Live E! Project; Sensing the Earth with Internet Weather Stations
Hiroshi Esaki
The University of Tokyo,
7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo, 113-8656, Japanhiroshi@wide.ad.jp,
Abstract
The Live E! project, www.live-e.org , is an open research
consortium among industry and academia to explore theplatform to share the digital information related with theearth and our living environment. We have getting a lot oflow cost sensor nodes with Internet connectivity. The
deployment of broadband and ubiquitous networks will
enable autonomous and global digital information sharing
over the globe. In this paper, we describes the technicaland operational overview of Live E! project, while
discussing the objective, such as education, disasterprotection/reduction/recovery or business cases, and goalof this project activity.

1. Introduction
Recent natural disaster, e.g., hurricane or global
warming, or heat island effect in the metropolitan let
increase the attention and interesting on grasping thedetailed status of space. This is because, due to these
dis asters, our social life and business activity could beseriously degraded or sometimes be damaged. When we
could realize the relationship of cause and effect, it would
be expected to reduce and protect the damage by thesedisasters. The structure change of metropolitans in thedeveloped countries and rapid inflation of cities in Asian
countries make complex and difficult to realize the real
status and tendency of global weather system. As
symbolized by Kyoto Protocol proposed by United Nationin February of 2005, so called COP3, it is realized as theurgent and serious global agenda to reduce or to stop theglobal warming effect.
We have getting a lot of low cost sensor nodes withInternet connectivity. The deployment of broadband andubiquitous networks will enable autonomous and global
digital information sharing over the globe, using thesesensor nodes . When these wide variety of sensor nodes areautonomously connected and the sensor information letavailable to all the node on the Internet space, different
types of sensor information, e.g., video or still image
captured by Web camera, temperature, location, IR-image
or chemical, can be integrated for data analysis. Then, we
will be able to create so wide variety of applications andpossibilities. When these sensor nodes are connectedwith broadband Internet, these information can be available
even in real-time fashion. We have realized and proposed
the activity, called Live E! Project (www.live-e.org), that is
a sensor networks sharing all the digital information relatedwith the at large status of the Earth for any purpose and foranyone . We expect that these digital information will beused for various purposes, e.g., educational material, publicservice, business cases, by the deployment of effective andsafe physical space for all the human being.

Hideki Sunahara
Nara Institute of Science and Technology ,8916-5 Takayama-cho, Ikoma-shi
Nara, 630-0192, Japansuna@wide.ad.jp,
Internet has been originally invented and developed touse and to share the expensive high performancecomputers, remotely. In these days, the jobs executed at
the computer were numerical calculation for particular
work to provide more effective working environment forresearchers. Digital information has the following fiveprimitives; generation, collection, circulation, processing,sharing. Through these five primitives, the computer
system can improve and innovate the life-style of humanbeing or the professional/commercial activities. Also, wehave realized that the ICT can contribute to improve andinnovate the human life and industrial activities more
effective and safer.
In this paper, we describes the technical and operational
overview of Live E! project, while discussing it’s objective,
such as education, disaster protection/reduction/recovery or
business cases, and goal of this project activity.

2. Internet for Facility Networks
2.1 Challenges of Internet“Internet”, not “The Internet”, is a logical architecture,that enable autonomous circulation and sharing of digital
information. The Internet should provide a transparent
platform with the following characteristics.
(1) can use any data-link(2) can use any data distribution channel(3) can be used by anyone
This chrematistics (or could be said requirement) are truly
critical for ubiquitous networks. In the ubiquitous networks,
there is huge number of device nodes (such as sensornodes), and it is desired all the digital information
generated by these device nodes should be available fromany node on the Internet space and be able to be shared
among all the nodes on the Internet space.
The Internet is the system where the computers areinterconnected via any type of data-link, so that the digital
data is autonomously transferred from any node to any
other node on the Internet space, transparently. Any nodeon the Internet space should be able to use and processthese data, autonomously. In other words, the Internet is;(a) independent from application(b) independent from user(c) independent from data transmission infrastructureThis means that the Internet satisfy the requirements of“Commons” discussed in [1]. The Internet should not haveany exc lusiveness related with the information exchange.
Internet has experienced major three innovations in thepast, and is now exploring the fourth. Past innovations
are open global network with TCP/IP, easier use with
WWW and professional application with Web Service. The
fourth innovation is broadband and ubiquitous. Broadband
includes always-on environment, and the ubiquitous means

