Wildlife tracking technologies have already massively advanced our understanding of the natural world, from uncovering previously mysterious migration patterns and key movement corridors to demonstrating the impacts of anthropogenic pressures and climate change. Recent advances in the development of technologies for collecting and transmitting biologging data have unlocked the potential for fine-scale data collection at a near-global scale, which when integrated with remotely sensed environmental data offers an unprecedented biological lens into ecosystem health and environmental change (Jetz et al. 2022).
New technologies on the horizon include small satellites like CubeSats, which are being investigated by NASA, the ICARUS Initiative's satellite system, and a variety of other ventures aiming to improve the coverage, accuracy, and capacity of wildlife tracking data collection. Combined with the increased availability of high-resolution environmental data and analytical developments in movement modeling, these advancements are empowering movement ecologists to ask previously unanswerable or unimaginable questions. It’s clear that this discipline sits at the precipice of major breakthroughs that could revolutionize our understanding of animal movement and the natural world.
April 2024
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June 2024
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Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
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I have been working with Movebank to get better support for Vectronic Live Feed data. It is now much easier to import and work with these... |
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Biologging | 11 months ago | |
Not what you asked for (sorry), but if they are cryptic then a possible first step could be to deploy capacitive sensors everywhere, to get a sense of where they like to hang out... |
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Biologging | 11 months 1 week ago | |
Thank you Thomas, I'll take a look. |
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Biologging | 11 months 1 week ago | |
Hi Jackson @MargoJack!Thanks a lot for answering these questions.Looks like you have a very interesting product!Interesting point you raise with VHF beeing intercepted by poachers... |
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Biologging | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
Not sure exactly how your telemetry will be deployed, but if it's going to be attached to an animal in a relatively non-invasive way, you might check with zoos or aquariums that... |
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Biologging, Marine Conservation, Sensors | 11 months 2 weeks ago | |
Thanks Thomas, will do! |
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Biologging | 11 months 3 weeks ago | |
Hi all, My team has a collection of camera traps in tropical forest canopies and one question that emerged is: can we infer light... |
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Biologging | 1 year ago | |
I thought I would share this little piece on our use of passive RECCO reflectors on GPS collars for muskoxen in Greenland:The RECCO... |
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Biologging | 1 year ago | |
Our project in very short is, setting up a sensor network for monitoring airborne biomass, mainly insects, birds and bats in near realtime, and to develop a forecast model to be... |
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Autonomous Camera Traps for Insects, Biologging, Remote Sensing & GIS, Sensors | 1 year ago | |
I have enjoyed the recent podcast on Monique the first animal(s) to carry a satellite collar, the ICARUS project etc. Also, regarding... |
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Biologging | 1 year ago | |
Hi Andrea! Although I am a keen user and observer of the Moveapps initiative, my R or Python coding skills are next to non- existing. I am therefore not likely to be contributing... |
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Biologging, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Human-Wildlife Conflict, Open Source Solutions, Software and Mobile Apps | 1 year ago | |
These are really small acoustic tags. (Lotek Wireless, Sonotronics, and the JSATs design are examples of similar manufacturers/products.) These tags will only work in water... |
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Biologging | 1 year 1 month ago |
Tech Tutors: Review Session
3 September 2020 12:00am
Satellite tags for marine turtle recommendations
20 September 2016 4:21pm
7 August 2020 9:07am
Hi @Alasdair
Thanks a million.
It'll be great to give a look at your casing and design and see what material I can get over here, and agree it will be great to see how different people are integrating Horizon.
Just wondering if through the Arribada project directly or Groupget you will be able eventually to send out final products?
I saw the photos of some of the PitStop Turtle Tags case and they look great.
I will drop you an email as interested in the acoustic tag applicator for the sharks and the Pitstop tag.
Thanks again
Ale
26 August 2020 12:18pm
Hi @aponzo
Take a look at the Woods Hole Group newsletter this month. They are giving away some Developer Kits - https://mailchi.mp/1e130f609ed2/august2020?fbclid=IwAR1JqkGNBYDnYvsVgWx2A2ciMcrzzRMtG7ZMsiQvnLqYYF55W2PWJAiwClk
"The goal of the project is to have a database of open-sourced Argos tags accessible for all existing and new users. To get there, we will award grants to those interested in developing on the open-source platform. "
You may want to register your interest if you're wanting to do the same.
