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Acoustic monitoring is one of our biggest and most active groups, with members collecting, analysing, and interpreting acoustic data from across species, ecosystems, and applications, from animal vocalizations to sounds from our natural and built environment

article

Meet the WILDLABS TECH HUB Winners

WILDLABS Team

13 May 2019 12:00am

In February, we released an open call for the WILDLABS TECH HUB, offering 3 months of support for solutions using technolgy to tackle the illegal wildlife trade. We were overwhelmed by an incredible 37 submissions,...

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event

WILDLABS Virtual Meetup: Low Cost, Open-Source Solutions

WILDLABS Team

18 March 2019 12:00am

The first event in Season Two of the WILDLABS Virtual Meetup Series was on Low-Cost, Open-Source Solutions. The recording is now available to watch, along with notes and recommended reading based on the discussion. In...

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discussion

AudioMoth 2.0 Development

Akiba

17 March 2019 2:44am

Hi. I'm moving a topic to this thread from the camera trap thread since it's more relevant here.  Discussion with Alasdair for context: "Lastly -...

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discussion

AudioMoth user guide

Tessa Rhinehart

27 February 2019 9:35pm

AudioMoth users, I recently wrote this guide to operating and deploying AudioMoths: https://github.com/rhine3/audiomoth-guide/blob/master/guide.md. The...

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Akiba

14 March 2019 10:08am

That also sounds like a good idea :)

Tessa Rhinehart

14 March 2019 1:52pm

Hi again,

I agree; it's very important that everyone is able to contribute to the guide. Thanks for taking the lead on that, Akiba. To that end, I just made my GitHub repo publicly editable, so please feel free to add to it if you want to use a GitHub repository.

However, a Google Doc would be much easier for the general public to contribute to. If you choose that route instead, please use whatever you want from my repository. :-) 

I personally like to use the guide as a single document instead of a Wiki. It's easier to read through, and since everything is on the same page, you can just CTRL+F to find a specific word or section. Also, it's helpful to be able to download it as a .pdf, or print it out and refer to it in the field. 

Tessa

Akiba

14 March 2019 3:43pm

Hi Tessa. 

Thanks and also thanks for being so generous with your work :)

Regarding the format, how do you all think if we have a single document and a wiki? I could handle the single document if David wanted to do the wiki. One potential issue would be synchronization, but since many wikis keep a change list, perhaps we can schedule periodic document updates based on the wiki changelists. We can also maintain a document changelist in case the changes need to go in the other direction.

Any comments or suggestions?

Akiba

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discussion

Advice for an in-situ Audio-Visual system for recording at a nest site

Sam Reynolds

9 February 2019 6:19pm

I'm looking for a cost-effective solution to a remote in-situ audio-visual system for bird acoustics for use in a PhD Project. I need an audio-visual setup suitable...

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Joachim Neff

25 February 2019 6:37pm

Hello Carlos and Sam
That book on "CCTV for Wildlife Monitoring" looks excellent. Although it is somewhat off at a tangent of my actual work this looks way too useful not to have. There are cheaper second-hand copies on Abebooks and eBay and also on sale at NHBS, £20.98 incl. UK P&P (https://www.nhbs.com/cctv-for-wildlife-monitoring-book).

An interesting interview with the author, Susan Young: https://blog.nhbs.com/author-interviews/interview/cctv-for-wildlife-monitoring-an-interview-with-susan-young/

Meanwhile, I have come across a research project by the author of that book using technology that looks very close to what Sam is trying to do: "CCTV Enables the Discovery of New Barbastelle Vocalisations and Activity Patterns Near a Roost - We monitored a barbastelle maternity roost for four months using a portable CCTV system, time synchronised with ultrasound recorders."
See more here: https://www.researchgate.net/project/Using-CCTV-to-link-vocal-repertoire-with-behaviour-in-bats

If the above does not do it, I think you should contact the author and get her advice on what would be a suitable setup for you. That's what I meant in my earlier post about maximising use of previously developed solutions. It will just save you a lot of messing about, especially if you are not a technical expert yourself.

I hope this is of some use. Do post an update when you have worked out what equipment to use.

Good luck,
Joachim Neff

Joachim Neff

6 March 2019 7:42pm

Hello Sam

I have now received the book on "CCTV for Wildlife Monitoring" (see my earlier post for more details) and it is as excellent as it looked online. If you can spare £21 then I would suggest you get a copy yourself.

