Sensors | WILDLABS

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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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Sensors already equip a range of tools to enhance monitoring capacity for conservation. Some of the higher bandwidth technologies, like camera traps and acoustic monitoring systems, have been essential elements of the conservation toolkit for decades, and thus have enough users that we've created dedicated WILDLABS groups to address them. But a whole range of lower bandwidth sensors beyond these core technologies are being increasingly integrated into conservation monitoring systems, and offer rich new insights into the wildlife and ecosystems we're all working to protect. As with many technologies, cost and access have historically been challenges to the adoption of new sensors, but with low-cost and open-source solutions on the rise, we're excited to see what the future of this space holds.

Getting Started with Sensors:

Watch Shah Selbe's Tech Tutors episode on scaling FieldKit, an open-source conservation sensor toolbox, from a project to a successful conservation tech product.
Check out our Virtual Meetup about Low-Cost, Open-Source Solutions in conservation tech, including a talk by Alasdair Davies on the Arribada Initiative's work with thermal sensors in early warning systems.
For a more in-depth introduction, watch the first video in our datalogger mini-series: Freaklabs: How do I get started with Arduino?

In this group, you'll meet others who are using and innovating diverse sensors in their work, discuss ways to make sensors more effective & accessible for conservationists, learn about what sensors are already helping us accomplish in the field, and have the opportunity to ask and answer questions. Join this group to get started!

Header image: Emma Vogel, University of Tromsø

Article

Bringing Conservation Technology to Life

Shah Selbe

We are living in the midst of a pretty exciting era. Never before has humanity been more educated, more connected, more enabled, or more empowered than we are today. There are many reasons to be optimistic about the...

17 February 2016

Article

Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge: Winners Announced!

WILDLABS Admin

From artificial “sniffer” technologies to portable DNA sequencers, the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge received hundreds of innovative ideas to help stamp out wildlife crime. Now, the Challenge is proud to announce 16...

22 January 2016

Article

Deep Coral Reef Exploration and Discovery: Two-way Technological Flow

WILDLABS Admin

David Gruber, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, is a marine biologist working to develop fluorescent proteins into modulatable probes with neurobiological and medical applications. In his talk for the WWF Fuller...

24 December 2015

Article

Cheap Space, DIY Imaging and Big Data

WILDLABS Admin

John Amos, President of SkyTruth, explores how remote sensing is being used in conservation today and the importance of sky-truthing. He examines the role that citizen scientists can play in increasing transparency in...

21 December 2015

Article

The Impact of the Internet of Things

WILDLABS Admin

Gary Atkinson, Director of Emerging Technologies at ARM, explains why we should be interested in the Internet of Things. Could it be a game changer for conservation?

10 December 2015

Article

The Social Lives of Conservation Technologies and Why They Matter

Chris Sandbrook

New technologies offer a lot of potential for conservation, but are there potential risks to deploying these new technologies? In this first thought piece for the Ethics of Conservation Tech Group, Dr Chris Sandbrook...

2 November 2015

Description	Activity	Replies	Groups	Updated
Detecting Thrips and Larger Insects Together	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...		Data management and processing tools, Latin America Community, Sensors	8 months ago
Recommended lora receiver capable microcontrollers	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...		Camera Traps, Sensors	8 months 1 week ago
Instant Detect 2.0 and related cost	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...		AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Sensors	8 months 3 weeks ago
Collar Automatic Release Mechanisms	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...		Acoustics, Conservation Dogs, Sensors	9 months ago
Can wireless charging technology be used for animal sensors?	No problem at all Yu (@JY) and good luck with your studies! Happy to discuss this and any other ideas any time.All the best,Rob	+10	Sensors, Animal Movement, Connectivity, Drones, Open Source Solutions, Emerging Tech	9 months 2 weeks ago
Move BON Development: Follow up discussion	@cmwainaina please take a look		Animal Movement, AI for Conservation, Camera Traps, Connectivity, Data management and processing tools, East Africa Community, Emerging Tech, Ethics of Conservation Tech, Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Marine Conservation, Protected Area Management Tools, Geospatial, Sensors, Software Development	1 year ago
Global trials for "Reefie" the coral reef inspector	A community device isn’t just about the technology; it’s also about creating a collaborative community. Shout out to all innovators...		Animal Movement, Marine Conservation, Open Source Solutions, Sensors	1 year 1 month ago
CollarID: multimodal wearable sensor system for wild and domesticated dogs	Hi Steph, We appreciate the support! Thanks for the tag and your help managing the community!Patrick		Sensors, Acoustics, Conservation Dogs, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions	1 year 3 months ago
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - Underwater Passive Acoustic Monitoring (UPAM) for threatened Andean water frogs	Congratulations! My first hydromoth was just arrived yesterday and so excited! Looking forward for the update from your project!!!		Acoustics, Animal Movement, Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Data management and processing tools, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Protected Area Management Tools, Sensors, Software Development, Latin America Community	1 year 3 months ago
TagRanger: Redefining animal tracking iwth ad-hoc wireless networks and software-defined technology	Hi everyone, @craig joined last month's Variety Hour to chat about Tagranger, which you can read more about here. A TagRanger®...		Animal Movement, Connectivity, Sensors	1 year 4 months ago
WILDLABS AWARDS 2024 - TimeLord: A low-cost, low-power and low-difficulty timer board to control battery-powered devices	'Most importantly, we have to make it play a MIDI version of the DoctorWho theme song when you arm the device. That has to be the #1 feature if you ask me!' Seconded!	+9	Acoustics, Animal Movement, Emerging Tech, Open Source Solutions, Sensors	1 year 4 months ago
Seeking Knowledge/Resources about Soil Monitoring	Sounds good. Just sent you a private message.		Climate Change, Conservation Tech Training and Education, Sensors	1 year 4 months ago