state and federal agencies and the agriculture and forestry economic sectors show promise for adopting real- time data acquisition for managing natural resources at multiple scales. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Multiple presentations have been made to key South Carolina agricultural and forestry groups at board meetings and annual meetings. There was an exhibit at the 2014 South Carolina Water Resources Conference showcasing Intelligent River, Intelligent Farm and Forest to a large audience of regulatory, academic, and professional attendees. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1. The Intelligent River® technology has been successfully adapted to monitoring field conditions at Clemson University's Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, SC and forested wetlands water quality at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science in Georgetown, SC. Both projects have reported through the Intelligent River® web-portal supporting the research of multiple scientists. Objective 2. Statewide and multi-state connectivity has been demonstrated through multiple application projects at the river-basin scale. 312 miles of Savannah River and its watershed, primarily rural areas, are being monitored in real-time through radio and cellular connectivity, with success demonstrated in very challenging environments including remote access and heavily forested areas. The project was not able to capitalize on the SC LightRail due to accessibility issues but achieved similar results using alternative rural connectivity through cell phone and internet to support data collection and transmission in highly remote communities and watersheds. Objective 3. Numerous scientists and technicians with Clemson University Extension, Experiment Station, Carolina Clear, and Center for Watershed Excellence are successfully utilizing or demonstrating the Intelligent River® as a natural resource management tool to gather and share data at a state-wide level on the Intelligent River® webportal. 24/7 access to all data supporting numerous application projects are open and publicly available to scientists, engineers, agencies, K-12 STEM classes, and the general public.
Publications
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Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audiences are federal, regional, state and local regulatory agencies, farmers, foresters and multiple applications stakeholders of the Savannah River Basin as well as stakeholders at the rural/urban interfaces. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? The research and user support team presented overviews to user groups to instruct multi-level stakeholders on how to utilize the new webportal and data access. These groups included key Savannah River nonprofit stakeholder groups, two SC farm associations, civil and transportation engineers, a utilitiy group, and federal, state and local agency personnel. Of note, the research principal investigators were invited by EPA Headquarters to present the Intelligent River technologies at the Advanced Monitoring Demonstration Day at EPA Headquarters with over 100 EPA research and water resources personnel attending demonstrations on how to utilize the Intelligent River webportal and access and download data. Follow up visits by EPA Region 4 and EPA Headquarters were focused on rural farm and stream monitoring. During December 2013, Intelligent River technologies were presented at the Globes Conference in Tel Aviv and three universitiy audiences throughout Israel. The presentations emphasized cyberinfrastructure applications in the 21st century for rural farm monitoring and irrigation control. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Numerous invited presentations were made in 2014 to stakeholder groups, farm associations, engineering groups, and federal, state and local regulatory agencies. A major demonstration was provided to attendees of the 2014 South Carolina Water Resources Conference and a paper was presented that provided insights on the utility of the system for monitoring natural resources. The 2014 Intelligent River webpage upgrade provides a major source for disseminating information to multi-level stakeholders. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During 2015 the research team will continue to make invited presentations to multi-level stakeholders and with the new enhanced webportal we will encourage students to access and utilize the farm, forest, stormwater and river data in support of STEM education.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During 2014, significant improvements were made to the Intelligent River real-time remote data acquisition cyberinfrastructure within highly rural counties bordering the lower Savannah River. These improvements enhanced the ability of the Intelligent River system to acquire data in rural areas with very poor cellular signals. Improvements included development of a novel radio signal buoy transmitting data from the river to permitted base stations attached to in-river structures including bridges and rail-crossings and development of a novel wi-fi mesh system within the 2300 acre Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, SC, transmitting data from below ground in-field installations to base stations located throughout the farm. These improvements will greatly expand the functionality of the Intelligent River cyberinfrastructure system within rural areas with poor cellular signals and are transferrable to natural resources management at multiple scales. During 2014, the webportal redesign moved from beta testing to live usage. The webportal redesign enhanced the stakeholder interface and improved the ease of downloading large datasets in spreadsheet formats.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Smith, G.C., Hallstrom, J.O., Esswein, S., Eidson, G.W., Post, C.J., "Managing Metadata in Heterogeneous Sensor Networks", Proceedings of the 52nd Annual ACM Southeast Conference, Kennesaw, GA, (March 2014).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Yang, F., Gondi, V., Hallstrom, J.O., Wang, K.-C., Eidson, G.W., "OpenFlow-based Load Balancing for Wireless Mesh Infrastructure", Proceedings of the 11th Annual IEEE Consumer Communications and Networking Conference, Las Vegas, NV, (January 2014).
