Hi Sam,

Impressive!  Any chance the LoRa code is open source?  I should like to take a gander.

Thanks

Hi Titus,

We've used this design/procedure for many years with our Deep Sea Camera systems, with good reliability.  Not OTS but not hard to make and most of the materials come out to be inexpensive per unit.  The most expensive item is the M101 connector ($25ea), but if you get them with extra length on the cable, you can essentially cut it off at the point where it joins the burn-loop and reuse that connector until it gets too short.  You'd also need an F101 connector integrated with your BRUV, this connecting with the burnwire and forming the the positive side of the circuit, and a ground - our ground connection goes to a large bolt on the frame near the burnwire loop - but that connector generally shouldn't need replacement unless it gets damaged.

These burnwires generally break in 3-7min, burning at about 1Amp, ~14.5V.  A thinner version of the coated wire could go faster or with less power required.

We do also employ galvanic releases as backups.  I really like redundancy on recovery mechanisms!  The ones we use are made by International Fishing Devices, Inc.  Various distributors sell certain models of their products (i.e. different time durations) but if you contact them directly, they can also make custom duration ones for you.

Hi Titus,

I've used latching solenoids as a release in a fresh water application. The product linked to is the one I have used, but has been discontinued (it's been quite a while).  Anyway these little devices hold a plunger in place with a permanent magnet, but release the plunger when a coil is energised that counters the magnet.  The holding force is not great, but more than enough to keep the safety on a mechanical trigger.  The whole device can be potted and sealed (ideally under vacuum to eliminate voids).  When pushing the plunger in to arm the solenoid, there is a definite click when the magnet kicks in, to confirm the locked state.

A similar device is the electropermanent magnet, which doesn't have a plunger, in fact it has no moving parts.  You provide the steel piece that that this device will release when energised, as with a latching solenoid. It generally has greater holding force than a latching solenoid. I've used these in a seawater application.  It's worth noting that there exist ferromagnetic stainless steels that can be used here to avoid corrosion.

Thanks,

-harold

Hi,

This is a really late answer but I was new to wildlabs then. I have a security appliance that uses state of the AI models and user defined polygon areas of interest that generates video alerts of intrusions in typically under a second.

Although its setup to install automatically on an NVidia AI on the edge boxes of your intentions were to monitor a great deal of cameras you could also install it on a desktop with a high end GPU for very high performance. At home I use a desktop with an rtx 2080ti and monitor around 15 cameras and a thermal imaging camera (old one).

I have also tested a high end model (yolov7) on a high end thermal imaging camera image and it works fine as well.

Thermal imaging cameras are hellishly expensive though and I’ve found that new extremely light sensitive cameras like the HIKvision colorvu series almost obsoletes them in terms of people detection at night at a fraction of the cost.

If you are interested I’d be happy to show you a demo in a video meeting sometime if you like. I’m pretty sure it would meeting all your intrusion detection and alerting needs.

My project page is

Hi there!, 

You should definitely check out VIAME, which includes a video annotation tool in addition to deep learning neural network training and deployment. It has a user friendly interface, has a publicly available server option that mitigates the need for GPU enabled computer for network training, and has an amazing support staff that help you with your questions. You can also download the VIAME software for local use. The tool was originally developed for marine life annotation, but can be used for any type of video or annotation (we are using it to annotate pollinators in video). Super easy to annotate as well. Worth checking out!  

Cheers, 
Liz Ferguson

Hey there community! Im new here and looking after lots of answers too! ;-)

We are searching aswell for the most ideal App / AI technology to ID different cats, but also other mammals if possible 

- Panthera onca

- Leopardus wiedii

- Leopardus pardalis

and if possible:

- Puma concolor

- Puma yagouaroundi

- Leopardus colocolo

- Tapirus terrestris

Every recommendation is very welcome, thanks!

Sam

Hello to all, new to this group. This is very exciting technology. can it work for ID of individual animals? we are interested in Ai for identifying individual jaguars (spots) and andean Bears (face characteristics). Any recommendation? contact? thanks!

German

Yes. I think this is really the way to go!

Here is another metadata initiative to be aware of. OGC has been developing a standard for describing training datasets for AI/ML image recognition and labeling. The review phase is over and it will become a new standard in the next few weeks. We should consider its adoption when we develop our own training image collections.

Read "OGC Seeks Public Comment on New Standard for Training Data for AI/ML Applications - OGC" on Open Geospatial Consortium

OGC Seeks Public Comment on New Standard for Training Data for AI/ML Applications - OGC

Open Geospatial Consortium

For anyone interested: the GBIF guide Best Practices for Managing and Publishing Camera Trap Data is still open for review and feedback until next week. More info can be found in their news post.