the Internet accommodates embedded devices, such as
sensor nodes or actuator nodes.
The facility networks is a kind of embedded network
for some particular purpose or for some particularapplication, while having a strong interaction with the realand physical objects. Since the facility network has a lotof interaction with physical objects, it is said that thenetwork must be dependable. People starts to realize that,in order to build dependable facility network, the network
should be operated autonomously and with multi-vendor
environment (i.e., open system). Open and autonomous
system can provide the alternatives for users. Providing thealternatives to the users leads a competition among vendors
for technology improvement and cost reduction, and leads
the service continuation capability as a result.
Some of the challenges of the Internet discussed in thispaper is (1) how to accommodate wide variety of and large
number of sensor/actuator nodes into the Internet space,and (2) identify new applications using the weather sensor
nodes deployed in the Live E! project.
2.2 Facility Networking with TCP/IP
Facility networking includes factory automation,building automation or home automation, which is theintegration of different type of networks, such as sensor
network, control network or security network. Especiallythe role of sensor networking and actuator networking has
the important role for the near future facility networking
architecture. The facility networking would be toward theintegration of real-space and cyber-space using common IP
technology.
We have worked with the industry so that the TCP/IP
technology, especially the IPv6, is applied to the basic
protocol to be share d by various systems in facility
networking. Since they have used proprietary technologies
for each company and for each sub-systems, they areinterested in the IP-Centric system, to achieve highly
cost-effective system operation. We had the world firstinteroperability testing among building automation
components with IPv6 transport, using the BACnet[2] andLonWorks[3], in 2004, as shown in figure 1 . And, in 2006,
we have achieved the world first interoperability ofmanagement and control of system components acrossthese different systems using the Web service over IPv6
infrastructure. The operational overview is shown in figure
2.

Figure 1. Interoperability Test in 2004

Figure 2. Interoperability demonstration in2006
With applying the open technology such as TCP/IP, thesystem components can be easily replaceable, whileachieving the remote monitoring and controlling. For thebusiness operation of “facility”, the cost of human labor
due to maintenance and the cost of component replacement,
modification, improvement and upgrade occupy a large
portion in their financial portfolio. The remote monitoring
and control capability by the TCP/IP contributes to thereduction of required human labors, and the multi-vendor
environment due to the open networking with the TCP/IP
technology contributes to the total cost reduction of systemcomponents management by the availability of alternativeproducts. Based on these observation, we have realized thatthe facility networking industry will be able to enjoy thetechnical and economical benefits by the adoption ofTCP/IP technology.
When we consider the application of and role of sensornetworking in the facility networking, there are a lot ofpotential roles for their effective operation andmanagement. Let consider the application of energy savingin the building automation. In general, the energy cost in
the operation of building system (and in the at large facilitynetworks) is extremely large. Especially in Japan, theenergy cost is about 1/3, regarding all the life -time cost ofbuilding system, that includes the initial designing building
system, construction and daily maintenance cost. As wellas the benefit of energy saving activity from the view pointof economical portfolio for the land-lords, we have anotherreason why we must perform the energy saving in thefacility networking. In 1997, the United Nation hasadopted the international energy saving program, so called
Kyoto Protocol in COP3 [4]. This is global agenda topreserve the healthy earth by the improvement of global
worming effect. One of the important agenda of thisprogram is to reduce the energy consumption by every
single office or factory. For example, in Japan, theenergy saving program has been applied to all the large
scale facility, that has more than 2,000 square-meters
footprint.
These facilities must reduce the energy
consumption 10%-20%, as a government regulation.
We have got some private report from some privatecompany. They try to energy saving at their computerroom, using the temperature sensors, to success reducing
about 40% electricity. Also, at the 24th floor high recent
building system with a lot of glasses, it is reported that

18% reduction of electricity and 6.1% reduction of CO2
consumption has been achieved, using sensors andactuators, which are interconnected with open networking
protocol, such as TCP/IP. This is shown in figure 3.

(4)(raw) data for the public, and let them available forall the people on the Internet or on the globe.
Educate and encourage the interesting on thescience and technology through the participationon the program and using the data for educational
program.

