Another Chance?

Today I called Dr. Kryemadhi, as I was in the area, and we had lunch together.  We talked about how things have been going; I told him about the trials I have been going through as well as the latest good news, and he told me about some of his latest exploits.  He mentioned that he was working with someone  on an idea to use balloons to take measurements at high altitudes.  I didn’t ask, but I think it is a cosmic-ray study of some sort.  Once again, talk about using cell phones to transmit data wirelessly came up, and Dr. Kryemadhi has asked for my help.  I think there is a way to do what he was describing, and I think it can be done with a Python extension on an S60 smartphone.

Perhaps this is another chance for me to work in physics again.  Have I got it in me to pull off one more attempt at physics research?  I sure hope so, and I’m going to find out.  I will be meeting with Dr. Kryemadhi some time in the next week or two to discuss the details.  I will also be looking for an S60 Python SDK, probably through Nokia.  I am quite excited to try my hand at physics research yet again, and hopefully I will be successful this time around.  Perhaps there is hope for me after all…

MARIACHI Technique in Doubt

Dr. Kryemadhi and I met over lunch last week to discuss the outcome of my feasibility study on using cellular phones to wirelessly transmit detector data from the detectors to a remote server.  I had to show him how and why the entire idea is simply not realistic, which is a bummer because it is a darn cool idea, and why using smartphones to do the job would be more expensive than all the coax and other cables that have to be dealt with now.

So after I laid that on him thoroughly, he dealt me a real kick in the teeth.  It turns out that MARIACHI’s struggles to get data are not due to interference, but rather due to doppler shifts!  The entire MARIACHI technique is in doubt, and seriously in jeopardy of never working due to the fact that particles in the cosmic-ray-induced plasma trails, which reflect VHF signals, are moving so fast that they impart extra energy to the scattered photons, causing a severe doppler shift in the frequency of skipped transmissions.  This means that tuning in is impossible!  Any one of us could have, should have, thought of this; it is so obvious!  But nobody figured it out until now, and the entire collaboration will have to rethink its experimental technique or face the real possibility of calling it quits.

Well, this is, afterall, part of the scientific process, Dr. Kryemadhi reminded me.  It hurts sometimes, but that is science.  To succeed, one must first fail many times over.  So, I will be going back to our outreach high school with a modified idea for using their antenna to study meteor skip.  This should make good use of their hardware as currently installed, and give them something to work towards, rather than having them wait for MARIACHI to get it together.

As for Christmas, my wife gave me a fabulous book on the life and times of Albert Einstein, who still fascinates me to this day.  The book is entitled, “Einstein; His Life and Universe” by Walter Isaacson.  I have also lately been studying Quantum Loop Gravity, Rishon models, and Doubly Special Relativity, all based on my readings in Lee Smolin’s fascinating book “The Trouble with Physics”.  Together, these two books are filling my spare time, along with internet searches and other textbook reading supplements.

Wireless data from detectors rehashed

The quest for wireless data from our detectors has just gotten more difficult. Now, the new requirement is that the wireless system consist only of a cell phone linked directly to the detector. This poses a whole new series of problems to meet the requirements, including how to get the phone to read data from the detector and then automatically forward it.

This particular problem may be easier to solve than it sounds; a smartphone operating some programming extensions may do… now, how to program it is another bear. The Nokia S60 or S80 Symbian platforms are probably the number one choices here, since I believe there are Python extensions available and other coding can be performed on the phone itself.

My big issue is going to be how to get power to the phone when data is being carried exclusively to the main port. In an older phone like the Nokia 9300 this would not be an issue since the charging port is independent of the data port, but in the newer phones they are typically one and the same. Also, weathering will have a huge affect on phones that are attached to outdoor arrays: even with good protection from moisture, I expect that the phones would not hold up for very long. This requirement has so many snares to get past that it really troubles me. And data network usage will be tremendous! If the phone transmits 20 times per minute on average, then there will be alot of data usage on the network; the phone will suck its battery dry in no time, and the provider may cut us off entirely for overuse!

There will certainly be alot of challenges, but the reward for success will be tremendous.

Wireless data from detectors?

In recent conversations with Dr. Kryemadhi, I have been asked to find a way to wirelessly transmit data from detector sites.  Traditionally, this used to be done by landline, and required loads and loads of cable and wire.  Apparently, a professor at a university in Florida, who is a member of MARIACHI, has asked Dr. Kryemadhi and I to find a way to eliminate all the wires and cables by using wireless technology to accomplish the same task.  As I currently work for T-Mobile, and have experience with different wireless services, features, and equipment, I find myself in a great position to help.  I already have some ideas we may experiment with using a cell phone or an air card.  If one can either go to the various sites with a cell phone or air card, they could transit data back to a server.  Or, if one uses a remote service like GoToMyPC, then a built-in air card at the site is ideal.  Alternatively, one could write a program that would cause the data to be attached to an email and periodically sent to a server, although this would require alot of programming savvy.  I am sure I can experiment with things and find a solution.