HALIFAX – Aliant announced today it will invest over $100,000 over the next three years to support wireless research and development at Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC).
The Wireless Network for Environmental Monitoring Project – sponsored by NSCC’s Applied Geomatics Research Group (AGRG) – is a major research initiative that focuses on the development of a wireless network of remote environmental monitoring stations in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia.
Aliant will contribute $25,000 per year for three years, along with over $30,000 of in-kind contributions of equipment and services in support of the project. The funding is provided through the Aliant Wireless Innovation Fund (AWIF), a $2.5 million research and development fund established in 2004 to support research and development at post-secondary institutions across Atlantic Canada over the next four years.
"This technology is giving us the capacity to gather accurate meteorological information from across our test area in the Annapolis Valley, and analyze it on an hourly basis," said David Colville, researcher with NSCC’s Applied Geomatics Research Group in Middleton (and not the former CRTC telecom vice-chair). "As a result, the partners we’re working with can make informed decisions that impact their bottom-line results – it’s an example of the powerful impact of modern technology."
Researchers at the AGRG have installed a network of 14 meteorological stations and several data loggers throughout the region. Adding wireless capabilities to the sensor network will allow AGRG researchers to access, process, and integrate meteorological data with other information more efficiently.
One of their goals of the three-year AGRG Project is efficient, real-time environmental data management. Once collected, the information can be used by meteorologists and others to help produce local weather forecasts, landscape descriptions or visual models for use by vineyard owners, farmers and others in the area. For example, grape growers could use the data to pinpoint optimal sites for future vineyards; help existing vineyards maximize their yield; and provide information on wind, temperature and infestation conditions.
