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Wireless Project Technologies Summary

By Ruben G. Mendoza, Ph.D.

The deployment of appropriate technologies in this instance will encompass both on-campus learning labs (replete with applied research aspects) and archaeological field investigations centered on the excavation and mapping of the architectural traces of two early California Mission sites.

For lab and field applications both the Toshiba e740 with integrated wireless card and the iPaq Pocket PC 3950 with separate wireless card module were selected for comparative purposes.

Where on-campus lab applications of wireless technology are concerned, it should be noted that the CSU Monterey Bay campus has already transitioned into the domain of going fully wireless as per its status as a demonstration project site for wireless technologies in teaching and learning.

In this rarified atmosphere, students will undertake wireless data capture, data processing and transmission, and the upload of primary document files to the Internet via wireless PDA hand-held computers equipped with SmartPad and Seiko Instruments InkLink Handwriting Systems, and C-Pen devices for the scanning of historic documents pertaining to museum anthropology and archaeological research specific to the undertakings in question.

Where remote field settings necessitate a differing approach, the deployment of a virtual learning lab consisting of wireless (802.11b compatible) PDAs, and a laptop-based field server replete with access point and a two-way broadband satellite connection will provide the basis for wireless transmissions of data, and the posting of weekly Online Journal entries and “Wireless Field Reports” to the campus server of the Institute for Archaeological Science, Technology, and Visualization.

Despite the fact that the iPaq 3950 Pocket PC does not come equipped with the integrated wireless option, the availability of a wireless card docking station was seen as one other prospect for expanding the possibilities for peripherals needed for the project.

The deployment of the virtual learning lab replete with remote base stations will ensure that project participants are afforded every opportunity to post field notes and reports, electronic maps and illustrations, Online Journal entries, and raw data directly from the field setting of an ongoing archaeological investigation.



Two Compaq Evo N610c Notebook computers will be outfitted with Wireless Access Points and deployed in both lab and field contexts for the purposes of Internet-based real-time data management.

Because this latter effort will be coordinated with the results of a GPR (Ground Penetrating Radar) survey, students will have the opportunity to communicate their respective experiences with both wireless and broadband, and remote sensing technology applications in archaeology and the social sciences more broadly.

The Equipment List

The primary devices that will serve to facilitate the mandated wireless and broadband connection include the Customized Laptop/Server to be used in concert with an access point for connection to the broadband satellite receiver / transmitter required of this project operation, as well as a second Customized Laptop that will serve as a field station for student use and the manipulation of PDA files and related resources.

The specific connection to the broadband network will be facilitated by way of the installation and subscription to a two-way wireless broadband network facilitated by way of a satellite receiver/transmitter installed at both the Carmel Mission and Old Mission San Juan Bautista. Whereas in the instance of Carmel Mission, the transmitter will be situated in the Mission's bell tower, at San Juan Bautista the transmitter will be installed in an unobtrusive area of the existing convent wing and Old Mission Museum.

For the purposes of generating wireless and broadband connectiveity for the field-based portions of that archaeology conducted at the Carmel Mission site, a DirecWay satellite dish like that pictured will be installed in the bell tower at the Carmel Mission

This Linksys Wireless Access Point is akin to those that will be used to link both laptop base stations to the satellite transmitter situated in the bell tower of Carmel Mission.

Project Peripherals

The primary devices that will serve to facilitate the mandated wireless and broadband connection include the Laptop Base Station and Server to be used in concert with a wireless access point for connection to the broadband satellite receiver / transmitter. A second customized laptop will serve as a Virtual Learning Lab field station for student use in the wireless upload and manipulation of PDA files and related data management requirements during project excavations and lab analysis.

The Pharos GPS Portable Navigator module will be used in concert with other peripherals to facilitate a GPS navigated tour of the historic sector of the 200 year old community of San Juan Bautista.

Other key equipment includes 10 wireless PDA units for the purposes of provisioning a cohort of 10 students identified with the wireless test cohort. All ten units will be upgraded with a 256MB secure digital card for the purposes of enhancing Internet reception and downloads. Two of the units will be outfitted with GPS portable navigators for the purposes of facilitating a student lab module in satellite-mediated mapping techniques in archaeology. Two PDAs, and or laptops, will be outfitted with barcode wand readers for the purposes of field specimens inventory identification conducted in concert with the application of self-adhesive barcode labels applied to any and all specimens recovered from the field sites specific to archaeology.
Copyright © 2004 Ruben Mendoza. All Rights Reserved

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