The increased reliability of cellular networks makes them an attractive option for network connectivity.
In areas with cellular coverage, a small modem provides low-cost connectivity of up to 3 Mbits/sec. Interestingly, the latest generation of cellular modems also include GPS functionality, useful for geotagging, animal tracking and precise timekeeping; all of which are of tremendous value.

Some Global Lake Ecological observatory Network (GLEON, http://www.gleon.org) sites are already using cellular network (GSM) to transmit data from buoy to field station. However, data is currently sent as SMS messages on a periodic basis, which has limitations in terms of message length and report latency. During our DataTurbine deployments, we realized that the ability to stream data over cellular networks in a reliable and efficient manner could help many OSDT communities (including above GLEON sites) to move toward real-time (at least near real-time) acquisition and publication of data. To that end, we developed a prototype that would allow researchers to stream data over cellular networks using Open Source DataTurbine. We now describe the details of our development activity.

For this development we used Android-emulator and ported a DataTurbine source on it, which can communicate data to the DataTurbine server through underlying network (cellular or even Internet!). Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications developed by Google (http://code.google.com/android/). The Android SDK includes a mobile device emulator -- a virtual mobile device that runs on your computer. The emulator lets you prototype, develop, and test Android applications without using a physical device. The Android emulator mimics all of the typical hardware and software features of a typical mobile device. In order to model and test applications, the emulator supports Android Virtual Device (AVD) configurations.

This development will have impact on multiple OSDT communities including The Global Lake Ecological observatory Network (GLEON, http://www.gleon.org), The Coral Reef Environmental Observatory Network (CREON), and MoveBank (NSF-funded Global animal tracking community).