• How can scientists track the progress of ecological phenomena, such as wildfires, in real-time in order to better understand the phenomena, aid rapid-response teams, and inform impacted communities?
• Given a network of nodes, each consisting of a small footprint computer capable of leveraging AI models, connected to instruments such as infrared cameras, RGB cameras, LIDAR, and traditional sensors for air quality and wind, what can we learn about through sustained observation of ecological systems, agriculture, urban environments, and weather-related hazards?
• What applications of AI can be used to study urban, rural, and remote natural areas?
The Sage Grande Testbed (SGT) is building a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) cyberinfrastructure to support advanced AI research.
SGT, funded by the NSF Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, provides access to AI-enabled edge computing resources and software tools integrated with sensors—including infrared and RGB cameras, microphones, and a variety of atmospheric and air quality instruments—deployed across natural, urban, and wildfire-prone environments, with networking capabilities that support real-time hazard reporting.
By bringing advanced AI to the edge, where data is collected, full-resolution analysis, dynamic automation, and immediate actionable responses can be computed. Each Sage node includes a GPU and AI-optimized software stack connected to instruments such as infrared cameras, RGB cameras, LiDAR, and traditional sensors for air quality and wind, as well as LoRaWAN connected sensors for low-bandwidth measurements such as soil moisture. With over 100 Sage nodes deployed across 17 states, SGT provides a national-scale testbed for AI-enabled, autonomous, and rapid-response science and sustained observation of ecological systems, agriculture, urban environments, and weather-related hazards.
The Sage team will also extend the current educational curriculum used in Chicago and will inspire young people — with an emphasis on women and underrepresented populations — to pursue science, technology, and mathematics careers by providing a platform for students to explore measurement-based science questions related to the natural and built environments.
PLEASE NOTE: As of mid-2025, the following setup instructions and curriculum support the following developer kits:
NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit
reComputer J4012 - Edge AI Computer with NVIDIA Jetson Orin
Raspberry Pi
Instructions for working with older developer kits can be found here.