The High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) is a project of the Applied Network Research (ANR) group at the San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego, to support Internet-data applications in the research, education, and public safety realms.
HPWREN functions as a collaborative, Internet-connected cyberinfrastructure. The project supports a high-bandwidth wireless data network in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial counties in areas that are typically not well-served by other data networking technologies. The network includes backbone "nodes," typically sited on mountain tops, to connect often hard-to-reach areas in the remote Southern California back country.
The network supports a wide range of network application requirements, ranging from high-volume astronomical data generated by the Palomar Observatory, to a steady output of continuous, low-volume traffic from devices such as earthquake sensors, which deliver real-time data. HPWREN also includes permanent sites as well as those created temporarily and on short notice, such as firefighter Incident Command Posts (ICPs). HPWREN saw use in several of the major wild fires to hit San Diego County across many years.
The network spans from San Clemente Island in the Pacific Ocean, via the southern California coast to the inland valleys, east toward the mountain elevations of more than 8,700 feet, and the remote desert, reaching almost to the Arizona border. The network's longest link is 72 miles in distance, from the San Diego Supercomputer Center to San Clemente Island.