energetics in a University building: a data sharing problem.

Projects Networking, Protocols, and Devices
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Hi,
I teach at a small college. I want to place Temp, Pressure, Humidity, and Photometry sensors around inside our physics building to measure the movement of heat and humidity during the day and night over the year.

There is a lot of brick and concrete in our building and my simple first attempt with XBee Pro S1's failed to reach the required distance for our proof-of concept. (They reach about 1/4 of the length of the building, and I wanted at least half.)

I am wondering if anyone has a suggestion for how to improve this. Should I try a larger antenna at the central location beyond what is on the XBee Pro S1?. Should I switch to higher power XBees?

Another option is that we have a building Wifi. I am not familiar with how Arduino Wifi shields work. Can someone tell me if an open wifi network would be a way that I could share the data between the arduinos and my PC? I am pretty sure my IT department will not give me hard wired ethernet connections.

Thanks much,
Wayne
PS I apologize with this is posted in the wrong forum. I did look through for what seemed most appropriate.

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XBee Series 2 models form a mesh network. You can place radios between the coordinator and the end devices, to act as routers.

I am not familiar with how Arduino Wifi shields work.

Poorly. That's why Arduino no longer makes or supports WiFi shields. The ESP8266 devices are a better choice for WiFi, but integrating them into your WiFi network might not be all that easy. Universities tend to have paranoid IT departments, since they are where CS students get to learn about imposing security on networks.

Can someone tell me if an open wifi network would be a way that I could share the data between the arduinos and my PC?

Indeed that would be an option, IF you have an open WiFi network. Which I seriously doubt.

PS I apologize with this is posted in the wrong forum. I did look through for what seemed most appropriate.

It's fine here.

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Thanks PaulS,
That's a big help. I'm on it.
Wayne