A Miniature Micropower Cell Phone for Tracking Migratory Animals

该合同支持一种微型无线电标签的开发，该标签能够与蜂窝电话通常使用的蜂窝塔接收器通信。该设备本质上是一个精简版的手机，质量很低（2克），可以附着在候鸟或其他小动物身上。为了节省电力，装置中的计时器将使其处于休眠状态，直到预先设定的日期，发射机将激活并试图与附近的手机信号塔取得联系。由于该设备将在一段较长的时间内保持关闭状态，然后只有在与最近的接收器进行接触时才会激活，因此一块微小的电池有望在长达两年的时间内为多次接触提供足够的电力。每只鸟都有一个唯一的识别号码，这样每只被标记的鸟就可以和一个特定的位置联系起来。在联系之后，PI将通过电子邮件收到来自蜂窝网络提供商的标签身份和位置通知。这种标签在迁移和分散的研究中很有用，这两种行为几乎是动物，尤其是鸟类的普遍行为。尽管它们很重要，但这些行为对种群动态的影响仍然是生物学中悬而未决的主要问题，这在很大程度上是因为我们无法在整个年度周期中跟踪单个动物。该策略有望将鸟类定位到半径5公里以内，这对于定位单个小型迁徙动物来说是前所未有的精确水平。该项目是生态学家和电气工程研究人员的合作，将涉及本科生和研究生的合作学习机会，包括仪器的设计和现场测试。

This award supports the development of a miniature radio tag capable of communicating with cell tower receivers normally used by cellular phones. The device is essentially a stripped-down version of a cell phone with low enough mass (2 grams) to permit its attachment to migratory birds or other small animals. To conserve power, a timer in the unit will keep it dormant until preprogrammed dates when the transmitter will activate and attempt to make contact with a nearby cell phone tower. Because the device will remain off during an extended period, and then activate for only long enough to make contact with the nearest receiver, a tiny battery is expected to provide sufficient power for several contacts over a period as long as 2 years. Each unit will communicate a unique identifying number, so that individual tagged birds can be linked to a specific location. Following the contact, the PI will receive notification of the tag identity and location from the cellular network provider by email. The tag will be useful in studies of migration and dispersal, both of which are nearly universal behaviors among animals, particularly birds. Despite their importance, the impact of these behaviors on population dynamics remain major unanswered questions in biology, in large part because of our inability to track Individual animals throughout their annual cycle. The strategy is expected to locate birds to within a 5 km radius, a completely unprecedented level of precision for locating individual small migratory animals. The project is a collaboration of ecologists and electrical engineering researchers that will involve undergraduate and graduate students in collaborative learning opportunities, including both design and field testing of the instrument.