eGame - Feasibility Study Project eGame

The current feasibility study can be seen as the first phase of a three phase interdisciplinary project called "Development of an integrated telemetry system for game management in matters of traffic security, protection forest and private forest based on navigation, communication, remote sensing, and GIS methods".

Short Description

Current wildlife telemetry systems by means of bearing transmitters unfavorably disturb the animal’s behaviour and are time consuming. Newly developed systems based on GPS and GSM technology actually have a relatively low data rate due to a restricted energy supply.

Therefore, a telemetry system based on GPS and GSM technology has been developed which allows a generally higher data rate due to additional energy generation while the system is fixed on the animal. Furthermore, it enables the flexible adjustment of the data rate to external conditions such as weather and actual whereabouts of the animal. A camera mounted on the telemetry collar provides additional significant information on the animal’s behaviour.

The present feasibility study was designed to clarify whether the proposed design of a long-term data acquisition system for the remote monitoring of game is practicable. It focused on specifying the user requirements, solutions for critical technical components, and basic testing of system components. Special respect was given to the sufficient energy supply for the whole system as well as mechanical requirements. In a three-week field test the technical components and the collar material were investigated concerning their robustness.

With the proposed design of the device a solution which is stable, yet flexible and adaptable to the size of the animal, has been found. The use of flexible solar cells will be the key point for the durability of the system over the lifetime which is expected to be longer than one year.

An energy balance has been calculated for an optimal system profile - a design which represents the currently known user requirements in the best possible way without compromises. It resulted in a sufficient energy supply for the whole system. Innovative aspects, like power supply by solar panels and fuzzy or interactive adjusting of the system, present a major improvement to common telemetry systems and thus meet the requirements of the users.

Project Partners

Coordinator

JOANNEUM RESEARCH, Institute of Digital Image Processing - Dr. Mathias Schardt

Partner

Wildökologische Waldwirtschaftliche, Naturräumliche Planung & Beratung - Dipl. Ing. Martin Forstner

Contact Address

JOANNEUM RESEARCH - Institute of Digital Image Processing
Univ.-Prof.Dipl.-Forstw.Dr. Mathias Schardt
Wastiangasse 6
A-8010 Graz
Tel.: +43 (316) 876/1754
Fax: +43 (316) 876/1720
E-mail: mathias.schardt@joanneum.at
Web: www.joanneum.at