By Brad Haire
University of Georgia
Wireless Internet communication technology can allow a farmer to
work his land thousands of miles away. It can give a doctor
quick access to patients’ records. It can connect a country
store to the world.
The “UnWired: Rural Wireless Conference” Nov. 1-2 at the
University of Georgia’s Tifton campus will bring experts,
researchers and users of wireless technology to rural south
Georgia.
“Most conferences like this take place in large urban areas,”
said Craig Kvien, chair of the UGA National Environmentally
Sound Production Agriculture Lab in Tifton.
“We’re bringing many people here that have worked a lot of the
bugs out of this technology,” said Kvien, who is helping to
organize the event. “The conference will demonstrate and
investigate how this technology can be used for rural economic
development.”
The technical jargon of wireless communications can leave many
people scratching their heads. “But anyone who attends this
conference will walk away with a much better understanding of
the potential of this technology,” Kvien said.
The conference keynote speaker, Hans-Werner Braun, spearheads
the High-Performance Wireless Research and Education Network at
University of California at San Diego. The National Science
Foundation funds this project, which has set up a wireless
network over hundreds of square miles, connecting schools,
research stations and remote Indian tribes in rural San Diego
County.
“Braun’s work connects the unconnected,” Kvien said.
Wade Mitchell will tell how wireless technology has
revolutionized his Iowa farm. Mitchell and his son Clay farm
2,500 acres of corn and soybeans. Their farm-wide, high-speed
wireless network with Internet access allows them to remotely
control grain handling and storage facilities, auto-steer
tractors and monitor fields.
Wireless technology has “turned our tractor cabs into mobile
offices,” he said. “It has saved us hugely in labor and time and
allowed us to be more accurate in our operation.”
Professionals from two Tifton healthcare facilities will discuss
how going wireless has improved their operations and allowed
doctors to more efficiently treat patients.
Paul Mask, an assistant director in the Alabama Cooperative
Extension System, will explain how wireless communications can
help extension agents better serve their clients.
The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
precision agriculture team will show how off-shelf products can
monitor farm facilities and irrigation and control a robot.
And representatives from Cattlelog will show how radio frequency
identification can help the cattle industry run smoothly and
safely.
Funding agencies will be at the conference, too. So will those
who’ve received funding for wireless projects.
“Not only will attendees learn about the advances and
opportunities,” Kvien said, “but also where to go to help fund
them.”
Other conference topics will include living wireless from a
community perspective, funding a large-scale wireless network,
setting up a wireless hotspot and pitfalls of going wireless.
Registration is $100 before Oct. 1. It’s $150 after Oct. 1. To
register or to find out more about the conference, go to
www.nespal.org/unwired05/.
