ML at the Edge
28 June 2019 8:16am
Advice and construction of camera traps.
8 May 2019 9:32am
18 June 2019 4:55pm
Hi Toby, hi all,
I've been keeping very quiet about Instant Detect 2.0 on WildLabs as we wanted to ensure we didn't generate any hype or make any promises that we cannot fulfil....but I think we will have something that fits this brief almost exactly relatively soon and it would be a shame for the same work to be replicated.
I have just returned from Kenya where I was testing our Instant Detect 2.0 prototypes and I am very pleased to report that the system is now working. We still have some optimisation work to do and we plan to run a number of longer trial deployments over a number of months later in the year to completely identify, and correct the sort of issues that only crop up over time and in the field. We plan to record and publish all the results from these trials.
Once we believe that the system is ready we hope to be able to supply it to the conservation community at a very low rate at the start of next year. Importantly it will be fully certified and legal to use, it is not 'hacky'.
I am in the process of writing a blog about the testing but if you would like to know more perhaps we could have a chat sometime.
Best wishes,
Sam Seccombe
27 June 2019 11:51pm
Adding my 2 cents here... and I'm being generous with the value of my comment, maybe just 1 cent... AI should be able to help a lot with the recognition tasks. Edge Computing AI, done in the camera module might have to be custom developed for the application, but if you have the AI folks available might not be that hard. The trick is finding a very low power, low cost solution. For that, I would recommend maybe looking into SqueezeNet, a super efficient Open Source Deep Neural Net created by UC Berkeley, Stanford and a company called DeepScale. It is small enough and efficient enough that it can run on a smart phone or on the processor of a smart camera.
DeepScale is using it for automotive applications, but it might be a good fit for this kind of application where you want to quickly decide on the edge what data is important and what data you can ignore and only send the important data to the cloud and discard the rest with an extremely high degree of reliability.
Cheers,
Drue
Meetup: Machine Learning/AI on Earth Observation Data (23 July, London)
21 June 2019 12:00am
WILDLABS Virtual Meet up 6/19: Creative Approaches to Data-Driven Storytelling
13 June 2019 3:57pm
New open data site for fisheries
10 June 2019 7:17pm
From the Field: Melissa Schiele
10 June 2019 12:00am
Database Design for Wildlife Enforcement
7 June 2019 3:33pm
Researching most affordable GPS chips with sensor capability
7 December 2018 7:10pm
18 January 2019 5:42pm
Hello Malou
I hazard the guess that what you are looking for is already available for livestock monitoring, so I would look in that direction unless you want to re-invent that wheel. I admit I am not 100% sure what is out there as I am working on something unrelated. Homemade tags may be cheaper but don't underestimate the effort and experience required to make something reliable and robust.
Reliably monitoring body temperature and heart rate may also be more difficult than you expect. I looked into this some time ago for birds such as golden eagles and discovered that the most reliable option required attaching a sensor onto the skin. I then decided that I would have to do without this and moved on. I am in no way an expert on this and others may know much better so don't give up quite yet. Again, there may be ready-made solutions in the livestock tracking market that do these types of measurements already.
Anyway, I can offer you a few details on GPS components I have come across that may be of interest. Please note that although these components are on my tracker prototype, this is still under development and I cannot yet say how well they perform. But their technical details looked good enough to give them a try for my project.
GPS MODULE: uBlox EVA-M8M
- certainly not the cheapest, GBP 10 bought in single units, cheaper in bulk;
- stores GPS satellites' almanac and ephemeris data onboard and can interpolate future trajectories. This means that the module has to be switched on only once in 48 h to get all the satellite data (typically takes 45 s) and then fire up only for a few seconds to get a position fix. The key benefit of this is energy conservation, which on most tags is important.
Data sheet: https://www.u-blox.com/sites/default/files/EVA-M8-FW3_DataSheet_(UBX-16014189).pdf
Source: https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/u-blox-america-inc/EVA-M8M-1/672-1112-1-ND/9818030
GPS ANTENNA: ProAnt PRO-OB-430, GBP1.00
A very small and lightweight GPS antenna, much more so than the usual ceramic patch antennas. If weight and size are an issue then this may come in handy.
data sheet: http://www.proant.se/files/user/Application%20note%20-%20OnBoard%20SMD%20GNSS%20rev%202.0.pdf
Source: https://www.digikey.co.uk/products/en?keywords=1532-1000-1-ND
A hint for more inspiration and sources of useful information on lightweight and energy-efficient electronics: websites on remote controlled model aircraft and amateur weather balloons.
It would be useful if you could post here a summary of your results on the GPS module search, once complete, for the benefit of those looking for the same details in the future.
