IDBR: Type A - An unmanned aerial radio tracking system for monitoring small wildlife species

北亚利桑那大学被授予开发一种新的无人机系统，该系统集成了无线电遥测接收器和数据处理系统，用于有效地检测和定位微小的野生动物无线电遥测标签。无人机-RT系统的完整设计，包括部件、组装计划、软件和培训模块，将开放源代码以供广泛采用该技术，并通过用户社区网站和野生动物会议上的演示进行传播和推广。无人机-RT系统还将通过媒体宣传、参与社区活动以及与北卡罗来纳大学向上跳跃计划的合作向公众传播，以吸引低收入农村高中生。该计划的发展目标是生物和生态研究社区迅速和广泛地采用该技术，以实现对小型野生动物物种的实地研究的新范式。这项技术将迅速提高了解许多动物物种的地理分布和栖息地需求的能力，从而使科学研究和社会都受益。目前定位和跟踪小标记动物的方法因其栖息地的不可访问性而受到阻碍。目前的无线电遥测方法所产生的高成本、对人类安全的风险以及小样本量限制了对许多物种运动和行为的了解。基于无人机的技术有望彻底改变一系列生态实地研究范式，因为传感平台能够以非常低的成本在靠近崎岖地形的地方飞行。新的基于无人机的无线电遥测(UAV-RT)系统将极大地提高野生动物的跟踪能力，同时使用廉价的商业无线电标签。系统设计将反映野生动物跟踪应用的独特需求，包括现场轻松组装和维修以及降低火灾风险。来自北亚利桑那大学和康奈尔大学的工程师和野生动物生态学家团队将设计和建造原型系统，并进行实地部署，以演示和改进其性能。

An award is made to Northern Arizona University to develop a new Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system that integrates a radio telemetry receiver and data processing system for efficient detection and localization of tiny wildlife radio telemetry tags. The complete design, including parts, assembly plans, software, and training modules for the UAV-­RT system will be open sourced for widespread adoption of the technology, with dissemination and outreach by a user community website and demonstrations at wildlife conferences. The UAV-­RT system will also be disseminated to the public via media outreach, participation in community events, and collaboration with the Upward Bound Program at NAU to engage low-­ income rural high school students. The development goals of this program target rapid and widespread adoption of the technology by the biological and ecological research communities to enable new paradigms of field research with small wildlife species. The technology will benefit both scientific research and society by quickly improving the ability to understand the geographic distributions and habitat needs of many animal species.Current methods of locating and tracking small tagged animals are hampered by the inaccessibility of their habitats. The high costs, risk to human safety, and small sample sizes resulting from current radio telemetry methods limit the understanding of the movement and behaviors of many species. UAV-­based technologies promise to revolutionize a range of ecological field study paradigms due to the ability of a sensing platform to fly in close proximity to rough terrain at very low cost. The new UAV-­based radio telemetry (UAV-­RT) system will dramatically improve wildlife tracking capability while using inexpensive, commercially available radio tags. The system design will reflect the unique needs of wildlife tracking applications, including easy assembly and repair in the field and reduction of fire risk. A team of engineers and wildlife ecologists from Northern Arizona University and Cornell University will design and build the prototype system and conduct field deployments to demonstrate and improve its performance.