On Thursday, Nov 13th, 2003, we installed the first outdoor imaging station at the neighbouring compound of the National Marine Fisheries Service, Galveston Laboratory. Many thanks to NMFS for allowing access to their facility for this test installation!

Here is a first view of the station being assembled in our lab:

This view shows an open black plastic box of about 1.5 by 2 by 2 feet. This is a rear view of the imaging station being assembled. The rear lid of the box is folded down towards the viewer and holds three circuit boards and the Envoy mobile data server, a black ruggedized PC computer. The main part of the housing at this stage only contains a single circuit board with large power relays. The viewport - a glass window of 10 by 14 inches, can be seen at the opposite side of the box.

This image shows a view of the black ABS case that has been modified to house the imaging system. The folded down back lid contains three circuit boards - one of them the MCU or Master Control Unit, a PIC microprocessor based controller board for the primary timekeeping and power switching functions. To the right is the Envoy mobile data server, a ruggedized PC responsible for all high-level functions including camera control, local area wireless networking as well as remote satellite data links. The main part of the housing in this image only holds one circuit board with the power switching relays. The camera, motorized camera mount, as well as the wiring harness and other components are not installed yet. The viewport can be seen on the far side of the housing.

Our initial imaging networks will consist of 5 stations arranged around one site of interest. Each of these stations will differ in terms of the components the stations will be outfitted with. For example, only one station will have a VSAT satellite data link, another station will have an INMARSAT satellite data link. The station being assembled here is station # 5, the simplest of the five stations.

Here is a closeup frontal look at the outdoor installation:

This image is a frontal head on view of the closed housing installed outdoors. The housing is painted white. You are looking at the viewport, which is a clear glass pane of 10 by 14 inches, surrounded by a thick black bolted frame. Through the glass pane, one can barely see the outlines of the camera lens and some electronic components on circuit boards.

We have spray painted the black housing white in this image, to help keep internal temperatures down in the Texas heat and sunlight. In Northern climates, we expect the opposite problem, and the housing will be heated prior to starting the camera, before taking a picture. The above image shows the nearly complete Station #5. Still missing are the viewport wiping system as well as a hood over the port.

 

A sligthly more distant perspective shows the mounting mast and the battery box:

This picture shows the white box of the imaging station sitting at the very top of a vertical five foot iron post of about 3 inches diameter. At the bottom of the post sitting on the green lawn is a box identical to the one housing the camera, except it is black and has no viewport. Two thick power cables, one black the other red, connect the two boxes.

The mounting mast is about 5 feet tall. The black box at the bottom of the mast houses the 12 V battery, in this case a Concorde AGM (absorbed glass matt) non-spillable, rechargeable lead acid battery, and also the Outback charge controller. The box is the same style ABS box used to make the main housing of the image station.

The system receives power from solar panels, in this particular case for the initial testing, from a single 24 V 130 W panel by Shell Solar:

This image shows a side view of the white camera box on top of it's 5 foot pole, the black battery box sitting on the grass at the bottom of the pole, and about half of a large solar panel in the immediate foreground. The full solar panel measures about 3 by 5 feet, and is mounted on a separate 4 foot tall pole and mounting frame.

 

And finally the complete station in one view:

This last image in the series shows the complete setup for Station 5 in one view: the solar panel on it's rack atop a 4 inch diameter 4 foot tall post, the black battery and charge controller box, and the white imaging station box atop it's 5 foot pole. The system is mounted in a grassy area of a compound by the National Marine Fisheries Service in Galveston. The area is enclosed by a chain link fence. In the background, several buildings can be seen. To the right is a parking lot, and in that lot is where our lab trailer is located.

 

The building to the right is the Ft. Crockett, where our lab is located. We turned the station on yesterday, and it works extremely well! It wakes up at a pre-scheduled time, and takes a picture at precisely the same time at which other stations take a picture. At present, the other stations are still located inside of the LABB building. Station 5 talks to the other stations via a Cisco wireless LAN. After taking a picture, the picture is transmitted to the home station in our LABB, and the next picture taking time is scheduled. At the same time, diagnostic information on the performance of the system is transmitted to the home lab. We can also remotely update the software of the station via the wLAN. Currently, in the initial phases of outdoor testing, we are taking pictures at 30 minute intervals during workdays, once a day on weekends, and currently not at all at night.

 

We will post more updates on our progress soon!

November 14th, 2003.

 

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