Session
Weekend Poster Session 2
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
In this paper, we present a fully functional cubic sensor node prototype designed to be ballistically deployed from a rover or lander to regions of interest that might be unsafe or impractical for rovers or landers to reach. Unlike helicopters or drones, this system can be deployed in airless environments. Crucially, the nodes are equipped with wireless ranging and wireless communications capabilities, such that each node can be localized by leveraging wireless ranging with triangulation, and a cluster of deployed nodes form an expandable WSN (Wireless Sensor Network), that we term LunarWSN. The hardware redundancy of the network can reduce the chance of failure. Each node is a light (<170g), miniaturized (5cm×5cm×5cm), modular design, that allows sensor payloads to be customized to different scientific missions. As a representative case study, the node described in this paper is equipped with an impedance sensor designed to measure the permittivity of the lunar soil, which infers water content. With the help of LunarWSN, more in situ measurement results can be obtained to acquire meter-scale-resolution knowledge of lunar resource distribution and dynamic phenomena.
LunarWSN Node - A Wireless Sensor Network Node Designed for In-Situ Lunar Water Ice Detection
Utah State University, Logan, UT
In this paper, we present a fully functional cubic sensor node prototype designed to be ballistically deployed from a rover or lander to regions of interest that might be unsafe or impractical for rovers or landers to reach. Unlike helicopters or drones, this system can be deployed in airless environments. Crucially, the nodes are equipped with wireless ranging and wireless communications capabilities, such that each node can be localized by leveraging wireless ranging with triangulation, and a cluster of deployed nodes form an expandable WSN (Wireless Sensor Network), that we term LunarWSN. The hardware redundancy of the network can reduce the chance of failure. Each node is a light (<170g), miniaturized (5cm×5cm×5cm), modular design, that allows sensor payloads to be customized to different scientific missions. As a representative case study, the node described in this paper is equipped with an impedance sensor designed to measure the permittivity of the lunar soil, which infers water content. With the help of LunarWSN, more in situ measurement results can be obtained to acquire meter-scale-resolution knowledge of lunar resource distribution and dynamic phenomena.