All the best,
Alasdair
Argos Satellite Tag Open-Source Grant
17 August 2020 12:00am
ElephantEdge -Building the World’s Most Advanced Elephant Tracker
12 August 2020 2:07pm
14 August 2020 9:45am
Hi everyone,
If you want to find out more, join Adam Benzion, co-founder of Hackster.io, @Tim+van+Dam , co-founder of Smart Parks, @smaston Founder of Project 15 at Microsoft, and Rex St John from Arm today 9am PST for a livestream to talk about the #ElephantEdge Hackathon.
They'll be talking about how this collaboration came to be, how to get involved, and how developers and makers can get involved to unlock challenges facing our Earth and help the scientific community advance in their projects by contributing our technology skills to these efforts.
Join here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dOaHrtlMec
Steph
14 August 2020 7:30pm
Hi Everyone, I'm Anthony Lindley, a PhD candidate at the University of Southampton. I mainly work with computer vision but would like to branch out and try other ML applications.
I love elephants and having only recently got to grips with the scale of the threat to their existance, feel very strongly about this competition! I'm really keen to meet other people who'd potentially be up for collaborating with me or forming a team. Please contact me on twitter at @ajwl27 and we can come up with a plan!
Really looking forward to the solutions everyone comes up with here and of course, I hope that this actually makes an impact in the wild and helps protect these beautiful animals.
The COVID-19 Bio-Logging Initiative - request for datasets
14 August 2020 4:04pm
Tracking via Starlink
11 August 2020 6:18am
11 August 2020 9:39am
It sounds interesting. I've been trying to find coverage maps for Starlink but so far, I haven't found any actual coverage maps. I seem to just find "planned" coverage maps. It's hard to see how these would get used for wildlife tracking at this moment. The initial devices will use an antenna that's 0.5 meters in diameter which for me, would be approximately from the base of my foot to my knee.
I think power consumption and coverage will also be main factors if the system gets used. Based on other satellite communications designs, the system would have to be pretty large by animal tag standards, even without the antenna, due to the batteries required to handle the maximal current. It would be interesting to test out some modules for this technology, though.
FYI for whoever's interested, you can sign up to be a potential beta user. More info here.
Akiba
14 August 2020 12:15pm
This is something I was thinking about recently as well. It is my understanding that the reciever antennas are fairly large. I think, however, there will be some very interesting things that can be done with starlink. If you could do your tracking with some type of antenna network and send the data to the reciever then star link gives you a high speed connection with which you could do near real time data processing.
14 August 2020 1:12pm
Hi all,
Starlink is Ku and Ka-band as they are targetting broadband, so you're looking at similar large(ish) transmit / receive dishes as traditonal VSAT, and they will POE-based so lots of power required for the links. Kineis (Argos), Lacuna, Iridium and ICARUS are the main contenders in my eyes over the next 5+ years.
Challenge: ElephantEdge
11 August 2020 12:00am
Introducing the Terrapin Tracker project
6 August 2020 7:35pm
Sustainable Fishing Challenges: Fishing Vessels of the Future
4 August 2020 12:00am
Event: StreamingScience's #Tech4Wildlife Thursdays
3 August 2020 12:00am
Tracking Wild Reptiles, Amphibians, And Their Temperatures
31 July 2020 12:00am
15 September 2023 11:02pm
16 October 2023 4:07pm
How do I use a drone to capture radio-tracking data?
27 July 2020 12:00am
Mataki tracking tags—what's your experience?
24 November 2015 6:22pm
17 July 2020 5:23pm
Hi Joaquin,
The first versions of Mataki tags were open-source and the PCB build information was available online. However the components for this version are obsolete and, if you can get them, are very expensive.
The latest versions of Mataki and the new Mataki-Lite are available commercially from my company and all the information is available at debuginnovations.com/Mataki. My contact information is on the website if you have any questions.
Regards,
Dave
17 July 2020 7:47pm
Hi Dave.
Thanks for your answer.
I saw the Debug Innovations website, the Mataki Little is very interesting.
Either way I am looking for open-source to be able to make our own transmitters because buying electronic devices abroad is very complicated and expensive for us.
Regards,
Joaquín
18 July 2020 11:18am
Hi Joaquin,
If you email me, we can have a discussion of what exactly you need and how we can help.
Dave
Kākāpō Dreaming: A Wildlife Drones Adventure
8 July 2020 12:00am
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery (Part 3)
2 July 2020 12:00am
Looking for a long term real time tracking technology for monitoring big game in South Africa
20 January 2016 9:42am
28 April 2020 5:09pm
@Sophie+Maxwell
One point of clarification - Kineis is Argos.
