Low power computing and communication system for critical environments

The necessity of managing acquisition instruments installed in remote areas (e.g., polar regions), far away from the main buildings of the permanent observatories, provides the perfect test-case for exploiting the use of low power computing and communication systems. Such systems are powered by renewable energy sources and coupled with reconfigurable antennas that allow radio-communication capabilities with low energy requirements. The antenna reconfiguration is performed via Software Defined Radio (SDR) functionalities by implementing a phase controller for the array antenna in a flexible low power General Purpose Platform (GPP), with a single Front-End (FE). The high software flexibility approach of the system represents a promising technique for the newer communication standards and could be also applied to Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). This paper presents the prototype that is devoted to ionospheric analysis and that will be tested in Antarctica, in the Italian base called Mario Zucchelli Station, during summer campaigns. The system, developed to guarantee its functionality in critical environmental conditions, is composed of three main blocks: Communication, Computing and Power supply. Furthermore, the computing and communication system has been designed to take into account the harsh environmental conditions of the deployment site.