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Target audiences are federal, regional, state, and local regulatory agencies, farmers, foresters, and multiple applications stakeholders of the Savannah River Basin as well as stakeholders at the rural/urban interfaces. Changes/Problems: No significant changes are anticipated. There were losses of instrumentation within the Savannah River basin due to theft and extremely high flows and loss of instrumentation in farm applications due to recurring lightening strikes during 2013. These equipment losses delayed technology demonstrations and deployments scheduled for the 2013 reporting period, however, these demonstrations will occur during the next reporting cycle. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In 2013, opportunities to develop a workforce that would manufacture, install, and manage Intelligent River technologies were explored with local technical colleges and small universities. A Memorandum of Understanding was developed between Clemson University and Aiken Technical College to explore opportunities to create training programs for Intelligent Farm, Forest, River, and City applications. In 2013, the utility of Intelligent River technologies and applications were demonstrated to Nancy Stoner, USEPA Assistant Administrator and invited federal and state agencies during an EPA technology visit at Clemson University. This visit attracted a lot of press associated with the many applications of Intelligent River technologies to enhance natural resource management at the river basin scale. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Numerous presentations to municipal water groups, state and federal agencies, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, agriculture field days, etc were made in 2013 to disseminate results of the ongoing technology development. In 2013, a presentation was made before a large South Carolina and Georgia audience during a cooperative agreement signing ceremony related to water sharing by South Carolina and Georgia. The governors of both states and the commander of the Savannah District of the Corps of Engineers made presentations. The utility of Intelligent River technologies was noted, resulting in significant press coverage. During 2013, there was a ceremony recognizing the $100,000 Wells Fargo Innovation Award which was attended by numerous press groups. The award was received to transfer Intelligent River technologies to the farming community which would result in significant savings by reducing farm inputs of water and fertilizers and minimizing potential impacts to natural resources. During this ceremony the NIFA/USDA contribution was citied. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? During the next reporting period, the webportal will be live and open to all stakeholders. Continued enhancements to the technologies will be developed and demonstrated through innovative applications.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During 2013, continued significant improvements of earth monitoring technologies were made to the Intelligent River real-time remote data acquisition system as a result of four major projects: Intelligent River insitu monitoring applications at the river basin scale within the 312 mile, 10,500 sq. mile Savannah River primarily dominated by rural economic sectors; Intelligent Farm applications developed and demonstrated at the Edisto Education and Research Center in Blackville, SC; Intelligent Forest applications developed and demonstrated at the Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology & Forest Science in Georgetown, SC; and stormwater-derived urban headwaters applications within Sand River, Aiken, SC, an urban stream that flows into rural-dominated Horse Creek, Aiken County, SC. During 2013, projects were conducted at the local, regional, and river basin scales that provided significant technology insights for large scale monitoring using wi-fi mesh and cellular connectivity. In all projects, whether rural or urban, new earth monitoring techniques were developed and demonstrated to enhance agriculture, forestry, and natural resources management. Each of these test platforms have high transferability to natural resources management at multiple scales. During 2013, landscape-scale connectivity to the Intelligent River Research Enterprise was demonstrated by connecting the rural community research labs with the urban research labs through Cisco Communications Systems. This connectivity is designed to share earth monitoring programs and projects between highly rural communities and urban communities to promote understanding of natural resources management at very broad scales. A webportal has been re-designed for sharing of statewide information linking rural and urban stakeholders at the river basin scale. This webportal is currently undergoing beta testing prior to release to stakeholders.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Taylor, I., Sharp, J., White, D., Hallstrom, J., Eidson, G., Barr von Oehsen, J., Duffy, E., Privette, C., Cook, C., Sampath, A., Radhakrishnan, G., "Monitoring Sensor Measurement Anomalies of Streaming Environmental Data Using a Local Correlation Score:, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computing for Geospatial Research and Applications, San Jose, CA. July 2013.