Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT
When new roads are built or wind farms erected, it is the planners’ task to survey the land in advance, since it is not uncommon that the breeding sites of meadow birds are located there. So that clutches are not destroyed, e.g. during mowing, finding this out beforehand is important.
In contrast to the predecessor project “DeViSe”, which concentrated on the corncrake and the woodcock, the follow-up project “DeWieSe” focuses on meadow birds. These include, for example, the Eurasian curlew and the lapwing. Here, the challenge lies in detecting and localising a greater number of bird species, some of which are less vocal or only vocal when in flight. The project team will be able to study three breeding seasons over the course of the project, each lasting from April to July. The sensor system developed in “DeViSe” will be further expanded to record the bird calls. Among other things, the aim is to achieve a better recording quality and to extend battery life by using solar panels.
Together with its project partners, Fraunhofer IDMT in Oldenburg aims to put the sensor system into practice. To this end, the sensors are also to be networked with each other so that they can be connected to a cloud. This will enable biologists to access the measurement data in the future when in the office or on the go.
With its long-standing expertise in audio technology, the team at Fraunhofer IDMT is primarily responsible for the localisation algorithms and the further development of the sensor system.