Overview          Background          Participation          Project Design          Project Application

GreenOrbs is motivated by the need of long-term large-scale sensing for continuous environmental surveillance, precise forestry measurements and forestry research.

Canopy Closure Estimates

The first application of GreenOrbs is canopy closure estimates. Canopy closure is defined as the percentage of ground area vertically shaded by overhead foliage.

It is a widely-used indicator of the forest condition and has many significant uses in ecosystem management and disaster forecast. Previous forestry approaches of canopy closure estimates have either poor accuracy or prohibitive cost. Using WSN as a technique of quantitative measurement, GreenOrbs realizes accurate and economical canopy closure estimates of vast forest.

Fire Risk Evaluation

Another application of GreenOrbs is fire risk evaluation of forest. Traditional approaches provide only inaccurate evaluation according to the macroscopic weather forecast, including temperature, humidity, and wind force. The real fire risks, however, are in fact more related to the local status and human activities on the ground. Using sensor nodes deployed in the forest, GreenOrbs is able tomonitor the local environmental factors and act as important input elements of accurate fire rick evaluation.

Forestry Research

GreenOrbs is further designed to support forestry research through long-term large-scale observations on the forest microclimate, species interdependence, and competition among different vegetation species.

GreenOrbs is motivated by the need of long-term large-scale sensing for continuous environmental surveillance, precise forestry measurements and forestry research.

The first application of GreenOrbs is canopy closure estimates. Canopy closure is defined as the percentage of ground area vertically shaded by overhead foliage.

It is a widely-used indicator of the forest condition and has many significant uses in ecosystem management and disaster forecast. Previous forestry approaches of canopy closure estimates have either poor accuracy or prohibitive cost. Using WSN as a technique of quantitative measurement, GreenOrbs realizes accurate and economical canopy closure estimates of vast forest.

Another application of GreenOrbs is fire risk evaluation of forest. Traditional approaches provide only inaccurate evaluation according to the macroscopic weather forecast, including temperature, humidity, and wind force. The real fire risks, however, are in fact more related to the local status and human activities on the ground. Using sensor nodes deployed in the forest, GreenOrbs is able tomonitor the local environmental factors and act as important input elements of accurate fire rick evaluation.

GreenOrbs is further designed to support forestry research through long-term large-scale observations on the forest microclimate, species interdependence, and competition among different vegetation species

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