Crossband Transponder System and Harmonic Radar System To Track and Monitor Small Animals Over Long Time Scales

跨带应答器系统和谐波雷达系统可长时间跟踪和监测小动物

• 批准号: 0232521
• 负责人: Michael Henke
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Earthspan, Incorporated
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-08-01 至 2004-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0232521&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Crossband; Transponder; System; Harmonic; Radar

This award supports further development of a system for tracking of small animals and of other types of organisms as small as insects and seeds. The system makes use of a radar transmitter/receiver to trigger either of two types of small devices that will be used to tag individuals. Cross-Band Transponder (CBT) tags consist of a small battery and a microcircuit that sends a VHF radio signal in response to the triggering radar signal. The VHF signal, which will provide identifying information unique to each individual tag, will be detected using an array of conventional directional antennas. As planned, the CBT tags will weigh 1 gram, last for at year and be useful over a range extending to about 2 kilometers from the radar set and antenna array. Tags of this size should be useful with animals weighing as little at 20 grams. Harmonic Radar (HR) tags use the power of the same incoming radar signal to generate a outgoing radar signal at twice the incoming frequency. As they require no power source, their lifetime is unlimited. The signal strength is limited by the strength of the incoming radar signal, and thus the range is dictated by the cost and portability of the radar set to be used. As planned, these tags may be used on organisms (or objects) weighing as little as 50 milligrams, and over a range of up to 700 meters. The signals will not allow individual tags to be differentiated. As part of this project, the use of HR tags to monitor seed dispersal will be tried for the first time.With the development of biotelemetry technology, researchers have been able to monitor movement of individual organisms at multiple spatial and temporal scales ranging from meters and hours to thousands of kilometers and many years. This has led to new insights into the study of organism movement, and has been applied successfully for management and conservation purposes. Depending on the desired range and lifetime, existing biotelemetry tags typically require a relatively heavy power source. Thus, useful application of the technology has been limited to relatively large organisms whose ability to move is not impaired by the size and weight of the tag. The proposed system, if successful, will lead to a substantial increase in the types of organisms that can be monitored through biotelemetry, and an increase in the time period over which individual animals can be monitored without the effort and expense of recapturing the animal to apply a new tag.

该奖项支持进一步开发跟踪小动物和其他类型生物（小至昆虫和种子）的系统。该系统利用雷达发射器/接收器来触发两种用于标记个人的小型设备中的任何一种。跨波段应答器（CBT）标签由一个小电池和一个微电路组成，该微电路发送VHF无线电信号以响应触发雷达信号。甚高频信号将提供每个标签独有的识别信息，将使用一组常规定向天线进行检测。按计划，CBT标签将重1克，持续一年，并在距离雷达和天线阵列约2公里的范围内使用。这种尺寸的标签应该对体重仅为20克的动物有用。谐波雷达（HR）标签使用相同的输入雷达信号的功率来产生两倍于输入频率的输出雷达信号。因为它们不需要电源，所以它们的寿命是无限的。信号强度受输入雷达信号的强度限制，因此范围由所使用的雷达装置的成本和便携性决定。按照计划，这些标签可以用于重量低至50毫克的生物体（或物体），范围可达700米。这些信号将不允许区分各个标签。作为该项目的一部分，将首次尝试使用HR标签来监测种子传播。随着生物遥测技术的发展，研究人员已经能够在多个空间和时间尺度上监测单个生物的运动，从米和小时到数千公里和多年。这导致了对生物运动研究的新见解，并已成功地应用于管理和保护目的。根据所需的范围和寿命，现有的生物遥测标签通常需要相对较重的电源。因此，该技术的有用应用局限于相对较大的生物体，其移动能力不受标签的大小和重量的影响。所提议的系统如果成功，将导致可以通过生物遥测监测的生物体类型的大幅增加，并且可以在不需要重新捕获动物以应用新标签的努力和费用的情况下监测单个动物的时间段的增加。