In 2010 the Tula Foundation embarked on a massive undertaking to create a body of scientific data covering the coastal margin of BC. The premise for this project was that there has been sparse research in this geographic area, and therefore no comprehensive understanding of its ecological processes.

A new way of research was to heavily utilize sensor technologies and create a high definition data stream accessible to researchers at any location. This new methodology would fuse researchers to their data in near real-time, and to other scientists in a web of collaborative exploration.

To date, we’ve designed and installed 40 different monitoring stations. These stations provide a data stream for many fields of research: hydrology, meteorology, biogeochemistry, oceanography, terrestrial ecology and more.

The Tula Foundation is building one of the world’s foremost long term environmental research programs. 40 sensor stations online, independently powered, communicating in near real time.

 

The real strength of the systems we’ve built originates from our ability to quickly adapt a design to meet the needs of researchers. Our capable deployment techniques stem from experience developed by working in competitive commercial trade environments. From that background, we’ve adapted materials and processes worthy of the designation ’long-term’.

Scientists at Hakai Institute leveraged our experience to successfully deploy dozens of sensor stations in a season. These sensor stations are networked together with a backbone of autonomous, high elevation communication nodes.

Hakai Institute’s sensor network has also opened up new research opportunities that would have been too difficult to attempt before. Multiple sensors – each specialized, each in its own location – work together to give researchers a rich and detailed understanding of the ecosystems they’re studying.