The book is written for those without much technical background and the case studies are very detailed with equipment lists and setup details. I have not read the entire book but as far as I can see there are no examples described specifically with synced audio. However, all the case studies and detailed comments on what to watch out for (pun intended) should give you a lot of help in working out what you need for your project.

Good luck,
Joachim

Sam Reynolds

8 March 2019 2:44pm

Joachim and Carlos,

Thank you both very much for all your help so far with this problem, all of your input is very constructive. I have had look into the CCTV tech and also that researchgate link, and both have provided me with a few more options. At the moment I am organising a visit to one of the "hackerspaces" near me, to see if anyone can give me some hands-on practical advice, mainly about a suitable power supply solution (as lots of inputs running and recording continuously will reduce the time it can be in-field substantially based upon a standard, small size power supply, as I understand it). I will let you both know when I have managed to develop a prototype, but this may take a month or two as I need to first order a starter kit for Raspberry Pi or Arduino, get my head around the basics, and also contend with my other work. I will be sure to let you all know if I make any headway!

Best wishes, 

Sam

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discussion

Real-time audio monitoring

Frank van Lingen

19 February 2019 10:42am

I am looking for a way to monitor audio in real time instead of writing to an SD card, which means the system gaterhing data needs to stream data back when it is recorded. What...

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Harold Tay

22 February 2019 2:33pm

Hi,

What you're asking, is it conceptually like turning on the mic on your PC and doing something with the output from the sound card?  Instead of digitising the sound it's possible to do some kind of monitoring in the analogue domain.  It sounds like an interesting problem, tell me more!

Thanks.

1 March 2019 8:17am

What frequecy are you looking to record, how long does the mic need to run for, what is the distance between the microphone and the "listening" site?   As (unless I've missed something) an off the shelf radio microphone does exactly that job.

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discussion

AudioMoth - Big data software?

WILDLABS Admin

26 September 2018 12:02pm

What are other people using to shift through AudioMoth files to pull out the bats calls - so far I've settled on BatClassify.   If seems to cope with corrupt/zero...

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Alex Rogers

24 October 2018 5:55pm

AH, okay. Yes, if something goes wrong writing to the SD card during a recording, the file won't be closed, and so the file size won't be updated. Let us know if you get any zero length files in †he future since it shouldn't happend. We have another release of the firmware and configuration app coming out in a couple of weeks that makes the routine which writes to the SD card a bit more robust if something goes wrong, uses human readible long file names, and also adds local time to both the configuration app and the resulting time stamps. Alex

Stephanie O'Donnell

21 December 2018 10:55pm

Hi David,

Kate Jones suggested trying our their Bat Classifier tool - deep learning tools for bat acoustic signal detection. We've quite a few members here who worked on it if you've got questions (@Rory_Gibb, @snewson, @robin_freeman as a start)

We have a method for finding bat calls that is super quick, free and all code is open source https://t.co/52FPZHLyQU

— Kate Jones (@ProfKateJones) December 21, 2018

Steph

Carlos Abrahams

22 February 2019 1:28pm

How about using Kaleidoscope and the cluster analysis tool?  Works fine, and is super-quick..

Ta, Carlos

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discussion

AudioMoth v1.1 is now available

Alasdair Davies

23 January 2019 12:37pm

Hi everyone, The Arribada Initiative has started a new GroupGets round (23rd Jan) for the updated v1.1 AudioMoth. It will run for the next 30 days, so get in on this round if...

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Stephanie O'Donnell

6 February 2019 3:58pm

Quick update

This audiomoth group purchase is now 581% funded. To meet with demand and component stock, if they reach 1500 devices they will close this round early and start to manufacture. A new round additional round will be opened at the same time in this eventuality. 

As of this morning, this means htere are 338 devices left if you want to be included in this manufacturing run of the updated Audiomoth (v1.1).  

Stephanie O'Donnell

18 February 2019 5:15pm

Update

The current AudioMoth group purchase reached our stock level of 1550 devices, hence the campaign has closed early. We'll now set up the manufacturing run and update you shortly on our progress.

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article

Getting up close and personal with Antarctica's orcas

Jamie Morton

4 February 2019 12:00am

In this case study, Science Reporter Jamie Morton tells the story of how Kiwi scientists are teaming up with a local underwater robotics company to gain world-first insights into the lives of whales in Antarctica.