Best,

Max

Hi @MaddievdW have you considered using a 'tunnel' to help, well, funnel, small critters into a space with a camera that makes it a bit easier for detections? A few years back, we made a PVC pipe tunnel with a protected food lure that seemed to work well with even cheapy trail cameras (and in fact, we ended up having to block some of the IR illumination using a few layers of athletic tape over the LED array). Here's a rather blurry image of a bandicoot we got:

And another of an antechinus:

We weren't that concerned with image quality, as we were actually testing an RFID logger in the tunnel also, and simply wanted to know if we got critters with no tags and what species (if possible). So one thing I'd definitely consider if you go down this path is focal length of the camera. Here's a previous discussion on a similar idea: 

I guess you could always 'calibrate' it to a certain extent by just using a longer section of pipe. Here's what our set up looked like, but again, we had the RFID logger, so a camera-only version would be a bit simpler - the camera and battery was in the screw top section on the left-hand-side of the tunnel image and each entrance had RFID antennas linked backed to a logger in the same compartment as the camera:

All the best for your research,

Rob

Addressing each of the questions/issues posed: 

Triggering Camera:   

If you are getting triggers, but empty frames, during known visits by these lickety-split animals, the issue is the trigger speed.  Looking at the Browning selection guide, for example, https://browningtrailcameras.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/article_attachments/12697703673243

I see that the Elite-HP5 models have a 100 ms advertised min trigger speed, which is slightly (50 ms) than the Dark Ops Pro DCL.  This is equivalent to 2 earlier frames (at 60 FPS video), which could be significant with fast moving targets.  

I have found, BTW, counterintuitively, that for Browning SpecOps and ReconForce models (Elite-HP5) that camera gets to first frame sooner when taking videos vs. when taking stills.  I don’t understand this completely, but it’s a thing.  

If you are not getting any triggers, then the PIR sensor is somehow missing the target.  Make sure you understand the “detection zones” supported by your camera.  These are not published, but can be determined with some patience and readily available “equipment” – see my post on “Trail Camera Detection Zones” at https://winterberrywildlife.ouroneacrefarm.com/2022/08/01/deep-tech-trail-camera-detection-zones/

Putting more than one camera at a site may also increase the probability that at least one triggers (and may improve lighting, see below)

If you’re consistently missing triggers, you may have to consider a non-PIR sensor.  Unfortunately, this removes you from the domain of commercial trail cameras.  Cognisys makes a number of “active” sensors based on “break beam” and (now) lidar for use with DSLR-based camera traps.   You would also have to come up with your own no-glow lighting source, and hack the DLSR camera to remove the (built-onto-the sensor) IR filter.  In our experience, these sets are 10x more expensive and time consuming vs. commercial trail camera sets, and are only justified by the potential for (a few) superior images. 

The species-specific triggers and sets mentioned on this thread seem like a better option. 

Avoiding daytime false triggers: All the commercial trail cameras I’m aware of have a single type of trigger sensor. It is based on a Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensor and Fresnel lens.  Apps, Weldon and McNutt cover this admirably in Peter Apps, John Weldon McNutt, “How camera traps work and how to work them,” African Journal of Ecology, 2018.

These sensors trigger on changes in certain areas of the thermal field – in practice a combination of a heat and motion in one or more detection zones. They are not decomposable.

Some cameras (e.g. Browning SpecOps, and maybe the Dark Ops Pro?) allow you to set hours of operation so that the camera only triggers at night, for example.  This would cause you to (for sure) miss “off hours” appearances by your target species, but would avoid daytime false triggers. 

No Glow Image Quality: The good news about longer wavelength “No-Glow” flashes is that animals are less sensitive to them. The bad news is that the CMOS image sensors used by cameras are also less sensitive to the longer IR. Less signal leads to lower quality images.  Others have mentioned adding supplemental no-glow illumination.  An easy way to do this would be to set up two cameras at each of your sites.  When they are both triggered, each will “see” twice as much illumination, and image quality will be improved.  Browning SpecOps models (at least) have dynamic exposure control on video which allows this scheme to work (with only a frame or two of washout) while the algorithm adjusts exposure). For an example of this effect, see opening porcupine sequence in our video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itx7KnlxKS4

Hi Maddie,

This camera has a very quick reaction time. 

Read "Reconyx HF2X HyperFire 2 Covert IR Camera | Faunatech" on website

Reconyx HF2X HyperFire 2 Covert IR Camera | Faunatech

The Reconyx HF2X is a state-of-the-art digital trail camera with passive infrared (PIR) motion detection and a high-output covert infrared nighttime…

website

I'm jupping into the discussion, with a similar objective. I'm looking for a thermal camera trap, (I know cacophony). it would be use to improve invasive speices monitoring especially for rats and feral cats.

Any idea?

Thanks

Hi @mguins , as @kimhendrikse mentioned resolution (and also brand) for thermal cameras can dictate a big jump in price. GroupGets has a budget Lepton (FS - short for 'factory second' I think) if you wanted to check one out: 

They also have a bunch of other Flir products and boards for interfacing with Leptons etc., so worth a browse of the shop. It could also be worth taking a look at Seek modules, some of which @Alasdair has experience with : (e.g. 

Read "Mosaic Core Starter Kits" on

Mosaic Core Starter Kits

USD

They also have modules you can connect to a mobile phone: 

Read "Compact Series" on

Compact Series

USD

@TopBloke I'd be very keen to see your Lepton camera trap too! 

Cheers,

Rob