HPWREN 2024 Year in Review

January 1, 2025


Introduction

Despite early intentions to release this review at the start of the year, the realities of 2025—including significant wildfire events in Los Angeles and San Diego Counties—quickly took priority. What follows is an overview of various aspects of the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN) in 2024, including progress on technological and infrastructure developments, key observations of both natural and human-caused events, and wildfire impacts. These advancements provide critical support to agencies such as CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), as well as local governments in San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara Counties—bolstering their ability to monitor wildfires, respond to natural disasters, and protect communities through enhanced situational awareness and improved communications.

During 2024, HPWREN expanded extensively into Riverside County, while also making numerous infrastructure improvements. Familiar weather challenges returned--high winds, rain, snow, ice, and even atmospheric rivers--driving much of the on-site repair and upgrade work. Alongside these field operations, the HPWREN team also reorganized and enhanced its online presence,including social media, continuing to migrate portions of the system to Amazon Web Services to improve user interfaces and meet growing data storage needs.

Aerial Dance

In 2024, Southern California experienced a warmer and wetter winter, followed by a cooler spring and a very hot and dry summer. By Fall, conditions stayed warm and dry. Notably, a record-breaking heat wave struck in early September, setting daytime temperature records from Palm Springs to Yuma and Phoenix. In the midst of these high temperatures, three significant wildfires erupted, burning over 120,000 acres. One of the most impactful of these events was the Airport Fire on Santiago Peak, which again highlighted HPWREN's capacity to monitor, capture, and relay critical data in rapidly changing wildfire conditions.

By October, most southern California climate stations were reporting historically low precipitation, marking the return of drought to the region after a few comparatively wetter seasons. These developments--fires, weather extremes, and new infrastructure rollouts--collectively defined HPWREN's busy and challenging year, shaping the network's ongoing commitment to improving connectivity and real-time data capabilities for research, public safety, and education.

Section 1: Airport Fire

By early September 2024, Southern California was in the grip of a record-breaking heat wave, which began near the coast on September 4 and then traveled inland. Daytime temperatures rose 10-20 degrees above seasonal norms, with new records set from Palm Springs to Yuma to Phoenix--where the thermometer reached 116F on September 5, tying the all-time high for the month. Following Labor Day, temperatures soared even higher, peaking at 110-115F in places such as Anaheim, Riverside, and Escondido. This extreme heat contributed to the ignition of three major wildfires across Southern California.

The most significant of these fires for HPWREN was the Airport Fire, which started on September 9, 2024. The blaze quickly spread over 23,000 acres and reached the summit of Santiago Peak, where it inflicted substantial damage on critical telecommunications infrastructure--most notably several HPWREN microwave links. A 6-foot dish providing connectivity to UC Irvine was destroyed; its feedhorn was consumed by flames requiring full replacement. Another 6-foot dish, linking Santiago Peak with Red Mountain in San Diego County, also sustained severe damage, although it continued to pass traffic intermittently. Fortunately, the microwave link to Lake Perris remained unscathed.

Antenna to Red Mountain captured as it burned on far left tower (See full video posted on the
ALERTCalifornia Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@ALERTCalifornia)

Throughout the Airport Fire, HPWREN's camera systems provided critical time-lapse footage from vantage points at Santiago Peak, Upper Bell, and Upper Talega. These videos, available via the (https://www.hpwren.ucsd.edu/news/20241007/) and on the HPWREN YouTube channel, capture the fire's progression over several days. They also highlight the network's broader role in monitoring Southern California wildfires. Other concurrent incidents, including the Bridge Fire and Line Fire, can be seen in the panoramic recordings taken from Santiago Peak.

Currently, HPWREN staff are procuring replacement equipment for Santiago Peak and anticipate having it installed by the end of spring. This effort, alongside the extensive footage of the fire, underscores HPWREN's critical role in enabling researchers, responders, and public safety officials to observe, analyze, and respond to wildfire conditions in real time.

Section 2: Accomplishments

Riverside County Build-Out

One of HPWREN’s most extensive recent efforts has been the build-out of wireless coverage across Riverside County, on the western slope of the Peninsular Ranges. Initial discussions began in 2019 with Riverside County, followed by outreach to the San Bernardino National Forest in 2020 for use of Black Mountain Lookout. Throughout 2021, the HPWREN team performed site surveys, initiated FCC licensing, and pursued permits from both Riverside County and the San Bernardino National Forest. This project was accomplished with the vital support and collaboration of the Riverside County Public Safety Enterprise Communication Project and the San Bernardino National Forest, ensuring the successful establishment of new communications links in challenging terrain.