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discussion

Recording problems with Audiomoths

AlexHolm

30 December 2018 9:57am

Hi guys I'm currently in Mauritius where I've done acoustic monitoring of Mormopterus acetabulosus for the last couple of months, trying to figure out what habitats it...

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AlexHolm

2 January 2019 3:00am

Hi David

Thank you for your answer. I'm using 2000mAh Fujitsu R06 batteries. When configuring the AudioMoths, daily energy consumption is said to be 72mAh. The batteries should last for at least 20 days. I've never had them deployed for more than seven days straight (and they even did the zero lenght files at deployment for only three days). Maybe the energy consumption calculator in the configuration program is faulty?

Where can I find the firmware?

Alex

2 January 2019 7:49am

Information and links to the new firmware and the app is here https://www.openacousticdevices.info/single-post/2018/12/12/Version-120---New-Firmware-and-Config-App-Now-Available.   Note: there is a possiblilty of the update failing and the recovery proceedure is here https://www.openacousticdevices.info/support/device-support/device-bricked-during-firmware-update.

With batteries it is also to do with voltage decay as well as power. There was a discussion Nov 2017 about voltage limits and it was said that SD cards get a bit twitchy at less than 3.3v but the rest will still be operating at around 3v - I can't find any data on R06 however in general voltage drop is influenced by temperature, dicharge rate, age/no of recharges etc etc - your are right it may not the batteries but there is a possibility it might hence my suggestion.

I'd suggest also posting on the AudioMoth support forum, to see if anyone else has seen this issue and has a fix.

Cheers

David B

2 January 2019 10:01am

Forgot to say - if you are having trouble reformatting SDcards on Windows- the project suggests this programme http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm.

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discussion

3D printed audiomoth cases

Robin Jones

18 December 2018 10:14am

Hi, I've made an initial attemp to design a 3D printed case for an audiomoth (with 3 x AAA battery pack) and have made it available on the thingiverse (https://www....

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event

Ocean Hack: San Francisco, 10-11th September, 2018

One Ocean Collab

20 August 2018 12:00am

A 48 hr pop up innovation lab for the ocean, bringing together a mix of designers, strategists, technologists, engineers, scientists, marine conservationists, educators, artists and buisness talent to co-create...

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article

The 2018 Ecoacoustics Congress Wrap-up

Anthony Truskinger

25 July 2018 12:00am

Last month, the 2018 Ecoacoustics Congress was held in Brisbane. Bringing together scientists, natural resource managers, industry and artists, participants explored the ways that sound can deepen our understanding of...

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discussion

Audiomoth Group Purchase (Round 3)

Alasdair Davies

5 February 2018 12:02pm

Hi everyone, We are really pleased to see that there is more demand for yet another Audiomoth group purchase! We wanted to let you all know that a third purchase is...

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Alasdair Davies

11 April 2018 5:26pm

Hi all,

Do to the success of Round 3 (hitting its target 15 days early and reaching the stock limit) we have started to explore the possibility of launching a 4th round, with a shorter time frame (probably 15 days) and with a limit of 250 devices. This will all come down to component stock, and finding it, so we'll update you next week (16th April) once we have confirmed it's possible.

Kind regards,

Alasdair

Stephanie O'Donnell

23 April 2018 5:36pm

Quick update from @alasdair - 'The 4th round of AudioMoth will go live Mon 30th April and there will be 250 made available. This has been made possible as we need to manufacture all those from round 3 and 4 at the same time whilst we await a stock re-order of a component.' 

Alasdair has promised to post the time it goes live as it's bound to fill up quickly, given how fast the third round sold out. Stay tuned!

 

 

Alasdair Davies

23 April 2018 5:53pm

Hi Stephanie, thanks for the update above. We will be doing two things this week to support the community. To meet the demand from Round 3 we require an essential component (MOSFET) and so we are planning to;

1) contact the 110 backers from this round (3) to ascertain how many have field trip deadlines and work with CircuitHub, the manufacturer, to see what's possible to meet deadlines - i.e identifiying other stockists of the missing component, or possibly an advanced run with the stock available now for those with an urgent deadline.

2) Launching a 4th Round on Monday 30th April with 250 devices available. This will have a shorter run time of 14 days and is possible as it will end shortly before the delivery of the stock needed to complete orders from both round 3 and 4, allowing us to help those who couldn't get in to round 3.

All the best,

Alasdair | Arribada Initiative

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