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
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Community Announcement
Whether you spent the last year working in the field, lab, at home, or virtually, the WILDLABS community's conservation tech achievements were on full display in our annual #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge! Relive our...
25 March 2021
Funding
Funding Opportunity: COVID-19 Science Fund
National Geographic
National Geographic is offering funding up to up to $50,000 for conservationists conducting research on how the pandemic has impacted wildlife and conservation work. If you are interested in researching aspects of the...
10 March 2021
Article
Collaboration Spotlight: BoomBox
Ellie Warren and 2 more
Today we're celebrating the #Tech4Wildlife Photo Challenge by shining a spotlight on one of our favorite WILDLABS collaboration success stories: the BoomBox! This collaboration between Dr. Meredith Palmer, Jacinta ...
26 February 2021
Article
How can drones and ATVs protect black-footed ferrets from the plague? In this case study from WWF's Northern Great Plains Program, Black-footed Ferret Restoration Manager Kristy Bly discusses how delivering vaccines to...
17 February 2021
Article
News: FieldKit Presales and WSJ Feature
Conservify
Our friends at FieldKit are excited to announce the official launch of the FieldKit! These open source environmental sensing hardware modules are now available for pre-sale in the FieldKit store. You can also read about...
11 February 2021
Article
Protecting Wildlife with Machine Learning
Ellie Warren
Last year, Tim van Deursen and Thijs Suijten shared their new "Hack the Poacher" system with us, presenting a unique way to detect poachers in real-time within protected national parks. Read on to learn about their...
29 January 2021
Article
This month, WILDLABS member Drew Cronin shared the new paper "Empowering rangers through technology and innovation." This collaborative effort included several members of the WILDLABS community and leadership, and...
27 January 2021
In this case study from WWF's Northern Great Plains Program, Black-footed Ferret Restoration Manager Kristy Bly discusses how infrared FLIR cameras help teams detect and monitor the highly endangered black-footed...
19 January 2021
Article
Sustainable Fishing Challenges: Fish Catch Monitoring
Daniel Steadman
As we launch our new Sustainable Fishing Challenges group in the WILDLABS community, we are excited to welcome Daniel Steadman, the group manager, to give us an overview of three major areas in which #tech4wildlife...
4 December 2020
Funding
Kaggle Competition: Species Audio Detection
Rainforest Connection
Hey Acoustic Monitoring and AI for Conservation community members - don't miss Rainforest Connection's Species Auto Detection Kaggle competition, open for to competitors and teams now! Participants will have the chance...
24 November 2020
Article
Conservation Technology User Guidelines Issue 5: Drones
World Wide Fund for Nature/ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
The latest issue of WWF's Conservation Technology Series is about drones and is designed for a broad audience of conservationists. Containing ten case studies, scientific literature, and handy information on getting...
18 November 2020
Community Announcement
WILDLABS: Building a Better World with ‘Bad’ Data
WILDLABS Admin
WILDLABS is celebrating its five year anniversary! Throughout the rest of 2020, we'll be sharing articles, community features, and case studies showcasing the incredible projects, collaborations, and successes that this...
17 November 2020
July 2024
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Wildlife Drones
April 2024
event
Stephanie O'Donnell
16 Products
Recently updated products
117 Products
1 R&D Projects
81 Organisations
Recently updated products
Recently updated R&D Projects
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| Description | Activity | Replies | Groups | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi all, Some ETAG rfid-readers developped by Eli Bridge et al. are now avaible at https://www.labmaker.org/collections/earth-and-ecology/products/etag. The price is high,... |
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Sensors | 4 years 10 months ago | |
| Hi all, Some ETAG rfid-readers are now avaible at https://www.labmaker.org/collections/earth-and-ecology/products/etag. The price is high, though: USD139. Yvan |
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Sensors | 4 years 10 months ago | |
| I'd love to chat more! I'll be reaching out soon! |
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Sensors | 4 years 11 months ago | |
| Yes im hoping the power bank and a few extra mp3s will get it done this year. will look into a better system this winter now that I have some help:) |
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Sensors | 5 years ago | |
| Please see my edits above |
+4
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Sensors | 5 years ago | |
| We are developing a Raspberry Pi 4 sized SDR --- frequency range 20Mhz-6GHz. Rx Sensitivity around 120 --- higher is possible with some... |
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Sensors | 5 years ago | |
| Dear all, I am currently developing a method to extract subgroups from dynamic network data. My current use case is data collected on... |
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Sensors | 5 years 2 months ago | |
| I need to play a loop of sound to desensitize animals for project. The system needs to be solar powered 24/7 for 2-3 months. I have solar... |
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Sensors | 5 years 2 months ago | |
| Hi all, we have been developing low cost open source proximity loggers for small animals (minimum logger weight is currently 1g) and we are... |
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Sensors | 5 years 5 months ago | |
| Hi Alasdair- Currently the Lepton is not on the list. If you would, please fill out the form on this webpage and request the Lepton be added - I will also bring it... |
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Sensors | 5 years 11 months ago | |
| Hi all, I am currently working on my grad film project, and I'm looking for UK environmental projects using the Raspberry... |
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Sensors | 6 years ago | |
| Although this article focuses on agriculture in Australia, a lot of the IoT principles that are being used can also possibly be used for... |
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Sensors | 6 years ago |
Webinar: The Next Generation Of Animal Telemetry
BOEM
1 June 2020 12:00am
Competition: 2020 Hackaday Prize
26 May 2020 12:00am
Grassroots Innovations for Wildlife Conservation
19 May 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Tutors: Season One
WILDLABS Team
19 May 2020 12:00am
12th International Forum on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing
Chatham House
14 May 2020 12:00am
sound loop devise
26 April 2020 1:29pm
12 May 2020 7:14pm
Hi Eric, I think you could do away with an inverter, and instead use something like a DC-DC step-down (sometimes called a 'buck') converter. The solar and battery system is 12VDC correct? Chances are that the MP3 player wall charger is pumping out something like 5VDC (it should be written on the side of the plug)? Something like this would work: https://www.altronics.com.au/p/z6338-dc-dc-converter-module-3.5-35v-input-5-56v-output/
or if it is a 12V battery as I suspect, virtually any 'car' charger for a phone would do (just as I suspect the powerbank will). Hopefully, a large capacity powerbank is enough anyway, and you don't even need solar...