Unfortunately, the Fairview Fire in September 2022 burned the Red Mountain Fire Lookout--a key vantage point planned for network installation.

Remains of Red Mountain Lookout after the 2022 Fairview Fire


Even so, by 2023, structural analyses of Riverside County's communications towers were completed, and permits from Riverside County (August 14, 2023) and the San Bernardino National Forest (December 20, 2023) were finalized.

With site preparations in place, the 2024 field season saw a series of critical deployments:

Black Mountain Lookout in Riverside County after HPWREN installation in August 2024

These sites now have 430 Mbps licensed connectivity from Palomar Observatory to Red Mountain (Riverside County) and onward to Marion Ridge, as well as from Red Mountain (San Diego County) to Redondo Mesa. Each location is equipped with:

These are integrated into both the ALERTCalifornia and HPWREN platforms. This expanded coverage offers critical wildfire monitoring of the western flank of the San Jacinto and Santa Rosa Mountains, spanning across to the Temecula Valley.

UC San Diego Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood

On the UC San Diego campus, a newly constructed building--part of the Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood--encroached upon the path of HPWREN's established wireless link between Mount Soledad and the San Diego Supercomputer Center. Specifically, Building 4 in this complex partially obstructed the link, necessitating a new high-bandwidth connection from the tallest structure on campus to the HPWREN site atop Mount Soledad. This replacement link forms part of a 10 Gbps backup path connecting data centers at SDSC and at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), as well as providing a resilient route into the broader HPWREN wireless backbone.

In addition to restoring high-capacity connectivity, the new rooftop installation afforded an opportunity to add wildfire camera coverage for UC San Diego and ALERTCalifornia. These cameras broaden HPWREN's observational capabilities, particularly in terms of campus infrastructure monitoring and regional emergency response support.

Early Image from Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood

Sedgwick Reserve

Located in the heart of Santa Barbara County, the University of California's Sedgwick Reserve spans 5,896 acres and contains two entire watersheds. Dominated by oak woodland, savanna, grassland, sage scrub, and riparian habitats, Sedgwick is vital to biodiversity research and habitat conservation. In 2020, HPWREN began exploring the feasibility of deploying wildfire cameras at the reserve in partnership with UC Santa Barbara and Sedgwick Reserve staff.

Field team during Sedgwick Reserve Deployment

By November 2024, HPWREN and ALERTCalifornia had successfully installed a full complement of two PTZ cameras, four fixed-field-of-view cameras, and meteorological sensors at Sedgwick. These systems provide critical real-time imagery and data on local weather conditions, enhancing both wildfire preparedness and ongoing ecological research efforts. The resulting camera coverage fosters a deeper understanding of the area's dynamic ecosystems while offering a vital new resource for fire monitoring throughout the region.

Section 3: Other Wildfires

Beyond the Airport Fire, HPWREN supported real-time monitoring of multiple 2024 wildfires across Southern California:

Collectively, these incidents underscore HPWREN's role in early detection, progression monitoring and analysis, and rapid situational awareness for firefighting efforts across the region.

Section 4: Observations

Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) was visible in the western sky in October 2024 from Palomar Observatory

Aurora Borealis

As the Sun moves toward Solar Maximum for Solar Cycle 25 (expected in 2025), solar activity has already surpassed the peak of Cycle 24, which occurred in 2014. In May 2024, the strongest geomagnetic storm in over two decades (G5) illuminated skies worldwide, including latitudes far south of typical auroral visibility. HPWREN cameras at Mount Wilson Observatory, Cuyamaca Peak, and even near the Mexican border captured vivid time-lapse footage of the May 10-11 aurora. Additional storms followed in August and October 2024, each generating G4 (Severe) geomagnetic conditions and prompting further auroral displays, again visible via HPWREN installations at Palomar Observatory and Mount Laguna Observatory.

