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Want to talk about sensors that don't quite fit into any of our tech-specific groups? This is the place to post! From temperature and humidity to airflow and pressure sensors, there are many environmental sensing tools that can add valuable data to core conservation monitoring technologies. With the increasing availability of low-cost, open-source options, we've seen growing interest in integrating these kinds of low bandwidth sensors into existing tools. What kinds of sensors are you working with?

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INSTANT DETECT 2.0 - ALPHA TESTING

The worst thing a new conservation technology can do is become another maintenance burden on already stretched field teams. This meant Instant Detect 2.0 had to work perfectly from day 1. In this update, Sam Seccombe...

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Thesis Collaboration

Hello everyone, I am an experienced Data Scientist and I am currently studying a second master in Environment Management (ULB - Belgium). I am currently looking for a master...

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Hi Simon,
Did you already contact INBO? Both biologging and citizen science are big themes at INBO. Last year we had a master thesis on camera trapping invasive muntjac. You can send me a private message for more info!

Hi Simon,

We're a biologging start-up based in Antwerp and are definitely open to collaborate if you're interested. We've got some programs going on with local zoo's. Feel free to send me a DM if you'd like to know more.

Hi Simon,
We (Reneco International Wildlife Consultants) have an ongoing collaboration with a local University (Abu Dhabi, UAE)  for developing AI tools (cameratrap/drone images and video analyses) and biomimetic robots applied to conservation (e.g  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1574954124004813 ). We also have a genetic team working on eDNA.    Field experience could be possible, in UAE or Morocco.
Feel free to write me back if you may be interested and would like to know more
 

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Video evidence for the evaluation of behavioral state predictions

Hi all, glad to share two of our contributions to the current e-obs newsletter in the context of the evaluation of behavioral state predictions and the mapping of...

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Currently, the main focus is visual footage as we don't render audio data in the same way as we do for acceleration (also: the highly different frequencies can be hard to show sensibly side by side).


But In this sense, yes, the new module features 'quick adjust knobs' for time shifts: you can roll-over a timestamp and use a combination of shift/control and mouse-wheel to adjust the offset of the video by 1/10/60 seconds or simply enter the target timestamp manually down to the millisecond level. This work can then and also be saved in a custom mapping file to continue synchronisation work later on.

 

No, not yet. The player we attached does support slower/faster replay up to a certain precision, but I'm not sure that this will be sufficiently precise for the kind of offsets we are talking about. Adding an option on the frontend to adjust this is quite easy, but understanding the impact of this on internal timestamp handling will add a level of complexity that we need to experiment with first. 

As you said, for a reliable estimate on this kind of drift we need at least 2 distinct synchronized markers with sufficient distance to each other, e.g. a precise start timestamp and some recognizable point event later on.

I perfectly agree that providing an easy-to-use solution does make perfect sense. We'll definitely see into this.

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discussion

Birdweather Puc use as a passive sensor

We were recently donated Birdweather Pucs for monitoring birds on the reserve. These devices have worked exceptionally well as active sensors when placed in locations with 2.4 GHz...

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Checking the Birdweather FAQ, I guess you need to be more detailed on the setup description. For example, if you use a powerbank to power the PUC that is NOT ALWAYS-ON, it may swich-off after some time. So details of your setup may matter.

Caveat, I do not have a PUC, but tried to understand you problem.

Thanks for the advice Wade!

It will be great to hear Tim's feedback, but thanks for your advice! I think Lithium batteries are the next step for us. I have successfully gotten it working with a power bank attached, but that really impedes its portability. Will also fiddle around with the GPS per your recommendations...

 

Hello Walter

Thanks for your input. I have achieved better results with the puc when hooking it up to a powerbank. Have got them set up to "recording only", and GPS to low power mode. Looking to now try eliminating the need for a power bank as that impairs the portability of the puc.

 

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Detecting Thrips and Larger Insects Together

Hello everyone,I’m reaching out to discuss a challenge we’re tackling here in Brazil related to pest monitoring in agriculture. Thrips (Frankliniella spp., Thrips spp...

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Hi Kim, the yellow sticky paper I have today is around 10cm by 30cm. I took a picture with a really good cellphone of the whole paper and the resolution was not good enough (3072 × 4080 in Ultra HDR). This gave me 10pixels / mm, but I could not get a precise enough model with yolo at this resolution for the Thrips... I will play around with the cellphone for a bit more and see if 2 or 4 pictures are enough. We even made a support for the cellphone to have always the same distance (but if I could avoid this for practical reasons in the future would be fine too). With the digital microscope we used we got over 50 pixels per mm and so got a quiet good model in identifying them (but time consuming), sometime dust also shows up and with the phone camera you can't differentiate Thrips and dust ;)))) Lets see if I can edit my post to include some cellphone images into it.

Yeah, I would expect that you might need to have higher resolution if the critters are very small. Still might be just a lens choice. But not up on this amount of lens difference, so don't know how hard it would be.

So, updated the text a bit with images cropped at 100% zoom :) we are already happy with the time reductions we got, but... would like to get at least 90% time reduction instead of 70% :))) we know that with a very expensive and high power camera we could probably do it, so one approach we are thinking of is just taking a closer macro picture with a cellphone of let's say 1/3 or 1/4 of the sticky paper and use this data instead of everything...  or take 2-3 pictures (but we don't want to waste time in sticking the images together).

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Recommended lora receiver capable microcontrollers

If one wanted to build a microcontroller for receiving lora packets to go hand in hand with a lora point to point transmitter does anyone have any they can recommend?Any for the...

