An Advanced, Low-Cost, GPS-Based Animal Tracking System

Abstract

An improved global positioning system (GPS)-based animal tracking system is needed to meet quickly evolving demands of ecological research, range livestock production, and natural resource management. Commercially available tracking systems lack the data storage capacity needed to frequently collect animal location data (e.g., 15-minute intervals or less) over long-term deployment periods (e.g., 1 year or more). Some commercial systems have remote data-download capabilities, reducing the need to recapture tagged animals for data retrieval, but these systems download data via satellite (Argos), global system for mobile communications (GSM) cellular telephone, or telemetry radio frequencies. Satellite systems are excessively expensive, and GSM cellular coverage is extremely limited within the United States. Radio-based systems use narrow-band very-high-or ultra-high frequencies requiring the user to obtain frequency allocations. None of these existing systems were designed to provide continual, real-time data access. The Clark GPS Animal Tracking System (Clark ATS) was developed to meet the evolving demands of animal ethologists, ecologists, natural resource managers, and livestock producers. The Clark ATS uses memory-card technology for expandable data storage from 16 megabytes to 8 gigabytes. Remote data downloading and program uploading is accomplished using spread-spectrum radio transceivers, which do not require narrow-band radio frequency allocations. These radios also transmit, at a user-defined time interval, a real-time, GPS-location beacon to any Clark ATS base station within range (about 24 km or 15 miles line of sight). Advances incorporated into the Clark ATS make it possible to evaluate animal behavior at very fine spatial-and temporal-resolution over long periods of time. The real-time monitoring provided by this system enables researchers to accurately examine animal distribution and activity responses to acute, short-term disturbances relative to longerterm behavioral patterns. The Clark ATS also provides a huge time-and cost-savings to researchers and natural resource managers attempting to relocate a tagged animal in the field for direct observation or other operations.

Global positioning system and associated technologies in animal behaviour and ecological research

“…activity data) use General Packet Radio System (GSM/GPRS) services when available (R. Schulte 2010, personal communication 2010). Therefore, the most severe limitation is that animals might not encounter receiving towers (coverage zones), and therefore data collection can be intermittent or lost (Clark et al 2006). Some systems now have 'failsafe modes' that allow older data to be data transferred when the animal returns to coverage.…”

What Is the Proper Method to Delineate Home Range of an Animal Using Today’s Advanced GPS Telemetry Systems: The Initial Step

“…Attempts at fix rates can be decreased to extend battery life for most GPS units or increased to identify detailed, real-time movements. Several manufactures provided the option of remotely downloading data to a server so locations are gathered weekly, approaching study animals within a certain distance to download locations, or store-on-board GPS units with drop-off mechanisms and VHF signals that researchers use to track and retrieve collars (Clark et al, 2006). Beyond the obvious trade-off between increased sampling effort and decreased battery life, seasonal and diel behavior of the species should be considered as it can greatly affect the resulting home range estimate depending on the data collection schedule used.…”

Use of GPS tracking collars and accelerometers for rangeland livestock production research1

“…With this cost, scientists often could not afford to track as many individual animals as they desired. Clark et al (2006) developed a GPS collar that was less expensive (less than $1,000 USD) than commercial collars. Recently, low-cost GPS data loggers have been used to build tracking collars that cost between $150 to $300 (Allan et al, 2013;Knight, 2016).…”