CLS split off the management of the Argos satellite system from itself thereby creating the company called Kineis (a subsidiary of CLS). Kineis' goal was to acquire enough funding ($100m) to launch the 20+ nanosatellites by 2020, and the goal was fully funded a number of months ago. So now it's just a matter of manufacturing the satellites and launching them (one is already in orbit).
I would disagree with your comment about "antenna size issue" with Argos because you can use a patch or a whip antenna. In addition, the whip antenna could be extremely thin and flexible such as using nitinol. With nitinol, for example, you can tie a knot into the antenna, and it would return to its regular state once undone. Of course with a whip antenna you do have a long wire coming out of the tag; however, that can be addressed with a patch antenna for terrestrial applications. Thus, it offers a flexible solution.
I will also add that you can fill in those data gaps and in fact build a "terrestrial-like" network within the Argos framework by deploying a number of the Argos Goniometer stations. In that scenario you would have a tagged rhino transmitting to the Argos satellites, and as you know if a satellite is not overhead the message is lost. However, if there is an Argos Goniometer within range (tens of miles +/-) you will receive that message even if a satellite is not overhead.
One last comment that I'll add is that the power requirements for an Argos transmission are a fraction of what is required from Iridium and/or Globalstar. Right now the lowest power output that I am aware of is 250mW; however, we expect to more than half that when the constellation is launch (70-100mW transmissions). I am not that familiar with some of the new sat tech in regards to transmitter design, output, etc. I suppose the one good thing about having an "old system" is that we know so much more about what can be done and what cannot be done.
Anyways, happy to answer any questions you might have regarding Argos and/or Iridium.
29 June 2020 11:39am
Dear Sophie,
I would like to comment directly on your post regarding your assessment and report about rhino tracking devices in wildlife conservation. I believe it is good to share thoughts and ideas on the WILDLabs forum about these topics, but people should be very careful when they are making bold statement with regards to performance of technology. Some elements in your reporting are highly speculative and lack detailed input from the actual users in the conservation field.
We find this quite concerning as you are not only misinforming people on the WILDlabs-forum, but you might also be providing your own administration (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs)with incorrect information.
With regards to the LoRaWAN based rhino trackers we like to set the following straight and we also raise some questions.
General
- Did you have contact and feedback from people that actually have a personal experience in LoRaWAN based tracking devices for rhino in the field? As far as I know, the people you report about, do not have this experience. I recommend you to look for people in the field that do have this experience, such as park managers of African Parks and Peace Parks.
2.1) Satellite enabled trackers.
- “Africa Wildlife Tracking are the most mature and reliable tracking solution”; How do you know this and what is your source? What numbers did you use to come to this conclusion?
- Why do you name “Argos” CLS as a rhino tracking solution?
- Telerax: “Cited by the community as reliable”; What are your sources here?
- Ear tracking: Who is reporting that ear tag tracking is not an option? This is not a given, so please state your sources so we can verify this.
I realize your attempt is a light-weight update for DEFRA and not an in-depth investigative article, but this level of light-weight leans a bit more to very light-weight if the sources are not named. Or if the sources have vested interests. It’s unlikely that you’ll go into detail with regards to the sources but I find the stated information very superficial to be honest.
2.2) IoT Fixed Infrastructure Tags;
- About your general comment on the “IoT Fixed Infrastructure Tags” – Why do you state that the costs for the infrastructure are “costing several £100,000s” – again, who/what is your source and how is this calculated?
- “Leading solutions in this IoT space seem to be SMART Parks and Sigfox” – again, who is your source and what makes you think Smart Parks is leading? The same goes for Sigfox. For Sigfox I even think you need to identify the solution and not the technology, since Sigfox is “only” a network technology compared to LoRaWAN and is not a end-to-end solution.
- Why are you including links to the websites of the satellite solutions and not to the Smart Parks solutions, even when this is as simple as www.smartparks.org.
- Why are you reporting on the failure of Smart Parks rhino tags “however, there have been recent challenges with their newly miniaturized version, where 5 out of 6 units failed after a short time in Malawi. This could be an anomaly, as their previous versions worked well and we welcome further updates.”?; Who is your source and what did you do to verify this?
- Sigfox: “We have heard some dissatisfaction with customer service and the capability to integrate data with other software and hardware solutions.” Again, who is your source and what makes you say this? Also, why are you speaking of “We”, as I understand this was a personal blogpost?