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@ioanF , you can do a little bit better than 10 ma. I have here an adalogger rp2040 feather with DS3231 RTC wing and a I2S Mems microphone. During "dormant" mode running from xosc and waiting for DS3231 wakeup I get 4.7 ma . This includes about 1 ma for  microphone and DS323 together. OK, that is still 3 ma higher than 0.7 ma RP2040 documentation is said to claim. I guess, there is some uncertainty with  the AT35 USB tester I'm using. Putting the LDO enable pin (EN) to ground, the USB tester said 1 ma, which may be dominated by the offset of the tester as the LIPO charger as remaining component should only consume 0.2 ma (max).

Edit (for the records): After 'disabling' all GPIO but the RTC wakeup pin, the system (RP2040+DS3231 RTC+ I2S Mems microphone) consumes only 1.8 mA. I guess I`m now close to the clamed dormant power consumption!

A good candidate for low power hibernation and processing power is the Teensy 4.1 from PJRC, which is an ARM Cortex M7. standard clock is 600 MHz and there is provision for 16 MB PSRAM. It hibernates at 0.1 ma. What is more important than the specs, there is a very active (the best IMHO) community Search | Teensy Forum with direct connection to the developer (Paul Stoffregen). For a simple recorder consumption is 50% higher than RP2040 (Teensy running at 24 MHz and RP2040 running at 48 MHz, but RP2040 is M0+ and not a M7). 

Thanks! The Teensys are nice for processing power if choosing an external Lora board I’d say that’s a good choice. I started with teensies, there was a well supported code base and certainly well priced.

My preference is to one with onboard Lora. I’ve used one one onboard murata Lora before. It was good both for low power operation and it’s Lora operation.

For a transmitter the grasshopper if it’s still being made is quite good for small distances are being made because it has an onboard ceramic antennae. Which is good for about three houses away, although one was also received > 20 km away.

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Instant Detect 2.0 and related cost

I am doing a research project on rhino poaching at Kruger National Park. I was impressed with the idea of Instant Detect 2.0. I do not know the cost involved with installing that...

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Sam  any update on Instant Detect 2.0 - previously you mentioned that you hope to go into volume production by mid-2024?

I would love to also see a comparison between Instant Detect 2.0 and Conservationxlabs' Sentinel products if anyone has done comparisons.

Are there any other similar solutions currently on the market - specifically with the images over LoRa capability, and camera to satellite solution?

There's quite a few diy or prototype solutions described online and in literature - but it seems none of these have made it to market yet as generally available fully usable products. We can only hope. 

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discussion

Collar Automatic Release Mechanisms

Hi All!I've been developing an animal-worn acoustic and environmental-sensing focused system as part of my PhD. When speaking with researchers on piloting my device, one of the...

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Re: the conversation about alternatives to knots/tying nylon line, I wonder if something like these PCB mount screw terminals would be strong enough to hold line in place for a long time, but also not sever it? They could be mounted either side of the nichrome coil, with holes for the nylon to come through from underneath, pulled over the nichrome and then through the screw terminal, where it can be secured in place. The metal screws could potentially be replaced with nylon to make it a little 'softer' on the line maybe? Below is an absolutely amazing diagram of the idea! Could even make a PCB for it all (or mod the current drop-off PCB to have this at the front)...the only thing is they aren't the smallest things in the world...so good for larger drop-offs maybe (certainly ok for AWDs I reckon) but not smaller critters...

I've been trying to find something off the shelf along those lines @Rob_Appleby

This is a cubesat example that's neat but not really meant to withstand the load an animal would put on it.

Seems like most tensioning examples out there are custom made but I'm convinced it can be done with off the shelf parts.

Regarding worries of damaging the line you can use ptfe tube or polyester/fep heatshrink for added abrasion resistance.

The PCB mount terminals are actually quite robust and paired with a lock washer and something that would better secure the nylon (e.g., a piece of flat grooved plastic to add compressive loads across the string and not pinch it), I think it would work nicely. 

As a separate idea, I just designed a circuit with SMD threaded standoffs, which I am going to secure in plastic and screw onto aluminum pieces that I'll be testing the ElectRelease with once it delivers. The standoffs are mounted on a circuit board, giving a 50V differential with a single-cell LiPo, hopefully releasing the epoxied aluminum plates. 

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/w%C3%BCrth-elektronik/9774027151R/5320625
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Can wireless charging technology be used for animal sensors?

Recently I have read many papers on animal research, and I found that one of the most difficult problems is how to solve the problem of charging sensors. After all, for many small...

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Although this technology may not be mature now, and there are still many problems to be discussed and solved, I think it will have good application prospects. 

Unfortunately, I am just an undergraduate student in China, and what I can do is very limited. Maybe in the future I can also do some similar research or what I want to do. Just like you, I am studying hard now. 

Thank you very much for this forum and the professionals who responded to me. You have allowed me to see more perspectives and many things I didn't realize. Thank you very much!

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Design-led innovation for nature

How can space-enabled data and services be translated into information that is trusted and actionable, fuelling responsible behaviours towards nature? A new programme where SMEs will be paired with design consultancies...

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Move BON Development: Follow up discussion

Hey Biologging Community! We just launched a new initiative to mobilize animal tracking data in support of national and global scale conservation goals (learn more here!). If you...

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Hi Talia! 

I feel like the topic is so broad that it might help to put some constraints around things, see what works, and then broaden those out. I have a lot of ideas regarding the data monitoring and collection side based on the other sensor and observation networks we've set up in the past. 

There may also be some potential scope to incorporate things like data collection and integrated monitoring to the Build Your Own Datalogger series where the system is updated to feed data into the observation network. 

It'd probably take a bit of discussion and coordination. Let me know if interested. I'm fine to jump on a call or discuss via email too.

@cmwainaina please take a look

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