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: During 2012, the Intelligent River interdisciplinary team of 15 scientists and engineers initiated the river-basin scale planning and permitting phase for deployment of the Intelligent River within the Savannah River; held a multi-agency workshop with over 40 attendees to solicit input for the Savannah River basin deployment; focused on technology development, enhancement, and piloting of innovative cyberinfrastructure technologies to enable Phase 1 deployment along 180 river miles of the Savannah River; developed a cyberinfrastructure enabled stream restoration monitoring program; and established a collaborative research laboratory at Clemson University's 2300-acre farm at the Edisto Research and Education Center in Blackville, SC which serves as the test bed for linking precision agriculture to the Intelligent River real-time remote data acquisition system. During 2012, over 20 presentations were made to regional and national audiences. Key presentations included multiple Georgia and South Carolina river basin citizens groups; Washington DC visits with USDA, EPA, DOE, and DOI; updates to EPA Region 4 Administrator and staff, Savannah District COE commander and staff, SC Department of Health & Environmental Control Water water bureau and Georgia Environmental Protection Division water bureau. Technology transfer events included two Aiken Green Infrastructure workshops, the multi-agency Intelligent River Deployment Workshop, Aiken and Edgefield County Economic Development Authority, and multiple presentations at the 2012 SC Water Resources Conference and Confluence Conference. PARTICIPANTS: Participants on this project included Gene Eidson, ecologist and PI; Jason Hallstrom, computer scientist; Chris Post, GIS scientist; David White, environmental informatics; K.C. Wang, wireless computing; Sam Esswein, computational ecology; Jerry Tessendorf, visual effects; Robert Geist, visual effects; Jill Gemmill, cyberinfrastructure; Calvin Sawyer, biosystems engineer; Dan Hitchcock, biosystems engineer; Brad Putman, civil engineer; Anand Jayakaran, hydrologist; Ahmad Khalilian, precision agriculture; and Julia Sharp, statistician. Clemson University partners include the Institute of Applied Ecology; Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science; Edisto Research and Education Center; Center for Watershed Excellence; and Clemson University Restoration Institute. Other partners include Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy; EPA Region 4 (Southeast) Centers of Excellence for Watershed Management; S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence Program; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District; National Park Service, Atlanta District; City of Aiken, SC; and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences are federal, regional and state regulatory agencies, farmers, foresters, and multiple applications stakeholders of the City of Aiken, SC and Savannah River Basin. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: The Savannah River Basin deployment of the Intelligent River system was delayed by 6 months to enhance signal penetration technology.
Impacts
During 2012, significant earth monitoring technology improvements were made to the Intelligent River real-time remote data acquisition system as a result of the landscape-scale Aiken Green Infrastructure project designed to improve stormwater management. The technology improvements focused on data collection, metadata, power management, big data storage, and radio signal penetration through dense vegetation such as crops and forests. These improvements will be transferred to the monitoring and management of farms and forests at a landscape scale. Final results of the Aiken Green Infrastructure project will be reported in early 2013, but preliminary data indicates that the application of green infrastructure technologies significantly improves stormwater infiltration, reduces flashy hydrographs that cause stream erosion, enhances headwater stream water quality and ultimately receiving stream and river quality. A cost-effective program for monitoring and managing the natural and built environments has been demonstrated by linking the Aiken Green Infrastructure project to the Intelligent River data acquisition system. Many of the green infrastructure techniques can be readily transferred to rural towns, communities, and farms as a cost-effective way to manage impacts from stormwater and nutrient-laden runoff without the expense of a stormwater utility. In 2012, there were planning and technology transfer meetings among campus and research and education center faculty to formally develop the Intelligent Farm and Intelligent Forest research programs. Funding is in place to initiate these research programs in early 2013 at the university farm and forest research hubs. A new laboratory and data processing center is also being developed at Clemson University's Edisto Research and Education Center which will house data processing and workforce training associated with the Intelligent Farm and Intelligent Forest programs. Details on the Intelligent River projects are at the Institute of Applied Ecology, www.clemson.edu/public/ecology/.
Publications
- Caudle, N. 2012. Smart Rivers - of seeds and the river, Glimpse: Clemson University Research Magazine, Vol.1, No. 1, Spring 2012, p. 14 - 21.
