Embedded linux wireless system

[Jim Carter]

On Wed, 20 Nov 2002, Paul Pounds wrote:
> produce a wireless sensor system that can read the internal environment
> conditions of an artifact (eg. the engine block of a vehicle in storage) and
> transmit the data to a network.

Another person made a good point, that the single board computer plus
wireless card is going to cost (I'm guessing) a minimum of US$ 200, and a
less elaborate short distance wireless sensor would probably be cheaper.
It would feed into a central point, maybe one per garage building.  You
might want to consider 802.11 or 802.11b wireless to get the data from each
garage to the management office, since physical wiring is labor-inten$ive
and vulnerable to damage.

But then what?  If the problem is occasional freezing weather cracking the
engine blocks, it will happen at 3 AM when nobody is around, and they
couldn't take timely and effective action anyway if there are a lot of
vehicles.  The "right"  solution is to have and enforce maintenance
procedures, so the vehicles always have enough concentration of antifreeze
(ethylene glycol) and not just plain water in them. (And glycol also
inhibits corrosion; I use it year round even in southern California.)  Of
course this solution is orthogonal to an intern's charter...

I understand that you have to make yourself useful in an area for which you
have training.  How about this?  A USB webcam (US$ 100) in each exhibit
area (armory building or major section) with your single board computer
(needs USB) and wireless card to bring the data to a central office.  You
can also use an obsolete general purpose PC provided it has USB, or
provided you buy a PCI to USB add-on card.  Use the pics for crowd control
and security, but also post them live on the War Memorial's web pages, to
create buzz.

And of course you'll want to run Linux on the computer; from your subject
line I assume that was your plan.

James F. Carter          Voice 310 825 2897    FAX 310 206 6673
UCLA-Mathnet;  6115 MSA; 405 Hilgard Ave.; Los Angeles, CA, USA  90095-1555
Email: jimc at math.ucla.edu    http://www.math.ucla.edu/~jimc (q.v. for PGP key)