Together with conservation specialists we collaboratively develop cost-effective technologies to improve wildlife monitoring and protection.

What do we do and how?

The latest IoT technologies empower conservationists to envision better methods for observing, monitoring and measuring the nature.

Real-time and large-scale data on environmental and animal behaviour enables rapid responses to changes, observing effects of climate change on our ecosystems and allows for implementation of informed strategies for wildlife conservation.

We work collaboratively with conservation specialists to evaluate the current state of technology and envision better, more cost-effective and optimized solutions for the particular challenge. Our interdisciplinary engineering team designs the solution, prepares the prototypes and assists in field-testing even in most challenging environments. Optimized and tested solutions are then manufactured and made available to the conservation community.

Our field of expertise spans from electrical and mechanical engineering to wireless communications, manufacturing and data analysis and vizualization.

1. We provide sensor solutions, ranging from small battery and solar powered units to multi-sensor observation stations.
2. We construct camera based systems, off-grid cameras to take snapshots of wildlife, motion triggered video recordings for underwater or land based applications.
3. We create edge-computing devices, capable of automatic video recognition, responding to sensor data and adaptively performing monitoring.
4.We implement global communication technologies, 3G/4G for urban environments, satellite Iridium modems for most remote areas and LoRaWAN systems for low power and long range clusters of values.
5. We integrate tracking and geolocation capabilities, based on GPS or other wireless systems.
6. We design minimally invasive attachment methods for animal trackers.

About our approach

Our unique combination of multi-disciplinary engineering experts and in-house manufacturing allows us to create custom solutions that respond to the specific conservation challenge within few weeks.

Our extensive experience in building devices with lean development and rapid prototyping methods, integrating cutting-edge technologies from the market with a range of in-house developed modules, help us to deliver future-proof and cost-effective results.

Technologies we use and their benefits

PiRA Zero power management solution

A universal solution for solar powered IoT devices handling charging, battery monitoring, high current power output, power scheduling, battery protection, standard LiPo cell usage, RTC and timer for wakeup and wireless communication.

The Things Network

Worldwide community driven open LoraWAN network technology, enabling rapid roll-out of long range coverage for sensors. We deploy gateways, networks and sensors.

Voltaic Systems

High-quality solar panels for sensors and small devices with long life. We integrate their panels with our power management and charging circuits for robust off-grid devices.

Raspberry Pi

Embedded computing modules with open source software support, enabling us to rapidly implement sensor processing, image recognition and other edge-computing solutions.

Resin.io

Management system for industrial embedded solutions, allowing us to efficiently implement, upgrade and monitor a large number of embedded devices even in most remote locations with minimal network connectivity.

Projects

We work for and together with our clients from Conservation field: the Arribada, Initiative, Zoological Society of London, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Institute of Zoology, Penguin Watch. Together we strive to create technology-enabled solutions for the identified conservation challenges. Here you can read about some of the latest use-cases.

Arribada PS-C (pit-stop camera)

Durable and water-proof IoT turtle cameras and tags are used to track the movement and capture video on nesting green sea turtles to best understand their behavior and feeding habits and collect the information necessary to design better strategies for their conservation. Pit- stop Camera is capable of taking up to 10000 photos or 1200 minutes of video at depths of up to 500m and respond via LoraWAN when on surface.

AAMP Arribada Arboreal Monitoring Platform

Camera based monitoring platform with WiFi connactivity and solar power for remote area deployment that was deployed in Manu, Peru in tropical rainforest to monitor the wildlife passing through the canopies of the trees.

APMP Arribada Penguin Monitoring Platform

Rugged solar-powered camera unit for deployment on Antarctica, one of the world’s coldest and most remote areas. It is providing year-round periodic snapshots of the surrounding area with edge-processing capabilities, monitoring annual penguin migration and nesting and exposing global warming effects and changes to the environment.

AFMP Arribada Fresh Monitoring Platform

Solar-powered standalone water level monitoring and camera device for remote areas with satellite and LoraWAN connectivity for instant deployment anywhere in the world.

Development, Manufacturing and Consulting

Our conservation IoT technologies systems development, manufacturing and consulting includes:

Mechanical engineering

Electronics and firmware development

Software development

Deployment procedure preparation and Field testing

Device manufacturing

On-site support

Contact us today with your conservation challenge and let's work together to find a solution!

Contact us!

Institute IRNAS is supported by:

The Shuttleworth Foundation