First Annual San Diego Science Festival Includes Several Activities with HPWREN and StSS Projects

By Kimberly Mann Bruch, HPWREN and StSS

In conjunction with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (CALIT2), the HPWREN team assisted in providing a 45Mbps Internet connection throughout a portion of Balboa Park for the San Diego Science Festival's Expo Day on April 4. Specifically, HPWREN and CALIT2 researchers created an ad-hoc wireless system atop one of the park's museums to provide high-speed connectivity to more than 30 exhibitors.

The photo on the left shows the radio and antenna on the roof of the Natural History Museum, which connected the San Diego Science Festival setup to the HPWREN backbone, via the UCSD Hillcrest hospital roof's HPWREN site as an intermediary relay. Also shown (top) is the San Diego State University booth at the Science Festival, with Pablo Bryant and John Kim demonstrating SDSU Field Stations research. Photos by Jim Hale

Additional Expo Day participation by the HPWREN and StSS projects included a Live Interactive Virtual Explorations (LIVE) event between the Cabrillo National Monument intertidal area and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Susan Teel and a group of National Park Service Interns and students from Santa Monica College led the Science Center participants on a real-time tour of the intertidal area - answering an array of questions about underwater flora and fauna inhabiting southern California tidepools.

A LIVE activity between Cabrillo intertidal area and Momentum Middle School took place during a gymnasium assembly on March 25 while Cabrillo's First Annual Park Science Day occurred by March 28. The latter event included a day of activities featuring talks by local scientists as well as the LIVE activity.

For additional information regarding HPWREN LIVE, please see http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/LIVE/.

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