Sensors and the city: a review of urban meteorological networks

The heterogeneous nature of urban environments means that atmospheric research ideally requires a dense network of sensors to adequately resolve the local climate. With recent advances in sensor technology, a number of urban meteorological networks now exist with a range of research or operational objectives. This article reviews and assesses the current status of urban meteorological networks, by examining the fundamental scientific and logistical issues related to these networks. The article concludes by making recommendations for future deployments based on the challenges encountered by existing networks, including the need for better reporting and documentation of network characteristics, standardized approaches and guidelines, along with the need to overcome financial barriers via collaborative relationships in order to establish the long-term urban networks essential for advancing urban climate research. Copyright © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society

TESSA - Toolkit for experimentation with multimodal sensory substitution and augmentation

TESSA is a toolkit for experimenting with sensory augmentation. It includes hardware and software to facilitate rapid prototyping of interfaces that can enhance one sense using information gathered from another sense. The toolkit contains a range of sensors (e.g. ultrasonics, temperature sensors) and actuators (e.g. tactors or stereo sound), designed modularly so that inputs and outputs can be easily swapped in and out and customized using TESSA’s graphical user interface (GUI), with “real time” feedback. The system runs on a Raspberry Pi with a built-in touchscreen, providing a compact and portable form that is amenable for field trials. At CHI Interactivity, the audience will have the opportunity to experience sensory augmentation effects using this system, and design their own sensory augmentation interfaces.