[Ground-station] Remote Lab South updates

[Michelle Thompson]

Setup for the recently relocated Remote Lab continues. This lab will have
DSP and FPGA wireless communications resources and plans to have an
educational interferometry site along with an open source bacteriophage
lab. The Unraid server, which hosts virtual machines for remote login and
operation of lab bench equipment, should be "on the air" soon. The
equipment itself is safely stored until the permanent building is ready. We
have cost estimates and a high-level construction plan, with completion no
earlier than late Spring 2022.

The name of this site is Remote Lab South. The radio portions are from
Remote Lab East, which was not quite deployed when Wally Ritchie WU1Y
passed away. He was the Director of Remote Lab East. Instead of liquidating
the lab equipment, we are re-establishing this lab and adding additional
capabilities.

We are asked "Why move it to Arkansas?"

We follow in the footsteps of other excellent examples in the area, such as
The Discovery Museum in Little Rock. We have excellent prospects for
collaborating with universities in central Arkansas, construction is
inexpensive, sustaining costs will be lower than in many other places, and
we have key contacts in the area.

And, most importantly, because the impact is much larger here than
elsewhere. What ORI does is needed in the region.

We are standing by for news on ARDC funding, and have begun the fundraising
process for the microbiology segment, now that we know the cost estimates
for the infrastructure required. We are honored to have another volunteer
for Remote Lab South join over the winter break.

If you want to see more of this type of open source work, then please
consider helping with fundraising for ORI. We are confident we can complete
the construction and deployment of the DSP/FPGA remote lab benches without
additional fundraising, but the concrete pours and conduits for the
interferometry and housing for aqua-phage equipment, while modest, are not
yet fully funded.

Questions and comments are welcome and encouraged.

-Michelle W5NYV
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