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The Intelligent River interdisciplinary team of 15 scientists and engineers has the goal of creating a highly efficient and cost-effective real-time remote data acquisition system to observe unprecedented amounts of data. The most ambitious project is to create the world's first automated river. In 2011, the National Science Foundation awarded the team a Major Research Instrumentation Award to deploy the Intelligent River instrument along the 312-mile Savannah River, from the headwaters in North Carolina to the port in Savannah, Georgia. The instrument will collect water quality and quantity data, soil moisture data, and weather data within the 10,500 square mile basin and aggregate data from many sources into one functional database that will populate river operational models. At the center of the Intelligent River technology is a novel patent-pending networking platform called a MoteStack which collects, stores, and transmits data at a scale that until now was cost-prohibitive. The data is critically needed to improve water resources management as demand increases for drinking water, hydroelectric power, recreation and industrial production. Upon installation in the Savannah River Basin, the Intelligent River software and hardware architecture will provide 24/7 access to data from sensor networks measuring a wide variety of environmental parameters. The program web site, www.intelligentriver.org, will provide online tools and be accessible with a mobile device. Installation will begin in 2012 and be completed in 2013. Application projects initiated during 2011 included Aiken Green Infrastructure winning the South Carolina Municipal Association Engineering Award, the Intelligent Farm pilot project at Clemson University's Edisto Research & Education Center, and the Charleston Vertical Farm Feasibility Study. All projects incorporated the Intelligent River technology in research, management, and operations. Details on these projects are at the Institute of Applied Ecology, www.clemson.edu/public/ecology/. Over 20 presentations were made to regional audiences on the Intelligent River technology and applications projects. Key presentations included the University of Georgia Institute of Ecology, City of Aiken, SC Rotary Club, EPA Region 4, Georgia and South Carolina Soil & Water Conservation Annual Meeting, multi-state Confluence Conference, Smart State Centers of Excellence Conference, Sierra Club and South Carolina Educational TV. The research was presented in the S.C. Business Journal Technology Issue and at the Innoventure Conference for technology transfer. The research was also featured in the S.C. Educational TV program Making It Grow. PARTICIPANTS: Gene Eidson, ecologist and PI; Jason Hallstrom, computer scientist; Chris Post, GIS scientist; David White, environmental informatics; K.C. Wang, wireless computing; Sam Esswein, computational ecology; Jerry Tessendorf, visual effects; Robert Geist, visual effects; Sebastien Goasguen, computer engineer; Jill Gemmill, cyberinfrastructure; Calvin Sawyer, biosystems engineer; Dan Hitchcock, biosystems engineer; Brad Putman, civil engineer; Anand Jayakaran, hydrologist; Ahmad Khalilian, precision agriculture; Dan Harding, architectural designer; David Pearson, landscape architect; and Julia Sharp, statistician. Clemson University partners include the Institute of Applied Ecology; Belle W. Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science; Edisto Research and Education Center; Center for Watershed Excellence; and Clemson University Restoration Institute. Other partners include Southeastern Natural Sciences Academy; EPA Region 4 (Southeast) Centers of Excellence for Watershed Management; S.C. Centers of Economic Excellence Program; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District; National Park Service, Atlanta District; City of Aiken, SC; and the Belle W. Baruch Foundation. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences are federal and state regulatory agencies including Savannah Corps of Engineers; EPA Region 4, Water and Sustainability, Innovation, and Pollution Prevention Divisions; South Carolina Department of Health & Environmental Control, Water Division; Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Water Branch; and multiple applications stakeholders of the City of Aiken, SC; Savannah River Basin; and City of Charleston, SC. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
The research program began in 2011 so it is early to report significant outcomes and impacts. During 2011, the Aiken Green Infrastructure Project was developed to transform the way stormwater was managed in Aiken, SC. This small equestrian city encircles a 2100 acre forest that discharges into a rural watershed. The team worked with city leaders on a $3.3 million project to improve stormwater infiltration and treatment and mitigate severe stream erosion resulting in forested wetland impacts. The project utilizes porous pavement, rain gardens, and bioswales and is fully supported with a wireless monitoring network to continuously evaluate stormwater quantity and quality online. Project construction is complete and the research and monitoring program in ongoing. Preliminary data indicates that significant volumes of stormwater is captured and infiltrated within green infrastructure elements reducing the flashy and erosive flows into creeks. The public has been very engaged with this project through workshops and charrettes and now follow the storm events online at www.intelligentriver.org. This project is shifting the public perception of stormwater issues and stormwater abatement utilizing green infrastructure. Throughout 2011 there has been significant web traffic monitoring the Intelligent River projects. There is great interest in the use of real-time remote data acquisition by scientists and the public and the website is becoming an online resource for multiple users in the United States and worldwide. The announcement of the NSF Major Research Instrumentation award created a lot of interest among multiple stakeholders.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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