A low costwireless sensor network for landslide hazard monitoring

Inadequate ground observations inhibit an adequate description of actual environmental conditions that can lead to landslides, typically precipitation and soil moisture. The spatial and temporal resolution obtained with utilizing satellite data is insuflucient for real-time early warning systems. Major challenges with in situ instruments lie in the prohibitive costs of installing and maintaining equipment for long duration deployments. Costs increase especially if instruments must be connected to the power grid and repeatedly visited for data logging in remote locations. Recently, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have become much more practical for environmental scientists, providing more affordable monitoring and assessment capabilities. Whereas traditional sensor networks utilize continuous power, greatly depleting battery charges, and are vulnerable to functional failures if a single point fails, technological advances have overcome these barriers. The Regional Visualization and Monitoring System (SERVIR), a joint venture between NASA, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other international partners, has developed an affordable and robust wireless sensor network requiring minimal maintenance to make distributed environmental observations with applications ranging from landslide monitoring to glacial monitoring systems.