Broadband Installation Supports CalTrans and NSF NEES Research

The HPWREN team recently worked with UCSD Department of Structural Engineering field researchers for an installation at Camp Elliott. The facility, which is located about eight miles east of UCSD, is currently being used by the engineering researchers as a seismic test facility and is now linked to the 2.4 Ghz portion of HPWREN.

While the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) funds a portion of the studies being conducted at the Camp Elliott field laboratory, the NSF's George E. Brown Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) sponsors additional activities. Specifically, the Caltrans research focuses on soil-foundation-structure-interaction issues. Meanwhile, NEES is funding a 25-foot by 40-foot shake table that will allow researchers to examine real-time seismic activity on full-scale structures. Known as the Large High Performance (LHP) Outdoor Shake Table, this will be the world's first outdoor shake table and the largest shake table in the United States.

In addition to this 40-inch grid antenna, the Camp Elliott installation includes an Internet-accessible real-time video camera. The video camera allows UCSD Department of Structural Engineering researchers to share their ongoing progress and findings with their funding agencies (CalTrans and NSF NEES).

"One of the primary components of the NEES program is the ability to tele-participate and conduct experimentation at various equipment sites in real-time," explains Lelli Van Den Einde, NEES Coordinator and Project Manager. "Our research at the Camp Elliott site will eventually require one gigabit-per-second networking capabilities, and this HPWREN connection is our first step in getting there."

Additional photos regarding this activity are available at https://cdn.hpwren.ucsd.edu/images/sites.html#Elliot.

For more information about research being conducted at the Camp Elliott Field Laboratory, please contact Van Den Einde at lellivde@ucsd.edu.

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