CONIX Publication

City-scale sensing holds the promise of enabling deeper understanding of our urban environments. However, a city-scale deployment requires physical installation, power management, and communications—all challenging tasks standing between a good idea and a realized one. This suggests the need for a platform that enables easy deployment and experimentation for city-scale applications. To address these challenges, we present Signpost, a modular platform for city-scale sensing. Signpost simplifies deployment by removing the need for connection to wired infrastructure and instead harvesting energy from an integrated solar panel. The platform furnishes the key resources necessary to support multiple, pluggable sensor modules while providing fair, safe, and reliable sharing in the face of energy constraints. We deploy Signpost with several sensor modules, showing the viability of an energy-harvesting, multi-tenant, sensing system, and evaluate its ability to realize and enable support for city-scale sensing applications. We believe Signpost can reduce the difficulty inherent to city-scale deployments, enabling new experimentation, insights into urban health, and ultimately, improved cities.