Sensing through the continent

Abstract

This paper presents CraneTracker, a novel sensor platform for monitoring migratory birds. The platform is designed to monitor Whooping Cranes, an endangered species that conducts an annual migration of 4, 000 km between southern Texas and north-central Canada. CraneTracker includes a rich set of sensors, a multi-modal radio, and power control circuitry for sustainable, continental-scale information delivery during migration. The need for large-scale connectivity motivates the use of cellular technology in low-cost sensor platforms augmented by a low-power transceiver for ad-hoc connectivity. This platform leads to a new class of cellular sensor networks (CSNs) for time-critical and mobile sensing applications. The CraneTracker is evaluated via field tests on Wild Turkeys, Siberian Cranes, and an on-going alpha deployment with wild Sandhill Cranes. Experimental evaluations demonstrate the potential of energy-harvesting CSNs for wildlife monitoring in large geographical areas, and reveal important insights into the movements and behaviors of migratory animals. In addition to benefiting ecological research, the developed platform is expected to extend the application domain of sensor networks and enable future research applications.

Semi-supervised near-miss fall detection for ironworkers with a wearable inertial measurement unit

“…Alternatively, one promising technology is WIMUs, which can document subtle body movements (i.e., acceleration, angular velocity) with a 3-axis accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer. In previous studies, WIMUs were widely used in fall detection [22][23][24][25][26], activity recognition [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], and gait analysis [34][35][36]. Due to its small size, a WIMU can be easily attached to the body of a subject and can transmit kinematic data through wireless communication.…”

Variable Data Collection Rate System for a Wildlife Behavior Monitor

“…Energy harvesting is a commonly used method for extending operational life by providing device power and battery charging [10,11,[13][14][15][16][17][18]. Many behavior monitors incorporate photo-voltaic cells that convert solar radiation to energy for battery charging [6,[19][20][21]. Indefinite amounts of energy could be harvested for powering sensors [15], however only so much can be stored by a battery at a given time [13].…”

“…Indefinite amounts of energy could be harvested for powering sensors [15], however only so much can be stored by a battery at a given time [13]. Behavior monitors typically collect data at a conservative fixed interval to ensure a device remains powered [6,7,19,22,23] and as a result, energy that could have been harvested may be forgone due to storage limitation.…”

“…Global Positioning Systems (GPS) are popularly used in wildlife behavior monitoring for studying foraging [6], migration [19,23], and general movement behavior [7]. According to [38],…”

“…Data transceivers can be equipped with cellular modems [19,23,50] that allow two way communication through a cellular network infrastructure [52]. Data transceivers are advantageous for shortening time between data collection and retrieval [19], performing firmware updates, and monitoring device operation such as data collection rate, battery health, and energy [50].…”