December 23, 2003CDF La Cima connection in the Cedar Fire post-burn area The Cedar Fire, starting in late October 2003, consumed more than 280,000 acres in San Diego County. HPWREN collaborated with agencies to restore communications to a CDF camp deep in the remote burn area. 
November 18, 2003Time lapse animations and other images of the Cedar Fire incident Various HPWREN related cameras captured images during the Cedar Fire, and to a lesser degree the Paradise Fire, in the San Diego area in late October, 2003. This resulted in about 150,000 still images, many of which were turned into DVD-quality MPEG2 time lapse animations. 
November 16, 2003New Brochure Summarizes HPWREN Project Activities With encouragement from the National Science Foundation, HPWREN developed a brochure that summarizes various aspects of the project.  November 4, 2003New HPWREN Link Redundancy Significantly Increases Network Robustness After a year of planning and preparation, the southern loop of HPWREN wireless connectivity is now complete. "The completion of this connection significantly increases the robustness of the network, in case of node outages and link weaknesses - such as when we are under interference situations," explains Hans-Werner Braun, HPWREN PI. "It also provides needed extra bandwidth for demanding applications, such as the astronomy observatories that HPWREN connects."  October 10, 2003Second Annual HPWREN Users Meeting Focuses on Future of Network On September 11, HPWREN collaborators met at the Palomar Observatory to discuss current and future network applications, funding issues, and network impacts.  September 19, 2003Solid-State High-Res HPWREN-Connected Cameras Provide Quick Access to Environmental Conditions Two recent additions to HPWREN's camera systems include a four-camera 360-degree view on Mount Laguna and a 90+ degree view camera at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) Ramona Air Attack Base.  August 15, 2003HPWREN-Connected Camera Allows for Observation of Ongoing Dramatic Phenotypic Transition in Mimulus aurantiacus Plant Rolf Baumberger, a biology researcher at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, has been studying the bush monkey flower (Mimulus aurantiacus) for almost ten years. Until last year, however, he was making several trips per year to the San Diego State University Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve - examining the flower's alteration in shape and color during various conditions.  August 4, 2003Southern California NEES Projects Benefit from HPWREN Connectivity With two Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) project sites now connected to HPWREN, scientists from around the world are able to send and receive even more near-real-time seismic data collected in southern California.  August 1, 2003HPWREN Collaborates with SDSU to Link the San Diego Sheriff's Department with the County Fair Last month, the HPWREN team provided a high-speed link to the San Diego County Fair so that the Sheriff's Department could test the capabilities of 45Mbps data connectivity during a major metropolitan event. Additionally, HPWREN researchers deployed a high-resolution network camera as well as a pan/tilt/zoom video camera, and also extended the network with another 45Mbps link from the Fair site to the Sheriff's communications operations base.  July 25, 2003HPWREN Provides Data Connectivity for Remote Wildfire Operations Site On the afternoon of July 16, lightning ignited the Coyote Wildfire in northeastern San Diego County and more than 18,000 acres were lost by the time the fire was contained on July 23. Thanks to the HPWREN team, the firefighters at the remote operations site were provided with data connectivity for the week-long incident. This wireless high-speed data link allowed them to update wildfire status reports, images, and weather information in real-time.  July 16, 2003San Diego's CDF Air Attack Base Collaborates with HPWREN for Mountain Sensor Access to Monitor Fire Conditions The HPWREN team recently connected the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) Ramona Air Attack Base in San Diego County to its high-speed network. This connectivity allows firefighters to collaborate on remotely accessing high-resolution still and controlable video cameras, as well as other sensors located throughout the county. Not having had high speed Internet access before, this link also provides access to Internet data - such as satellite mapping, infrared data, forest fuel conditions and weather at remote sensors in support of emergency situations.  July 7, 2003San Diego Sheriff's Department Connects to HPWREN for Collaborative Evaluations of Emergency Data Communications Network Models For the past several years, the HPWREN team has been collaborating with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Initially, the Sheriff's Department provided the HPWREN team with access to several of their remote communications sites throughout the county, which greatly helped with the buildout of the HPWREN backbone network. More recently, a direct connection to the Sheriff's Primary Systems Center (PSC) of its Regional Communications System enables the Sheriff's staff to experience firsthand the benefits of high performance wireless Internet data networks in remote areas.  June 19, 2003New Palomar Observatory CCD Camera Utilizes HPWREN Backbone for Near-Real-Time Data Transfer Few realize that current astronomers can only see approximately a few percent of the total cosmos - the rest is often referred to as "dark energy" and is yet to be seen or understood. Thanks to a new project at the Palomar Observatory, however, we may be one step closer to catching a glimpse of this massive unknown.  June 6, 2003Real-time Geophysical Sensors Now Linked to HPWREN: Strainmeter Data Provides Scientists with Insight to Earthquakes The HPWREN and ROADNet teams recently collaborated to provide two southern California research sites with a broadband network link and an interface to real-time strainmeter data. That is, scientists from around the world can now access real-time long-base strainmeter data recorded at the Piņon Flat Observatory and Durmid Hill sites, which are both managed by the Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).  May 27, 2003HPWREN Expands into the Licensed Spectrum Utilizing license-exempt 5.8GHz radios for its 45Mbps wireless backbone has served HPWREN well for the past three years. However, the network occasionally experiences interferences from unknown origins as well as weather-related performance degradations.  May 10, 2003HPWREN-Connected TDVNet Celebrates Second Year Anniversary The Tribal Digital Village Network (TDVNet) recently celebrated their second year of HPWREN connectivity at an event located at the Pala, Rincon, and La Jolla Native American reservations. The anniversary celebration included formal presentations by TDVNet staff, tours of connected sites such as the Pala Learning Center, and exhibits detailing TDVNet application projects.  April 30, 2003HPWREN Provides High-Speed Connectivity for Demos at a George Wright Society Conference and the SDSU Visualization Center On April 18, the HPWREN team participated in a demonstration that linked the remote Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with San Diego State University's (SDSU) Visualization Center - following a demo that connected the Park with the George Wright Society Cultural Resources 2003 Joint Conference, which was held at a Mission Valley convention center. This activity was the second in a series of remote interactive presentations that allowed participants to virtually tour the Anza-Borrego State Park via HPWREN.  April 14, 2003Santa Rosa Native American Reservation Links with HPWREN Although weather conditions challenged HPWREN researchers during their latest connectivity task, the team gladly reports that the Santa Rosa Native American reservation now has broadband Internet access. In exchange for linking the Santa Rosa Native Americans to HPWREN, the NSF-funded research project was granted access to the tribe's land atop Toro Peak.  March 31, 2003California State Parks Distance Interpretation Program Collaborates with HPWREN for Remote Interactive Presentations Last week, teachers from around the country paid a "remote" visit to the Anza-Borrego State Park. The teachers, who were attending the National Teacher Training Institute (NTTI) Conference in Irvine, participated in an underwater tour of Crystal Cove State Park and examined fossilized oyster beds in nearby Fish Creek - while sitting in a conference room in Irvine about 100 miles away.
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