Author(s)

Yaonan Zhang, Lihui Luo, Jiuyuan Huo, Wenpin Zhu

Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China.

The emerging of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology has brought new opportunities for data intensive observation in eco-hydrological research and environment monitoring. To make up for the insufficiencies of space observation data for models in eco-hydrology processes research of inland river basin which constrain the construction of accurate modeling and simulation, a sub-basin of the Heihe River Basin named Hulugou has been selected to perform the deployment and research for wireless sensor network from the perspective of eco-hydrology. In this paper, we discussed the system framework, the demonstration research area, the deployment of sensor nodes and the network topology of wireless sensor network. Finally, the study has summarized existing problems and experiences of wireless sensor network in these eco-hydrological applications and the available researches in hard environment. In the future, we will deploy a large number of sensor nodes in the long-term fine-grained eco-hydrological elements observing environment to form lots of homogeneous or heterogeneous wireless sensor networks.

Wireless Sensor Network; Eco-Hydrology; Intensive Observation; Wireless Transmission; Environmental Monitoring

Y. Zhang, L. Luo, J. Huo and W. Zhu, "An Eco-Hydrology Wireless Sensor Demonstration Network in High-Altitude and Alpine Environment in the Heihe River Basin of China," Wireless Sensor Network, Vol. 4 No. 5, 2012, pp. 138-146. doi: 10.4236/wsn.2012.45020.