13 May 2020 12:39pm
Yes im hoping the power bank and a few extra mp3s will get it done this year. will look into a better system this winter now that I have some help:)
Era of the Condor: A Species' Future in Recovery
5 May 2020 12:00am
Notification systems for trap activation
10 January 2019 5:30am
4 May 2020 2:05am
Hi Rahid,
Thanks for your reply. In answer to your questions:
#1
There would be no external power (or cell phone reception) available at any of the node? The nodes would need to be completely autonomous.
#2
Total number of nodes would likley be in the range of 100–200 within a project area.
#3
The maximum distance between two nodes would likely be 5 km.
#4
All i want to transmit is an alert to say whether a trap has been activated or not. No video is required.
Many thanks,
Andrew
4 May 2020 3:00am
Ok, we can customize a solution for you, but probably won't be able to get this out to you for around 3-4 months.
RF and mesh is our domain. We can guarantee NLOS at well over 20 km+.
5KM in not a large distance. Not sure if LoRa can handle 200 nodes or work in the bush --- trees are the enemy of anything above 300 MHz.
I'm all for using HF (below 30MHz) or tactical VHF (30-108 MHz).
Would 1-1.6m antennas work?
---
I can email you a case study for a much more complex project that we did last December .
We were able to transmit video using 100KHz of bandwidth over a frequency of 30.5 MHz. Our moving car was traveling at 130 km/h and achieved a 64km+ distance from the base station --- we used 50% less bandwidth to transmit video than what an FM radio station uses to transmit tunes and other meta data. Our glass to glass (camera lense to monitor) latency was 24ms.
---
Our solutions don't require an expensive sattelite link or any phone network to work (although we can add those options).
What this means is that our radios will always work, come rain, come snow, et al. --- Satellite links are easily disrupted by a low cast / clouds , etc.
Our signals reflect and refract of the ground and the ionosphere to give you NLOS in any condition.
So a sensor based project of 200 nodes is no problem at all.
---
If waiting 3-4 months is not a big deal, then we can donate a few units to your project once we learn more about it.
---
4 May 2020 5:01am
Please see my edits above
Competition: iWildCam 2020
4 May 2020 12:00am
Mesh Powered Software Defined Radios
2 May 2020 7:13am
Call for Submissions – Arm Research Summit 2020
24 April 2020 12:00am
Talking Tracking with Xerius
23 April 2020 12:00am
#FieldKit50: Earth Day Giveaway
22 April 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Tech Hub: WWF PandaSat
13 April 2020 12:00am
Locally-Brewed Conservation Technology from a Small Town in North Bengal
10 April 2020 12:00am
Connecting to MBARI's Deep-Sea Instruments
31 March 2020 12:00am
WILDLABS Community Call Recording: Rainforest X-PRIZE
30 March 2020 12:00am
Virtual Field Trip: Conservation Technology with Shah Selbe
24 March 2020 12:00am
Online Workshop: Conservation Technology
Hack the Poacher
23 March 2020 12:00am
Enter the Zooniverse: Try Citizen Science for Yourself!
18 March 2020 12:00am
Webinar: IIED Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade
IIED
17 March 2020 12:00am
Tutorial: Train a TinyML Model That Can Recognize Sounds Using Only 23 kB of RAM
16 March 2020 12:00am
Testing an Early Warning System to Mitigate Human-Wildlife Conflict on the Bhutan-India Border
11 March 2020 12:00am
Proximity Data - Analysis methods
10 March 2020 2:44pm
3 Ways Your Conservation Technology Could Become a Shiny Pile of Junk, and How to Avoid It
9 March 2020 12:00am
#Tech4Wildlife 2020 Photo Challenge In Review
4 March 2020 12:00am
sound loop device
3 March 2020 1:59am
Call for Nominations: Tusk Conservation Awards
3 March 2020 12:00am
Competition: Plastic Data Challenge
Ellie Warren
3 March 2020 12:00am
Hawai'i Conservation Conference
Hawaiʻi Conservation Alliance
28 February 2020 12:00am
12 May 2020 4:07pm
I reckon if you could get down to a power consumption of 2-3Ah per day like our system had then a battery of 20Ah is suitable for a week and you wouldn't need inverters and solar panels etc. I agree that in your environment everything will struggle with being powered for 24hrs. I rarely have that problem to contend with! Will have a look at a temperature test of our design over the Summer and will share the details in a blog if it looks like it will prove a solution for all environments.