Santa Ana Winds

HPWREN's camera array also recorded classic Santa Ana wind conditions that affected Southern California in late Fall of 2024. On November 6, footage from the west-facing camera at Black Mountain Lookout in Riverside County reveals dust plumes and swaying vegetation propelled by these hot, dry winds. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71FFEI8d-MQ)

Twenty Years of Cedar Fire Regrowth

A new time-lapse from La Cima, near the Cuyamaca Mountains, chronicles a 20-year ecological recovery from the 2003 Cedar Fire--one of California's largest wildfires. Beginning in 2004, daily noon images show the transformation from barren hills to revitalized oak, pine, and chaparral habitats. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk5c9pIEijA)

Wildfire Dynamics: A Scientific Bounty from Santiago Peak

While wildfires often feature in HPWREN camera feeds, the Airport Fire's activity at Santiago Peak in September 2024 drew international attention. Rick McRae, a researcher from the University of New South Wales, discovered HPWREN's detailed footage and recognized its potential for advancing the science of fire behavior and enhancing firefighter safety. (https://www.hpwren.ucsd.edu/news/20241007/)

Rockets

HPWREN's observational reach also extends into aerospace events. Notable rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base--such as one on March 18, 2024, and the Firefly Alpha FTLA005 launch on July 3--were visible in camera footage. On April 2, 2024, cameras perched atop Southern California peaks documented the fiery re-entry of what is believed to be the Shenzhou 15 orbital module, demonstrating HPWREN's capacity to capture even unexpected skyward anomalies.

Rocket Reentry

From auroras to rocket re-entries, these wide-ranging observations highlight HPWREN's expansive 24/7 surveillance capabilities and its continued contributions to research, public safety, and education.

Section 5: Technology

AWS Transition

HPWREN continues its transition to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for storage and website support. During 2023 we complemented our local ZFS and CEPH based storage systems with AWS cloud based storage to improve access, reliability, and capacity while at the same time reducing our staff's storage maintenance support requirements. In 2024 we were able to drop all CEPH storage efforts. Having achieved storage stability, we have been transferring our web maintenance and data publishing workloads to the more automated AWS services. In parallel, AWS GUI efforts have provided an alternate and greatly improved user interface which depends on a significantly simpler architecture, thus further reducing maintenance overhead over time. This new graphical user interface is visible at https://www.hpwren.ucsd.edu/alpha/cameras/. By the end of 2024 we have transitioned to AWS for production camera image integration, user access and web services. Amazon's high availability storage coupled with tiered support levels as well as more automated operational support have greatly benefitted HPWREN and its user community. For more details on our AWS transition, see the news article at https://www.hpwren.ucsd.edu/news/20240512/. Thanks again to Calit2's Qualcommm Institutefor their ongoing collaboration and support for this endeavor, and the ongoing efforts of their Xpertech team.

Augmented Reality Time-Lapse

HPWREN continues to explore immersive imaging technologies, as demonstrated by an experimental 360-degree stereo time-lapse from Cuyamaca Peak on March 18, 2024. Taken at 10-second intervals between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., the footage combines monochrome (left eye) and color (right eye) channels into a single virtual reality-friendly video. Best experienced on high-resolution VR or AR equipment, it offers viewers a unique way to explore the Cuyamaca landscape in three dimensions. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F2r9yZ9dDA)

New HPWREN Camera Interface

A redesigned user interface for HPWREN cameras is now available for testing at http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/alpha/cameras/. It introduces significant feature enhancements, such as refined camera selection, improved time-lapse controls, and real-time previews. A brief video walkthrough demonstrates how to make the most of these functions, which will soon become the primary interface for HPWREN camera access. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enH9dsej9Oc for more details. on using this new interface.

Star-Based Altitude-Azimuth Calibration

At night, HPWREN's fixed-field-of-view cameras capture dozens--sometimes hundreds--of stars. By tracking their motion over time, Robert Quimby (SDSU) accurately maps image coordinates (x, y) to sky coordinates (azimuth and altitude). This calibration process yields highly precise orientation data for each camera, enabling advanced tasks like pinpointing distant fire ignitions or conducting astronomical observations with minimal uncertainty.

Unlocking the Hidden Potential of HPWREN Cameras

Beyond scenic time-lapses, researchers and developers leverage HPWREN's panoramic image data for wide-ranging purposes. Prototypes of AI-driven early fire detection, for example, analyze camera feeds in near real-time to identify and locate smoke plumes. Other experiments overlay real-time images onto baseline frames to highlight subtle changes--like the emergence of new smoke columns. While many of these efforts remain in development, they illustrate HPWREN's growing utility in fields such as disaster response, ecological monitoring, and meteorological forecasting. Feedback from the broader community is encouraged to further refine these prototype tools.

Interactive Images Flow Interface

In addition to the well-established 3-hour videos per camera, HPWREN offers an alternative called the Interactive Images Flow Interface. Integrated into the new graphical interface mentioned above, IIFI users can now define a custom timeframe (e.g., 30 minutes prior to "now" to download original JPEG images. As the images load, a cursor-based navigation lets viewers "scrub" through the entire time series, while keyboard arrow keys enable precise frame-by-frame review. This new interface provides a quick, intuitive way to examine scene evolution without relying solely on longer, pre-packaged video streams.