3.2 Live E! deployment with Digital WeatherStations
The related original work would be back in 2001, when
theWIDEprojectwith
Yokogawa
ElectricCorp.(www.yokogawa.com) had developed a temperaturenode with IPv6 protocol stack, called i-node(www.i -node.co.jp).

Figure 3. Energy saving at HQ of Matsushita Works

As discussed above, the sensor and actuator networks
are not separated or isolated network, anymore. They areinterconnected to each other, and they are going to benetworked with the usual information network and with theInternet, in order to achieve more cost effective andfunctional rich system operation, as well as to generate
new function or services. The larger sharing of sensor
information among various facility networks leads to betterand more cost effective and attractive system operation.

3. Live E! Project [5]3.1 Overview of Live E! ProjectLive E! Project, www.live-e.org, is a R&D consortium
founded by WIDE project and IPv6 Promotion Council,
Japan. This project is aiming to establish the platform toshare all the digital information, generated by any digital
devices on the Internet and on the globe. These digital
devices are autonomously installed and operated byindividual and by organizations. The information should berelated with the live environmental information of theEarth. By sharing this digital information, we will be able
to create new applications, which can contribute to safety
and e ffective space (environment). Some applications, suchas basic information for the protection of environment (e.g.,a heat-island phenomena in metropolitan), educational
material, public service, public safety or businessapplications, could use the common digital information fordifferent purposes. The followings are the working
agenda of Live E! project.
(1) By the installation of larger number of digitalsensor nodes, the environmental information canbe richer and finer, i.e, connectivity is ownrewards.
(2) Every individual and every organization should
recognize all has the responsibility on thepreservation and improvement of global
environment and should think all must contribute.
(3) We could give away the ownership on the digital

Figure 4. i-node,the first embedded sensor node in2001
We have realized that the weather station with Internet
connectivity has the following three application areas withsingle device.
(1) For Educational Material
Weather information data is useful data for educationand for research on geophysics. There are wide varietyof educational program on geophysics, related with theweather system, from the elementary school to thecollege. Actually, in Live E! project, we haveworked on the educational program in the elementary
school in Minato-ku in Metropolitan Tokyo, and on
the engineering program in some high schools
collaborating with university in Hiroshima.
(2) For Public Service, e.g., disaster reduction/recovery
Weather information is very important and criticalinformation for the case of disaster. In these days, wehave a lot of natural disasters, such as flooding or
earth-quake. Grasping the detailed information for thedisaster case is useful for proactive and reactiveprogram. These are disaster protection, reduction,and recovery. For example, the detailed weather
information on the road or at the evacuation sites, thepeople could take appropriate evacuation path. Also,none knows the exact and detailed data on theheat-island effect at metropolitan. We must grasp thereal status of town with large number of weathersensors.
In the fiscal year of 2006, Live E! project will
deploy the Internet weather sensors for public service
at Minato-ku in metropolitan Tokyo [6] and at
Kurashiki-city in Okayama. Kurashiki-city [7] isfocusing on the dis aster protection and reduction,
against the flooding due to heavy rain. Minato-ku isfocusing on the disaster protection and reduction
against some natural disaster (e.g., flooding orearth-quake), and focusing on the understanding thedetail of heat-island effect of metropolitan Tokyo. .
(3) For Business case
There are a lot of potential business applications, by
the use of weather information. One of example would
be effective taxi dispatching using the rainfall
information. Dispatching the taxi cabs around the area,
getting the rain, leads to higher income by the increaseof customer. The other example would be electricity
power company. Once they can operate total energy
control and management system, they could reduce theamount of investments on the power generator or
power supplying system, which is very expensive
facility for them. Seriously, they may start to think
about total portfolio for business investments.

failure. Also, as shown in the figure, this system has
already included Web camera for obtaining the live video
information and the sound information from the network.
Figure 7 shows the part of internet weather station
installation map over Japan. We have installed more than
100 stations and let them on-line. Some of stations haveinstalled in Philippine by the collaboration with ASTI [8],or have installed in Thailand by the collaboration with PSU[9].
For dense installation of internet weather station, figure
8 shows the installation map at Minato-ku in metropolitan
Tokyo, and figure 9 shows the picture how the internet
weather station is installed at some elementary school.
We will install about 30 stations in this fiscal year of 2006.
By this installation, Minato-ku can have about 2 km meshweather station network.

