Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Remote Monitoring
Computers and technology are playing an increasing role in monitoring our wildlife.
Zoological Society London (ZSL) is using Raspberry Pis in Africa to save rhinos from poach-
ers. They are using the computational power of the Raspberry Pi to analyse images to
detect poacher activity and raise an alert over a satellite data connection. They're also
deploying Raspberry Pis in the sea to monitor sharks.
I used a similar setup to the one in this chapter to collect information about blue tits for the
BBC Springwatch programme; for details you can go to the blog at
www.bbc.co.uk/
Using computers as data loggers to make measurements is not new, but the increase in
computing power means monitoring can be more sophisticated. Better digital communica-
tions mean that it's easy to collect data from around the world in real time. The falling cost
of hardware is opening up the opportunity to gather massive data sets. If more people get
involved in citizen science, and collect and contribute data through the Internet, new scien-
tiic discoveries can be made. Technology has made it easier for everyone to become a
scientist, with the potential to be a part of the next earth-shattering discovery.
Alternatively, you could adapt the sensors to monitor small mammals, and perhaps use it to
photograph rodents, or even keep an eye on your pet hamster.
In this project, you will detect bird activity with a pair of infrared light beams that are broken
when a bird enters or leaves the nest box. One beam is mounted just inside the nest box, and
the other is mounted just outside. You will write code that determines bird direction based
on the order the beams are broken and unbroken. his chapter introduces some fairly
advanced background information, which will help you understand how you can build your
own projects in the future. However, if you just want to build a techno-bird box, you can just
follow the steps and type in the complete program listing.
Building Invisible Light Beam Sensors
he irst step is to build the light sensors. Light beam sensors ofer a way of detecting objects
without making physical contact. You could use them in another project that detects other
animals or for one of the suggestions in the “Over to You” section at the end of this chapter.
