CHAPEL HILL, NC, June 18, 2008 – The North Carolina Environmental Observation Network System (NC-EONS) is nearly operational as RENCI engineers continue to install the power and communications infrastructure for the platform in the Pamlico Sound off the North Carolina coast.

Construction of the platform, located four miles out from the Cedar Island Ferry Terminal, was completed in June. The 325-square-foot platform rises 14 feet above the surface of southern Pamlico Sound and includes an equipment house that will store instrument control, data logging and communications equipment to capture data from the scientific instruments deployed from the platform and communicate this data back to shore. The platform instruments will consist of video cameras, meteorological sensors and specialized devices to measure physical conditions of the water (such as temperature, salinity, sea level rise, circulation, and waves), water quality (such as harmful algal blooms, nutrient chlorophyll and oxygen levels), and the behavior and health of fish populations.

RENCI engineers have installed a 5.8 gigahertz high-speed wireless communications link at the Cedar Island Ferry Terminal and will also install a VHF 9600 baud packet switched network and a 902 megahertz wireless network.  Corresponding communications systems will be installed on the platform by the end of June along with a temporary power system.  The permanent power system is expected to be installed in July.

The communications links will transmit data to servers at NC-EONS partner sites and to RENCI’s headquarters in Chapel Hill for integration with RENCI’s Sensor Data Bus, a database and data analysis system that aggregates separate environmental sensor information so scientists can analyze data for patterns and relationships.

NC-EONS, supported by the North Carolina Research Competitiveness Fund, will give researchers across North Carolina a site to conduct scientific experiments and will collect environmental data critical to understanding the behavior of the Pamlico Sound, its role in North Carolina’s marine ecosystem and its response to climate change and severe storms.

RENCI…Catalyst for Innovation
The Renaissance Computing Institute brings together computer and discipline scientists, artists, humanists, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, state leaders and educators for collaborations designed to reshape science, the economy, the state of North Carolina and the world. RENCI leverages its expertise and resources in leading edge computing, networking and data technologies to ignite innovation and find solutions to previously intractable problems. Founded in 2004 as a major collaborative venture of Duke University, North Carolina State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the state of North Carolina, RENCI is a statewide virtual organization.  For more, see www.renci.org.