New 'super sensors' available soon

The first commercially manufactured versions of the CSIRO-designed environmental and industrial sensor platform, FLECK, will be available in early 2009. The technology promises to open new opportunities for gathering information that will lead to productivity gains in a wide range of industries including agriculture, aquaculture, manufacturing, mining, construction and environmental management.

Tasmanian company The Powercom Group - through its subsidiary Datacall Telemetry - is the chosen manufacturer of the platform, which gathers information in the field and delivers it to a server and then the Internet.

'This is good news for anyone in the business of gathering data in remote areas and having it acted upon in the field, independent of outside instruction,' says Sensor Networks theme leader for CSIRO's ICT Centre, Dr Gautam Tendulkar.

'FLECK allows the creation of a wireless network of devices that sense the environment, share information through wireless communications, formulate group decisions and instigate required actions,' he says.

CSIRO's FLECK hardware platform is specially designed for outdoor use. The solar-powered nodes are durable, capable of long-range communications and can easily be added to the network. Almost any kind of sensor can be hooked up to them and the FLECK operating system can be readily customised.

FLECK networks are monitoring salinity in Queensland's Burdekin irrigation area and stock movements, environmental variables and animal behaviour near Rockhampton, Queensland.

'Our original test-bed network in Brisbane has been running for more than three years, making it the longest running ad-hoc wireless sensor network in Australia,' Dr Tendulkar says.

CSIRO FLECK sensors, which were invented by Dr Peter Corke, have also been measuring micro-climate indicators (temperature, humidity, leaf wetness and wind speed and direction) every five minutes since May this year at Mt Springbrook - part of a World Heritage rainforest precinct in south east Queensland.

The initial network of 10 sensor nodes is planned to expand to 200 with extra sensors measuring biodiversity indicators - such as the amount of light available for plants and bird and frog calls - as the ecosystem recovers from being cleared last century. This project is a collaboration between CSIRO, the Queensland EPA and the Australian Rainforest Conservation Society to build the capability to provide reliable, long-term monitoring of rainforest ecosystems.

The new technology and CSIRO's relationship with The Powercom Group is being celebrated as part of the launch of the Tasmanian node of CSIRO's ICT Centre in Hobart today.