News

Paris goes wireless for tornado warnings. A Texas Mesh, not French.

Keen-eyed followers of Lamar County, near Paris (East Texas) may have noticed a news item saying that wireless technology now provides the county with an early storm warning system.

The  story ran in The Paris News, and you would be forgiven for missing it, unless you googled for "meshbox" - because, as a triumphant LocustWorld marketing executive informed us, this is indeed another LocustWorld  mesh.

The technology works like a WiFi access point; but with the difference that if you have two Meshboxes, they network themselves together to create a wider-area LAN; and if you have more, the LAN will extend this to as many Meshboxes as are within range of each other.

The Locustworld version of the story (naturally) goes into rather more technical detail. Where Paris News informs us merely that: "The project is the first of its kind in the country, with the National Weather Service using it in East Texas and Louisiana," and that the test "introduced new Spiderweb Meshbox technology to the tools spotters use," the home Locust site explains how the technology extends a LAN into the whole county:

""When severe storm watches go out and a tornado is on the ground, the National Weather Service requires that two different spotters actually see a tornado before warnings can be issued", said Leo Salas, the ARRL Emergency Coordinator for Lamar County.

"The Meshbox allows the first spotter to use the Internet to broadcast a live video of the storm to the Emergency Operations Centre and the National Weather Service. The person at either location becomes the second, confirming sighting, so that warnings can go out immediately. It can often take several minutes before a storm is close enough to a second spotter for a good sighting. For anyone in the path of that storm, a few extra minutes could be the difference between life and death."

With the Meshboxes, the first spotter is able to use a Webcam and the Internet to broadcast live video of the storm to the emergency operations centre and the weather service. The person at the second location becomes the second spotter.

In addition, spotters equipped with wireless laptop computers can use the Internet to access the National Weather Service's radar during their storm-spotting duties, allowing them to monitor the progress of severe storms as they approach Lamar County. Video, voice and instant-messaging communication are also available. In the past, the City of Paris and the National Weather Service relied on spotter reports via radio and telephone. The new technology will connect mobile spotters using laptops or PDAs with cameras and wireless internet adapters, and runs on readily available instant messaging software.