Good luck !
J
18 January 2019 8:43pm
Hello! Thank so much for responding to this. I appreciate it very much.
I would agree with you- at this point we're researching the different wildlife/livestock tracking systems and hoping to reverse engineer a few close options. Our price point has to be substantially lower than what is currently on the market or being manufacured in order for livestock producers to even consider this possibility. I do have a software engineer in Seattle who has created something similar, but again not just what we need.
I too learned that body temp and heart rate will be hard to get and probably pricey. For the work we need this system for, I think we could get away with just body temp at this point but in the future would need both because we're trying to pinpoint the exact or near exact time livestock are being preyed upon by large carnivores, so the heart rate is the stress response to all of that.
Thank you for this wonderful info on GPS. I'll dive further into what you sent me after I'm finished creating a presentation I have at a Living with Wildlife conference. And yes- I'll plan on keeping this group up to date on anything we're able to gather together/create, etc. I definietly don't have the time to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, so if you come acorss anything else in your endeavors, pleasde do reach out. I'll do the same.
Thanks again! MUCH appreciated!
Best,
Malou
6 June 2019 5:20pm
https://github.com/LoRaTracker/GPSTutorial/tree/master/GPS%20performance%20comparisons
I'm a bit late to this conversation, but in case anyone else is searching "gps" that link above is one of the best "gsp shoot outs" I've come across.
HTH
Virtual Meetup Special Discussion: Scaling technology solutions to tackle the illegal wildlife trade
6 June 2019 3:28pm
Recordings Available: Camera Trap C.V. Web Conference
6 June 2019 9:59am
SALE: WingCopter HeavyLift drone, LiDAR, Multispektral camera, NextVision NightHawk
5 June 2019 10:20am
Methods to detect Derelict Fishing Gear
5 June 2019 9:04am
Workshop & Challenges on Computer Vision for Wildlife Conservation (CVWC) at ICCV 2019
5 June 2019 6:51am
Creating a wifi hotspot in a remote site
17 April 2019 3:30pm
18 April 2019 10:03am
Thanks1 The Moja system looks fantastic. I've neevr heard of anything similar in the Caribbean.
10 May 2019 7:12am
Hi Jenny,
Trust you're well. Were you successful in getting something for your team?
4 June 2019 4:02pm
Hi Jenny,
Interesting problem.
I don't have direct experience, but it looks like there are some experts you can probably reach out to and ask... if you haven't already:
http://www.groundcontrol.com/Caribbean_Satellite_Internet.htm
http://www.globaltt.com/en/internet_satellite/Caribbean.html
Also I found an interesting discussion on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/networking/comments/72wrio/satellite_internet_in_the_caribbean/
Best of luck!
Ivan
Circular Polarising Filters for the Mavic 2 Pro
29 April 2019 2:36pm
8 May 2019 7:23pm
I like the stuff Polar Pro puts out. I think they are some of the best you can get and it is what I use.
4 June 2019 3:31pm
Thank you for the tip! Shall try and pick up a set soon.
Introducing your new (beta) dashboard
4 July 2018 5:13pm
31 March 2019 10:23am
Hey,
Am a developer, I would be happy to give some feedback and lend you a hand.
The first major suggestion is related to the Typography. The font size are too large on some browsers. Also the embedded fonts doesn't always work on all browser/operating systems, for instance on chromium.
See the attached screenshots below:
Large typeface:
https://pasteboard.co/I7WJtCO.png
Large titles:
https://pasteboard.co/I7WJPZy.png
Some type/icons fail to load
https://pasteboard.co/I7WKsxZH.png
HTH
arky
3 June 2019 5:12pm
Hi everyone,
New functionality for you! We've added in a email option. You can now elect to receive a regular email that summarises new conversations from the groups you're a member of. A lot of people have asked to recieve a notification when new discussion threads are started in your groups. This is our answer to that request, and we hope it offers helpful alerts while avoiding overwhelming your inbox with notifications.
At this stage, we have it set to be sent on the 1st of the month. We can change this to give you more options (e.g. you could elect to get it fortnightly), but while we're testing it we thought it best to keep it simple. This timing should compliment your regular Community Digest that we curate from across the full community -we aim to have this come out in the middle of the month.
To turn this email on, visit your dashboard and click the cogs under your profile image on the left. Go to the 'Privacy & Notifications' tab, and then select the checkbox next to 'Please send me an email summary of the activities in my subscribed groups' (see screenshot attached). You can update your preferences here at any time.
If you want to see any changes (e.g. different timing options?) please let us know!