Figures 5 and 6 show the system overview of Live E!
internet weather station system.

Figure 8. Installation map at Minato-ku, Tokyo

Figure 5. System overview of weather stations

The weather information is expressed by XML andtransferred among the servers and clients using the SOAP.
The sensor is not defined by node, but is defined by eachsensor function. A typical internet weather station hasmultiple sensors in a single station. These sensors aretemperature, moisture, pressure, wind-direction andwind-speed, rainfalls. This typical weather station has 5
objectives defined by XML. Each objective has their own
profile information, such as location, sensor type, IP
address or name.
As shown in figure 6, the sensors are connected to theIPv4 and Ipv6 dual-stack network with multicasting
capability. The sensor information can be simultaneously
deliver to multiple nodes, that want to get the sensor
information, without requesting the copying data at thesensor node. Topping on the IPv4/IPv6 multicast-capable
IP network, the Live E! overlay network is defined. The
live E! overlay network has the distributed database system
across the nation-wide Japan. This is for load balancing
and for robust data management against some system

Figure 9. Installation of weather station atelementary school

Figure 6. System overview of Live E! internet weather station

Figure 7.Instattion map of Live E! internet weather station.

Figure 10. Example of data displaying using google map
Figures 10, 11 show the example of data displaying. Theweather information can be displayed in real-time, and thearchived weather information can be displayed. These
example use the platform of google map and google earth.
Of course, the data can be displayed over any platform.

3.3 Future enhancement of internet weather station
systemThe following two items are on-going systemenhancement from the current system.
(1) Integration with InternetCAR system
WIDE project has long time worked on the R&D
activity, where connecting an automobile.
Automobile can be realized as the mobile sensor
node, running on the surface of the earth. We are
now integrating the “InternetCAR” into the weather
station system.
(2) Scalable and autonomous data collection anddistribution system
The current system is a kind of client-server system,

i.e., running by the centralized servers. This is justfine for small scale system. However, the system
must come up with the increase of stations and theincrease of type of stations. Distributed andautonomous management and operation ismandatory. We are evaluating the introduction ofcontents based networking architecture, that is akind of peer-to-peer network architecture, for thefuture system enhancement.

4. Conclusion
The Live E! project is an open research consortium
among industry and academia to explore the platform toshare the digital information related with the earth and ourliving environment. Using the low cost weather sensor
nodes with Internet connectivity, we deployed thenation-wide sensor network. The network has
accommodate more than 100 station, and has two of dense
installation. The application of this weather station network
is for disaster protection/reduction/recovery and foreducational material for various level of students.

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan.

References

Acknowledgement
The authors thanks to all the organization and peoples
contributing to the Live E! project. These are; WIDE
project sponsor organizations, NiCT/JGN, Netone Systems
Co.Ltd, Echelon Japan KK, WeatherNews Inc., NTT
Neo-mate, Wilcom Japan Ltd., IRI Ubiteq Inc., NTT EastCorp., Matsushita Electric Works Ltd., Cisco Systems
Japan K.K., Dai-Dan Co.Ltd., Uchida Yoko Co.Ltd.,INTEC Inc., Shimizu Corp., Yamatake Corp., OBIS Corp.,
and Mitubishi Research Institute Inc.
A part of this work was based on the part of the Researchand Development Program of the Ubiquitous Network
Authentication and Agent (2003, 2004, 2005), of the[1] Lawrence Lessig, “The future of Ideas; The Fate of theCommons in a Connected World”, Random House Inc., ISBN0375505784, November 2002.
[2] Home Page of BACnet, http://www.bacnet.org/[3] Home Page of Lon Mark, http://www.lonmark.org/[4] Kyoto Protocol by United nation, http://www.cop3.org/[5] Home Page of Live E! Project, http://www.live-e.org/[6] M inato-ku, Tokyo, http://www.city.minato.tokyo.jp/[7] Kurashiki-City, http://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/[8] ASTI (Advanced Science and Technology Institute),
http://www.asti.dost.gov.ph/[9] PSU (Prince of Songkla University), http://www.psu.ac.th/

Figure 11. Example of data displaying using google earth