Hoosier National Forest Dark Sky Designation

The Hoosier National Forest located in south-central Indiana worked on an application for an International Dark Sky Park designation to increase the number of visitors and to reduce the amount of light pollution in order to protect the Forest's natural beauty. Students in CSCI-P442: Digital Systems implemented two different projects for the Hoosier National Forest to assist with its Dark Sky application. An accelerometer based trail counter was designed and to be mounted on a wooden footbridge and used to count the number of pedestrians using the trail. A forest-based light monitoring device was designed to collect light measurements and track light pollution. The data collected from these projects will be used to address the ongoing monitoring requirements for the Dark Sky designation application. Over the summer of 2018, students deployed the sensors into the test area north of Bedford and continued to collect and monitor light pollution within the Hoosier National Forest throughout the following academic year.