Experiences from three years of developing and operating the PermaSense wireless sensor network for harsh mountain environments

Summary form only given. The project PermaSense has the aim to develop and operate a wireless sensor network to support permafrost research in high-mountain areas, where site access is difficult and expensive and environmental conditions challenging. It started in 2006 as a small collaboration between the Universities of Basel and Zurich, and in 2007 expanded to also include ETH Zurich and a much larger engineering effort than initially planned. Since 2008, PermaSense technology is running productively in steep mountain terrain around 3500 m a.s.l. and is now being consolidated and expanded towards a next generation of sensors. Over the past three years, the close contact between geo-scientists and engineers has not only resulted in two generations of WSN infrastructure and a better understanding of the problems to be solved, but also spawned new directions for common future research. The close collaboration between geo-science and engineering, which PermaSense is based on, offers diverse and exciting advantages but also has many hidden challenges. In this presentation I provide a geo-scientists view on PermaSense, its historical phases, achievements, advantages and problems. Some of these issues are project-specific but others are most likely generic. Consequently, I will try to provide a certain amount of generalization as well as recommendations for similar projects to come. More information on PermaSense and the people behind it can be found at www.permasense.ch.