A wireless sensor network based system for underground chemical plume tracking

Abstract

A real-time subsurface chemical plume monitoring and tracking system is being developed that uses wireless-sensor networking to automatically extract data from underground chemical sensors. This system is aimed at tracking plumes caused by the release of toxic chemicals and biological agents into the environment as a result of accidental spills and improper disposal. Current practice involves manual collection of samples from monitoring wells followed by laboratory analysis, an expensive process taking days to weeks; such a delay reduces the effectiveness of mitigation techniques as well. Virtual Sensor Networks (VSN), a novel resource efficient approach for sensor networking being developed to track the migrating underground plumes, will be applicable to a broad class of problems. Laboratory based experiments and simulations are in progress to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach for large-scale plume tracking.