Dempsey - The Garden Monitor (Smart-Guardian)

After exhausting my list of friends to ask if I could mount an antenna on their roof, I’ve been left with no other option than to make use of this network that I profess to care about so much.

Following on from my last post, the SenseCAP team got in touch with me to discuss some of my plans and to see where we might work together in the pursuit of mutual goals (resolve for my overactive imagination and content for their feeds, a match made in heaven).

I mentioned previously about how I’d been waiting in anticipation for my SenseCAP M2Hotspot to arrive and just a couple of days after writing, look at what landed!

The antenna that comes with the M2 is much girthier than its predecessor and the additional ports bring light to the potentials that the SenseCAP team has been exploring. The version sent for me to test contains a few extra features and additional inputs. Most noticeable is the ramp-up in power requirements from 5V to 12V.

I discussed some of these changes and the future possibilities with this device, with Ming#6116, the product manager for the SenseCAP M2. Ming was very coy regarding some of the technical details I was asking her, which is no surprise. Given the elements of subterfuge and industrial spying we've heard stories of in the past, regarding emerging technologies.

With the first stage of our plan nearing completion, planning for step two soon was able to commence and I started to revisit my friends and contacts hoping to find someone with enough patience to listen to my ramblings and tangential thoughts.

In this part of my resurrection trap, I’ve had the good fortune of meeting some very interesting characters.. Entrepreneurs, super-nerds, clergymen (did I ever tell you about the time I wanted to install an antenna on a church?).

One of the characters I’ve manifested in life I refer to as Dempsey. Dempsey brings tranquillity to the soul. With his thick northern accent and hands made of spades, he’s the epitome of “down to earth” and doesn’t mind getting his tools dirty.

Dempsey through his infectious personality and generous nature was able to acquire a piece of land in exchange for a promise to care for it, not too long ago. It’s a modest spot and after my first visit I was left questioning where Dempsey would be able to find the time, or manpower to assist him in creating his haven.

In the UK, allotments are a thing of beauty. Quite often the waiting lists for small plots of land where horticulturists can grow their own fruits and vegetables can span over years; and the rule of “dead man’s shoes” is often literally applied. When new owners inherit the tools, pots and seeeds left behind by their previous tenant.

Dempsey struck gold with this particular spot.. His pitch is overlooked by apple orchards and privy to a private brook and lake.

We first gained sight of Dempsey's vision after seeing the huge piles of timber he'd man-handled across the thick grass of the spring that had just finished seeding. The undercoat afoot now matched the ferociousness of his beard.

I’ve never seen anybody move with as much passion. Like Sisyphus and his boulder, Dempsey was back and forth across the yard that day. Carefully laying foundations for the future with each completed journey, only to be smacked in the face by another railway sleeper upon his return.

It’s a shame we didn’t start capturing measurements earlier.. Aside from average heart-rate and number of steps we still haven’t found the time to calculate the total weight lifted and distance travelled that day.

Trenches have been dug since then. Planters placed particularly. Waterbutts and wicker fences now adorn the perimeter in parts, but it’s by no means anywhere near completion.

"No..", Dempsey tells me. "This is only the beginning".

In its regularly unusual fashion, the universe seems to have placed me in front of this apparition and a sense of calm befalls me in his presence. I see him when he speaks, and his visions are clearly heard. I believe him when he tells me that he doesn’t need to rely on supermarkets and his dreams of enabling others to do the same.

Dempsey and I spent some time, pondering in his garden on how we could align our shared goals, and try to pay forward some of the knowledge and experience we’ve both had the opportunities to have in life. This was further cemented in my psychosis after the team at Seeed and SenseCAP reached out to ask if I had any stories about my experience with the people’s network that I would want to share..

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, we need data. Not just Dempsey and I. But the network. We need users and hosts to show their friends and contacts about the legitimate use cases that our network brings and to start transmitting data across the network so we can fault-find and stress test each hop.

Over the coming weeks, we plan to share more with you about how Dempsey and I are using the Helium network with the support of the SenseCAP team. It is our intention to document how we’ll be keeping track of Dempsey's refuge and ensuring that the fruits of his labour are returned in abundance.

We’ve drafted out plans, ensured sufficient coverage and have taken manual readings where possible for the data we hope to compare and track.

As this project develops, I hope to use some of my technical know-how to share easy-to-follow steps on how you can make use of similar devices and in turn we hope that you’ll engage with us and provide us with support. Be that spiritual, or otherwise as we try to find harmony between tech and nature.

If you’d like to see more of Dempsey’s work, you can keep up to date with his trips to the garden, here: https://www.instagram.com/overthepond.uk/