Stephanie
4 June 2019 1:42pm
Hi Steph and WildLabs team, this is a great idea and I'm liking these added options. I just noticed that when accessing conversations from the Dashboard > My Groups, there's no option on there to 'subscribe to this conversation' or to click onto the original conversation URL to do so.
Thanks for continually innovating!
Drone flight in Indonesia
16 April 2019 12:08pm
17 April 2019 4:14pm
Hi Sophie,
The best thing would be to get in contact with the Department of Civil Aviation in the Indonesian state you're working in. You're right that you can fly without a permit for at low altitude in most places, but there may be diferent restrictions if the drone is used for research purposes so its worth checking. I received a license for drone work in Sabah (Malaysian Borneo) and they mainly wanted to know the drone specs, activities, flight coordinates, dates and if possible, times. The only restriction they gave us was to fly below 300 m,
There is usually a lot of back and forth between departments about who is ultimately responsible but they should be able to get it processed, as there are groups in Kalimantan using drones pretty regularly. Please let me know if you have any issues or need any other info.
Best wishes,
Sol
18 April 2019 5:07pm
Thanks so much Sol! How long did it take you to get permission to fly? And were there any costs associated with getting the permit?
4 June 2019 1:33pm
Hi Sophie,
Sorry- I only just saw your reply!
It took about 3 months to get it through the department of civil aviation, but this doesn't mean much, because the Indonesian system may be pretty different. It cost 250RM (£50) for each drone.
Cheers,
Sol
Technology companies, FCO, and conservation NGOs come together to scale technology solutions to end wildlife crime
4 June 2019 12:00am
AI for Earth Innovation Grant (extended)
4 June 2019 12:00am
CogX Festival of AI and Emerging Technology - free tickets for WILDLABS members
16 May 2019 12:12pm
28 May 2019 12:02pm
UPDATE: We've had quite a few members emailing us for tickets, so I'm looking forward to meeting everyone in person! We've now been allocated some extra tickets, so if you are interested you're in luck, there is still a chance to come along.
3 June 2019 4:53pm
Are there any free tickets left for CogX?
I am on [email protected]
3 June 2019 5:04pm
yep! Drop me an email at [email protected] and I'll get you a link.
Steph
Makerspaces to empower communities to develop/refine their own solutions to HEC
27 May 2019 8:27am
28 May 2019 11:37pm
3 June 2019 3:31pm
Hi Aditya,
If you haven't already found it, you should check out our last virtual meetup, it was all about tools and spaces for collaboration and we featured a number of members who have set up and are working on conservation focused makerspaces. You can watch in and connect to the members featured here.
Steph
Conservation remote sensing webinar series
5 October 2018 7:40am
3 June 2019 11:20am
CBI and SCGIS have been running a second series of webinars this year. You can find recordings of all the previous webinars signposted here.
Of note, see:
- Planetary-scale monitoring with Google Earth Engine
-
The Potential of GEDI Lidar for Biodiversity Conservation Applications
The next upcioming webinar is Integrating Remote Sensing With Conservation Analysis Workflows on June 11, 10:00 PDT (register here).
How machine learning can help fight illegal wildlife trade on social media
31 May 2019 12:00am
Caught in the crossfire – Tapirs in tiger territory
31 May 2019 12:00am
Technology lab focused on wildlife protection opens on Ol Pejeta Conservancy
31 May 2019 12:00am
Canopy height mapping with drones
31 May 2019 12:00am
FLIR Conservation Discount Program
24 May 2019 4:39pm
25 May 2019 1:18am
Hi Montanamud,
Thanks so much for posting this. I'm Alasdair from the Arribada Initiative, working on the WWF / Wildlabs Asian Elephant Human Wildlife Conflict Challenge to develop an early warning system using thermopiles / microbolometers. We use the Lepton range of FLIR products. Do you know if Lepton modules will be eligable within the Conservation Discount Programme too?
Kind regards,
Alasdair
29 May 2019 6:14pm
Hi Alasdair-
Currently the Lepton is not on the list. If you would, please fill out the form on this webpage and request the Lepton be added - I will also bring it up and see if we can get it on the list.
Paper: Time-lapse photography to study colonial animals
11 April 2019 12:34pm
29 May 2019 11:02am
Thanks for sharing. This is going to be very helpful with my on-going design project!
WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Recording: Creative Approaches to Data-Driven Storytelling
29 May 2019 12:00am
[ARCHIVED] Upcoming Event: Conservation & Technology Conference
28 May 2019 7:28pm
18 June 2019 7:09am
here is there first publication and a test camera that theyre using.
https://www.wool.com/globalassets/start/about-awi/publications/beyond-the-bale-75-june-2018.pdf