In order to make each detector easier to manage for end users we are looking into alternatives to Emdebian. 

This isn't an issue with the operation of the detector. Once a system has been setup, the Operating System (OS) can be changed as easily as rebooting and swapping MicroSD cards. 

One alternative OS is OpenWrt/LEDE, which has recently merge again after a fork. One benefit of OpenWrt/LEDE is that it comes with a web based configuration tool - Luci. As well as a 'registry' style of configuration management (in /etc/config, and managed via the 'uci' tool), the web interface provides an easy way of managing the network connectivity and getting to device onto a network. 

With the Raspberry Pi Zero W running Openwrt, there are instructions available to allow network connectivity via USB to a connected PC.

Another useful piece of the puzzle is the build environment that comes with OpenWrt/LEDE. It should be possible to build an ipkg with our cosmic-array software which will improve development, deployment and version control. What this space.