A Miniature Micropower Cell Phone for Tracking Migratory Animals

该奖项支持开发一种能够与蜂窝电话通常使用的蜂窝发射塔接收器通信的微型无线电标签。该设备本质上是一个精简版的手机，质量足够低(2克)，可以连接到候鸟或其他小动物身上。为了节省电力，装置中的定时器将使其保持休眠状态，直到预先编程的日期，发射器将激活并尝试与附近的手机发射塔联系。由于该设备将在较长时间内保持关闭，然后激活的时间仅够与最近的接收器联系，因此一个微小的电池预计将在长达两年的时间内为几次接触提供足够的电力。每个单元将传递一个唯一的识别号，以便单个标记的鸟类可以链接到特定位置。在联系之后，PI将通过电子邮件从蜂窝网络提供商接收标签身份和位置的通知。该标签将用于研究迁徙和扩散，这两种行为在动物中几乎都是普遍的行为，特别是鸟类。尽管这些行为很重要，但它们对种群动态的影响仍然是生物学中的主要悬而未决的问题，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。该战略预计将把鸟类定位到半径5公里以内，对于定位单个小型迁徙动物来说，这是一个完全前所未有的精度水平。该项目是生态学家和电气工程研究人员的合作项目，将让本科生和研究生参与合作学习机会，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.