Fire Ignition Image Library (FIgLib)

Finally, HPWREN maintains a Fire Ignition Image Library (FIgLib) to facilitate early fire detection efforts. By cataloging images of confirmed ignition events--along with corresponding smoke plume development--FIgLib serves as a valuable dataset for machine learning research, detection algorithm validation, and camera-based wildfire identification projects. This ongoing initiative underscores HPWREN's commitment to advancing fire science through open data and collaborative technology exploration.

Section 6: Partnerships and Support

Partnership with ALERTCalifornia  

ALERTCalifornia, a program dedicated to wildfire monitoring and research in California, partners with HPWREN to enhance its capabilities in understanding and managing wildfires and other natural disasters across the state's vast and diverse terrain. This partnership is crucial given California's expansive area of over 163,000 square miles, which presents unique challenges for fire management and research. The multidisciplinary team at ALERTCalifornia, based at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Jacobs School of Engineering, and Qualcomm Institute, works closely with various state partners. This partnership underscores the program's commitment to state-specific needs, filling knowledge gaps, and providing actionable data for informed management decisions in the face of natural disasters.

HPWREN plays a dual role in this collaboration. First, it hosts 101 of ALERTCalifornia's Pan-Tilt-Zoom cameras, integral to monitoring and data collection. Second, HPWREN manages a portion of ALERTCalifornia's networking system, ensuring efficient data transmission and communication.

In support of the growing ALERTCalifornia community, HPWREN continues to provide high quality Internet connectivity using fixed wide area wireless technology connected to multiple regional Internet gateways at sites in San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and Santa Barbara Counties.

By the end of 2024, HPWREN was supporting over 475 fixed and PTZ public safety cameras.

HPWREN partners:

Public Safety

HPWREN continues support for SDG&E back county resource centers providing Internet access. These Community centers are activated as part of the Public Safety Program when power is dropped in the area during red flag warnings. These Community Centers include:

ASAPNET and PSAP Initiative

The Advanced Situational Awareness for Public Safety Network (ASAPNet) is a crucial wireless network designed to serve fire stations, particularly in the remote areas of San Diego County. Functioning as an extension of the University of California San Diego's High Performance Wireless Research Network (HPWREN), ASAPNet relies on HPWREN as its foundational wide area network. This network is expansive, encompassing 66 fire station sites and 12 relay sites, all of which originate from 16 mountaintops across San Diego County. One new facility connected in 2024 is the CalFire Fox Fire Center at the base of the south side of Palomar Mountain.

Currently, seven sites have been upgraded with Public Safety Access Points (PSAP). During 2024, improvements were made to HPWREN backbone radios and networking in preparation for extending PSAP coverage to additional fire stations and appropriate HPWREN points of presence.

Fire Lookout support

Within San Diego County, Forest Fire Lookout Association of San Diego County (https://www.ffla-sandiego.org/) volunteers operate two active Fire Lookout towers:High Point (http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/high-point-lookout/) and Boucher Hill (http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/boucher-hill-lookout/) on Palomar Mountain. A third tower, staffed by Forest Service personnel, is situated in Southern San Diego on Los Pinos (http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/los-pinos-lookout/). HPWREN also connects Black Mountain Lookout (http://nhlr.org/lookouts/us/ca/black-mountain-lookout-san-bernadino-nf/) in the San Bernardino National Forest which is staffed by the Southern California Mountains Foundation Fire Lookouts Program (https://mountainsfoundation.org/programs/fire-lookouts/). All these towers utilize HPWREN equipment to facilitate connections to the Internet and leverage its resources, thereby ensuring dependable external communications. For more details see https://www.hpwren.ucsd.edu/news/20240214/.

Section 7: HPWREN Site Expansions and Improvements

HPWREN spans numerous sites across a broad region, with some locations so remote that simply reaching them requires four-wheel drive. Consequently, even minor repairs can consume an entire day. The HPWREN installation and maintenance team handles a wide spectrum of tasks—from hoisting heavy equipment and cabling onto towers to swapping out batteries. In 2024, additional field work beyond the new installations previously mentioned includes:

San Diego County

Riverside County

 

Los Angeles County

 

Field Assistant at Buffalo Bump

Section 8: Public Outreach  

The many ways we have reached out to the public this year include: