Standard Neck Collars

The Savannah Tracking GPS unit is available either as GSM or as Iridium satellite version. The unit is currently one of the most advanced tracking solutions on the market. In addition to GPS location and telemetry beacons it includes continues on-board behavioural monitoring via tri-axis accelerometer linked to automated alarm functions and SMS alerts for mortality or abnormal behaviour alerts.

 

Specs:

Position acquisition:
GPS for positions with user defined averaging function

Activity recording:
12 bit Tri-axis accelerometer.

Communications:
Two way communication via Iridium or GSM data link,

GSM service providers:
Worldwide roaming, including seamless transition between Safaricom, Airtel and Yu in Kenya

Iridium links:
Worldwide coverage

Data Access:
Internet based downloading via the free accompanying Savannah Tracking data manager software. Automated Google Earth links for visualization.

Telemetry location:
Two independent transmitters, one VHF and one UHF transmitter (user defined frequencies: VHF 140- 173 MHz. UHF 433 – 450 MHz)

Lifespan and Weight:
Depends on battery configuration; maximum allowed weight, data recording schedule and habitat At 24 positions and 4 data reports per day 1 Dcell lion (750 gram) = 2 years, 2Dcell zebra (950 gram) = 4 years,

Geo-Fencing:
Fully user definable geo fencing allowing for point, line and polygon fences and automated SMS alarms in case of zone violation.

Poaching/mortality alarms Automated SMS alarms in case of mortality

Both the Iridium and GSM version use an identical shared user interface with similar programing interface. GPS data recorded by similar GPS modules making data full comparable between the two reporting versions

Can be programmed for recording position at fixed intervals allowing for general daily on/off periods. The user can further define the period of GPS averaging allowing for either averaged, high accuracy positioning or fast, less accurate energy saving positioning.

A 12 bit tri-axis accelerometer is evaluated in real time by the collar and activity patterns suggesting unusual behaviour or mortality can be linked to an automated alarm message which contains current location, type of alarm and Google map link. This SMS message will be send by the server to a list of user defined mobile phones numbers. Hence shortly after an animal has stopped moving or started behaving in an unusual way the user can be alerted automatically via SMS with an alarm containing the animal’s current position and type of alarm trigger. The Standard deviation of the ACC data, representing degree of the animal’s activity can be calculated within user defined intervals and transmitted as part of the normal data reporting.

Options are included in the unit. A fully independent, always on, VHF transmitter with separate power supply provide a true back-up for telemetry based location. In addition the unit has an integrated UHF transmitter. This transmitter can be programmed both in terms of on/off periods and transmitter strength even after deployment. The UHF transmitter is further part of the ACC based alarm system where mortality detection will trigger the UHF transmitter.

Allows for data downloading and uploading of new data collection configuration. All communication is done via the free accompanying data manager software (SDM). Uploading of new configurations is done via an easy interface of dropdown menus for parameter settings. General data management capabilities allows for addition of auxiliary information to the GPS data (age, sex, species etc) and general querying and export of data in different formats (csv, kmz, shp). Visualization and animated replaying of the data is done in Google Earth via automatically generated kmz files

The GPS-GSM tag is only 26×55 mm and extremely power efficient allowing this solution to be fitted to all but the smallest birds and mammals We fully custom make our equipment allowing for size and battery configuration to be adjusted to your specific requirements and integrated into, collar, harness or backpack solutions or indeed as implant in ivory and rhino horn. Using state of the art embedded SIM modules for reduced size and enhanced reliability; the GPS-GSM unit transmit data via the GSM mobile phone network. If the unit is outside GSM coverage the data will be buffered in non-volatile memory on the collar and sent as soon as the unit returns to coverage. Hence you do not need perfect GSM coverage in your study area to use our GSM based collars.