- Cisco: What makes you say that Cisco “provided IoT trackers” and what is your source?
3) What are the emerging solutions?
- Can you explain why CubeSats are the way to make rhino tracking devices smaller, cheaper and more secure? As you indicate: “Where there is great potential to bring smaller, cheaper, secure satellite tracking to solve these problems”.
- What makes you conclude like this: “Whoever provides cheap tags, small transmitters, multiple gateways with super low costs data will win for wildlife conservation in this exciting new space.” What are your sources and what is the reasoning behind this? (deze zou ik niet doen)
I think a lot of your statements are debatable and not very well substantiated. I’m willing to go as far as to say that they are more damaging than providing solid information to the Wildlab-community and abroad. The community working on trying to find and build better solutions needs reliable information as this is already a very complex problem. Therefore, I would like to suggest that you improve the blogpost where possible with thorough and reliable information. I’m happy to assist you in finding the right information.
To get you started, I would like to offer you some key facts about what Smart Parks has been doing to make a rhino tracking solution:
- In 2017 we have successfully deployed a LoRaWAN rhino horn implant into an Eastern Black rhino in Mkomazi National Park in Tanzania, and the device has giving location update for 2 years without any major issues. The sensor even continued working after it had grown out of the horn. This is a clear proof that a LoRaWAN Geoloc based solutions is perfectly fine for rhino tracking in situations where a LoRaWAN Geoloc network is possible. We have replicated these result in other parks in Africa. Please check our website and other sources for proof: https://www.smartparks.org/news/first-black-rhinos-protected-sensor-implants-horns/
- In 2019 we have successfully deployed a LoRaWAN rhino horn implant into Eastern Black rhino in Liwonde National Park in Malawi. This new sensor does not use LoRaWAN Geoloc to update it’s position, but relies on GNSS (GPS). This allows for rhino tracking based on LoRaWAN in networks and areas that can not or do not want to use the Geoloc function. GNSS can offer higher location accuracy then the Geoloc method. Yes, we have had some issues while deploying prototypes into the field, but this is normal for these type of solutions. We now have a stable sensor in production that is working properly in multiple locations in Africa. Please also look around for proof and maybe start here: https://www.smartparks.org/news/holy-grail-in-rhino-monitoring-deployed-in-liwonde-national-park/
- An important note I would like to add and something I believe is missing from your comments in general, is fact that we have started the OpenCollar Initiative, under which we have made the rhino LoRaWAN + GPS tracker completely open-source. https://opencollar.io/
- Also, you are talking about rhino tracking solutions, however you only discuss the actual tracking devices in your blog post. Please also look at the Application level (what happens to the data) of these solutions, since there are also very important in the total solution.
I’m also happy to put you in touch with park managers who are actually working with the sensors on a day-to-day basis.
29 June 2020 10:19pm
Hi Tim and also Thomas
Thanks for your comments. It is fantastic that there have been so many replies to this thread in response to the request for thoughts, clarifications and questions on this topic.
I’m available on email. You can reach me directly via WILDLABS messages.
Soph
Tech4Wildlife News: SMART Mobile
23 June 2020 12:00am
Announcing the 2020 CLP Team Award Winners
8 June 2020 12:00am
Innovator Interview: Hack the Poacher
4 June 2020 12:00am
The Perfect Paw Print: Collecting Data with FIT
3 June 2020 12:00am
Webinar: The Next Generation Of Animal Telemetry
1 June 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season One
19 May 2020 12:00am
Webinar: Non-invasive Conservation Genetics
13 May 2020 12:00am
Get To Know FIT
6 May 2020 12:00am
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery
5 May 2020 12:00am
Talking Tracking with Xerius
23 April 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Hub: WWF PandaSat
13 April 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
30 March 2020 12:00am
Online Workshop: Conservation Technology
23 March 2020 12:00am
Enter the Zooniverse: Try Citizen Science for Yourself!
18 March 2020 12:00am
6 August 2020 1:11pm
Hi @aponzo
Many thanks for getting in touch. One of the key uses of the Developer's Kit is to develop Argos tags for sea turtle conservation and general Argos-enabled biologgers.
The kits all sold out within about 2 weeks after pre-order sales, however we are moving forward and manufacturing another larger batch.
To form a tag the encapsulation and physical enclosure design itself is quite important so it would be good to start to share designs here too and help to achieve the quality needed (salt water switch position, antenna orientiation and type etc) so if you are interested I'd be happy to start that process, maybe via Slack or Discord.
Kind regards,
Alasdair