Bringing technology closer to the Great Barrier Reef to optimize data collection is what Dell Technologies and its partner Intel have achieved. Their Edge footbridge, adapted to the maritime environment and its particular climate, saves time and accelerates the mapping of corals to help researchers preserve them and limit reef degradation. Tourists, divers, researchers … everyone is involved.
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[EN VIDÉO] Why some corals suddenly turn fluorescent When subjected to pollution or too hot water, coral undergoes bleaching which often results in death. But it has an ultimate means of defense: to produce fluorescent pigments which act like a “sunscreen” to protect it from the light and attract the symbiotic algae.
The weather playing tricks on us to the rhythm of the acceleration of the global warming. We suffer from it and ecosystems too. Underwater, this is particularly the case of the Great Barrier Reef. We’re at the point where the survival of the greatest Coral reef of the world, as large as Italy, is threatened. Due to the increase in water temperature, half of its coral would have disappeared in the last 25 years. It is not all in vain. Through science and study of reefs submarines, it is still possible to support and optimize the breeding season annual to keep the barrier as it is and, better still, to make it regain its vigor by deporting the larvae using the current to depopulated parts. But for more efficiency in this reproduction which takes place during the last two months of the year, it is still necessary to identify and locate the reefs not affected by the bleaching and protect them during this phase. Given the geographical area to be covered, and despite the efforts, data collection only peaks at 10% of the reef for the moment.
It is to give a boost to this collection that tourist infrastructures (boats, tourists …), divers, scientists and important players in the technological sector are called upon by the organization Citizens of the Greater Barrier Reef. Among them, Dell Technologies and its partner Intel participate in this collective work by offering cutting-edge technological means, specifically dedicated to this collection. The idea is to accelerate the transfer of data collected on site to repatriate them in real time in the laboratories of the marine research team at the University of Queensland. And for that, we must bring the best of technology closer to the source.
In this video explaining the issue of saving the Great Barrier Reef, we can see the hardened Edge gateway, designed by Dell Technologies in partnership with Intel. It is embarked on tourist or scientific ships. © Dell Technologies
Hardened servers as close as possible to the field
This is how the tourist boats that abound around the reef, or even those of researchers, embark real computer servers specially designed to withstand both high temperatures and salt water projections. These machines powered by thrifty Intel Atom processors have their own network Wi-Fi ; their mission is to repatriate the photos taken by tourists and divers directly on the boat. This little local network closest to the ground is what is called an Edge Gateway.
Once the collection has been carried out and the boat returns to its maritime zone, all the pictures are then sent automatically. via the network 4G as soon as it is within range. Thus, the data arrives in the database of the research center to be processed and analyzed by researchers. Since this process has been successfully tested in 2019, the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef organization has extended it to the maximum. You can follow your progress on citizensgbr.org. Better yet, from this site, anyone can also contribute to the analysis of photos of the reef to save it.
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