Today we all went to the Nindiri plateau to take VLF and micro gravity readings and I managed to setup the BGAN to perform various tests.
ERA
I setup the BGAN in the Nindiri plateau in what can only be described as a hostile environment. Apart from the extreme heat the wind was very strong giving me and the equipment a near constant shower of crater dust. And of course the wind brought continuous waves of fresh gas emitted from the vent.
The BGAN was set a good distance from where I was based but I had little choice but to place the router on top of my rucksack for a token elevation.
BGAN on a possible Martian landscape?
Once I had the equipment setup it became obvious fairly quickly how difficult it was going to be to perform the tests. With my back to the sun and the ASUS in my shadow I could barely see the screen, made even more difficult with the continued bombardment of dust and gas. In only a matter of seconds everything had a layer of dust on it.
The same tests were performed as at the hotel, the results of which follow:
A ping test was performed using the web address http://bbc.co.uk as the target address.
Ping Nindiri Crater BGAN 12/02/2010 at 11:04AM local time
Followed by four tests, two using jperf and two using iperf, the results of the jperf test are detailed below.
jperf TCP Nindiri Crater BGAN 12/02/2010 at 11:17AM local time
jperf UDP Nindiri Crater BGAN 12/02/2010 at 11:22AM local time
And the same test using iperf.
iperf UDP Nindiri Crater BGAN 12/02/2010 at 11:48AM local time
Unfortunately upon returning to the hotel it appears I did not grab the screen shot for the iperf TCP test!
I managed to have a text chat with Trevor, however I found it very hard to see the screen and type coherently as Trevor at one point commented on the “gibberish” I was typing!
Trevor was able to connect to my server and download a fresh image that I had taken and FTP’d from the Ricoh camera.
I did not bring the EDIMax with me and to be honest I doubt it would have worked given the signal strength of the BGAN, 40.2 on 3 satellites.
One good bit of news was that a volunteer, Steve, had picked up the ERA network as an approximate range of 300 meters in two different locations on the crater. His stated the signal strength he received was 81dbms.
I found the conditions to work in very difficult and not at all practical with the equipment and the impact the environment would have on it.
A momentary lull in wind, dust and gas allows for a quick photo!
Gas mask back on!
iPhone
Today was a good indication on how an iPhone could be used as a field tool, but in my honest opinion perhaps areas of the world such as this may not be an ideal place to use it!
Using the BGAN I was able to connect to the back end server and obtain the required maps. The app correctly showed my location with pins identifying locations near to me. I did not enter a true gravity reading as by the time I was ready to trial the app Hazel and the others had moved off to the next recording locations.
However this does not affect the trial as the main purpose was to see how the app worked in the proposed field and I feel I achieved this.
The weakness of the app is the requirement of a network or 3G signal to download the maps onto the device and presently if no such connectivity is available then the app does not work.
I am investigating a link sent to me by my Line Manager, Kevin Quick, that details a framework that allows for the caching of maps on the iPhone allowing it to work regardless of connectivity. This is one area I am eager to exploit.
The GPS on the iPhone performs well here with a constant pulse around a very small diameter blue dot on the map signifying a good location signal.
I have given up on the obtaining a 3G SIM or dongle as attempts so far have been time consuming and as there is no 3G signal here even if I had one would be pointless. When on the volcano seeing the strong signal I assumed good 3G but later realised it was only good for text and voice as no 3G was present.
The information obtained in the UK about the ease of getting the 3G items maybe what was received by the caller but when actually out here it is completely different. Using two different native Spanish speakers and the hotel owner assured me that what I was trying to obtain was correct and what I was being told was also correct.
Personal
Still suffering from upset stomach today was particularly hard especially given the route we had to take to get to the Nindiri plateau. My back pack was fully laden with equipment and it was extremely hard work not only climbing an ash crater wall but also descending the other side. Today was probably not the best day to be carrying so much equipment!
The group ascend the ash mountain
When we reached the top the view over to the other side was fantastic as we could see how the crater wall on the opposite side had collapsed and how much debris had gone with it!
When on the other side I took photos of a huge fracture in the crater wall which was awesome to see but now from over here it is possible to see the scale of what has and is happening as another section of wall collapses.
Looking down on a huge fracture
Same fracture from opposite side showing vastness of rock fall
The descent into the crater via a very steep rock climb was difficult enough without the added weight of a back pack but was worth it, a real Indiana Jones moment!
The descent begins
Once we reached the ash plateau it was really like walking on the moon with rock scattered about perfectly smooth ash fall. Before I came here I knew nothing of the kind of rocks to be found on a volcano but can now identify lava flow, spatter and frozen crater wall rock. We even got to see “Pele’s Hair” thin strands of volcanic glass drawn from molten lava named of Pele the Hawaiian goddess of volcanos.
Pele's Hair
Lunar landscape?
Me with the crater wall in background we climbed down
The best part of the day was spent down here taking all the readings as well as ones on route in either direction.
The climb back out was extremely difficult due to how long we had stayed in the sun and because of the backpacks too, we ended up passing the bags ahead to the person in front to make the ascent a little easier.
Upon returning to the hotel it was the usual procedure, shower, dinner then bed. I was too hungry not to eat even though I knew what the consequences would be!