GPS World

Tag: wildlife tracking

  • u-blox, CTT collaborate on penguin conservation effort

    u-blox, CTT collaborate on penguin conservation effort

    Image: u-blox
    Image: u-blox

    u-blox has partnered with Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT), a specialist in wildlife telemetry and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, in an initiative aimed at conserving Antarctic wildlife.

    The collaboration has introduced a cloud-based positioning solution to monitor the activities of Adélie penguins in Ross Island, Antarctica. The venture began when Point Blue, an American wildlife conservation organization, reached out to CTT to create a tracking mechanism that could study the movements of young Adélie penguins. These birds are among the five penguin species inhabiting Antarctica and are considered crucial for environmental studies due to their sensitivity to ecological shifts caused by climate change and human activities, such as commercial fishing.

    Due to the challenging conditions in Antarctica, tracking penguins required a device that was lightweight, non-intrusive, energy-efficient, and cost-effective in terms of data transmission. This was particularly important given the small size of the penguins, their rapid movement, and their extended underwater dives.

    u-blox provided its CloudLocate positioning service to meet these stringent requirements, which led to the development of CTT’s Penguin Iridium GNSS tracker. The tracker is fixed to the penguins’ backs and uses one of u-blox’s compact GNSS modules. The CloudLocate service processes the positioning calculation in the cloud rather than on the device to save energy and enable prolonged monitoring periods without the need for frequent device replacements.

    The tracker operates by sending a concise 50 B message, which captures essential location data during the brief moments when a penguin surfaces for air. This level of efficiency is critical in minimizing the costs associated with satellite connectivity, which is often prohibitively expensive in such remote regions.

    This partnership marks an advancement in wildlife conservation technology by allowing for non-invasive, continuous monitoring of Adélie penguins and providing vital data for assessing the impacts of environmental changes. CTT aims to extend this tracking solution to a wider range of wildlife research and conservation projects to demonstrate the potential for technological innovation to contribute significantly to ecological preservation efforts.

  • Quectel GNSS module wins Product of the Year

    Quectel GNSS module wins Product of the Year

    Quectel Wireless Solutions’ LC76G GNSS module has been named a Product of the Year by Electronic Products. The annual awards recognize products that represent a significant advancement in technology or its application, an exceptionally innovative design, a substantial achievement in price/performance, improvements in design performance, and a potential for new product designs/opportunities. 

    Image: Quectel
    Image: Quectel

    The LC76G module is a compact, single-band, ultra-low power GNSS module that features fast and accurate location performance. The module can concurrently receive and process signals from all satellite constellations including GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo and QZSS. 

    Image: Quectel
    Image: Quectel

    The LC76G has an internal surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter and integrated low-noise amplifier (LNA), which can be connected directly to a passive patch antenna and provides filtering against unwanted interference. With a compact size of 10.1 mm × 9.7 mm × 2.4 mm, the footprint of the LC76G is compatible with other industry solutions, as well as Quectel’s legacy L76 and L76-LB modules. 

    The LC67G is designed for battery-operated, ultra-low power GNSS devices, such as wearable personal trackers, wildlife and livestock tracking, toll tags, portable container trackers, as well as several traditional markets such as shared mobility and low-cost asset trackers. 

  • Seen & Heard: White giraffe, approaching iceberg

    Seen & Heard: White giraffe, approaching iceberg

    “Seen & Heard” is a monthly feature of GPS World magazine, traveling the world to capture interesting and unusual news stories involving the GNSS/PNT industry.

    Photo: Lukassek/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: Lukassek/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    The light at the end of the tunnel

    The city of Prague started testing a system of GNSS repeaters to prevent the loss of satellite signal in the city’s tunnels. The system, which should make life easier for drivers who rely on car navigation technology, is being tested in Prague’s Blanka tunnel. If it proves successful, the municipality wants to install the devices in other strategic locations around the city, especially at intersections as well as tunnel entries and exits.

    Photo: A. Ellis/USGS
    Photo: A. Ellis/USGS

    On the hot spot

    While permanent monitoring receivers are scattered about Hawaii’s active volcano sites, additional GPS receivers are being deployed during the ongoing eruption of Kilauea. In this photo taken Dec. 21, 2020, a Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicist deploys receivers on the caldera floor in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park to measure changes in ground motion. The gas plume from the summit eruption within Halema‘uma‘u crater is visible in the background.

    Photo: Ishaqbini Community Conservancy
    Photo: Ishaqbini Community Conservancy

    Last but not least

    The last white giraffe known in existence now sports a GPS tracker, reports BBC News. The male giraffe has a rare genetic trait called leucism that causes the unusual color. The giraffe was tranquilized in November and the tracker placed on one of its horns. Tracking will help protect it from poachers as it grazes in Kenya’s savannah near the Somalia border. The white giraffe is alone after a female and her calf were killed by poachers in March 2020, according to Ishaqbini Hirola Community Conservancy.

    Photo: British Antarctic Survey/ESA
    Photo: British Antarctic Survey/ESA

    The biggest loser

    In July 2017, an iceberg more than twice the size of Luxembourg broke off Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf and began traveling the Southern Ocean. Looming in its path is South Georgia Island, home to numerous species of wildlife threatened by the massive iceberg, designated A-68A. Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel satellites observed pieces breaking off of A-68A in December, each large enough to receive its own designation.