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Geopak: Monitoring Climbers and Climate on Mount Everest

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Geopak: Monitoring Climbers and Climate on Mount Everest GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST BY MATTHEW B. LAU SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ENGINEERING IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE AT THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY OCTOBER 9, 1998 COPYRIGHT Ó 1998 MATTHEW B. LAU. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE AUTHOR HEREBY GRANTS TO M.I.T. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE PUBLICLY PAPER AND ELECTRONIC COPIES OF THIS THESIS AND TO GRANT OTHERS THE RIGHT TO DO SO. AUTHOR_________________________________________________________________ DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER SCIENCE OCTOBER 9, 1998 CERTIFIED BY_____________________________________________________________ MICHAEL J. HAWLEY THESIS SUPERVISOR ACCEPTED BY_____________________________________________________________ ARTHUR C. SMITH CHAIRMAN, DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE THESES GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST OCTOBER 9, 1998 1 Sunrise over Lho La, photo © 1998, Matthew Lau geoPak: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST OCTOBER 9, 1998 2 GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST OCTOBER 9, 1998 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................... 6 ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 7 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................. 8 THAT WAS THEN.................................................................................................................................... 9 THIS IS NOW .......................................................................................................................................... 9 GETTING FROM THEN TO NOW...............................................................................................................10 ISSUES AT HAND ..................................................................................................................................10 BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................................11 THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM ......................................................................................................12 MARATHON MAN.................................................................................................................................12 WEATHER STATIONS ON MT. EVEREST .................................................................................................13 THE BIO PACKS....................................................................................................................................14 EVEREST 1998.....................................................................................................................................15 THE AMERICAN EVEREST EXPEDITION..................................................................................................16 THE EVEREST EXTREME EXPEDITION....................................................................................................17 THE DISTRIBUTION OF GEOPAKS ...........................................................................................................17 TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION .........................................................................................................18 SENSORS..............................................................................................................................................19 GPS.................................................................................................................................................19 Pressure ..........................................................................................................................................20 Light................................................................................................................................................20 Humidity .........................................................................................................................................20 Temperature....................................................................................................................................21 THE MICROCONTROLLER......................................................................................................................21 MEMORY .............................................................................................................................................21 RADIO .................................................................................................................................................21 POWER ................................................................................................................................................22 THE GEOPACKET..................................................................................................................................22 RESULTS..............................................................................................................................................24 WHAT WENT WRONG...........................................................................................................................25 Broken Relays..................................................................................................................................25 The Radio Shadow ...........................................................................................................................26 GPS Antenna Placement ..................................................................................................................26 Battery Failure ................................................................................................................................26 WHAT WENT RIGHT.............................................................................................................................27 Data Sets.........................................................................................................................................27 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................................................29 THE NEED FOR A GEOPAK .....................................................................................................................30 RADIO COVERAGE................................................................................................................................30 MEMORY .............................................................................................................................................31 HUMAN FACTORS.................................................................................................................................31 DATA DISPLAYS...................................................................................................................................32 IMPLICATIONS......................................................................................................................................32 FUTURE WORK.....................................................................................................................................33 REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................34 GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST OCTOBER 9, 1998 4 APPENDICES .......................................................................................................................................37 APPENDIX A: EXPEDITION TEAM MEMBERS..........................................................................................38 APPENDIX B: SENSOR CALIBRATION DATA ...........................................................................................39 APPENDIX C: TRIMBLE TAIP “LN” MESSAGE .......................................................................................41 APPENDIX D: GEOPACKET FORMAT ......................................................................................................42 TABLE OF FIGURES: FIGURE 1: GPS DATA AT BASE CAMP AND THE SOUTH COL ......................................................................27 FIGURE 2: LIGHT, PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE FROM BASE CAMP..........................................................28 FIGURE 3: LIGHT AND PRESSURE FROM THE SOUTH COL............................................................................28 FIGURE 4: COOLING TO –30C ON 13MAR98 ..............................................................................................39 FIGURE 5: WARMING FROM –30C TO 30C ON 13MAR98............................................................................40 TABLE OF TABLES: TABLE 1: TRIMBLE "LN" MESSAGE DATUM...............................................................................................41 TABLE 2: GEOPACKET DATUM. .................................................................................................................42 GEOPAK: MONITORING CLIMBERS AND CLIMATE ON MOUNT EVEREST OCTOBER 9, 1998 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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