Proposal
Over the course of two years, I conducted original research into improving accessibility for researchers in the field of wildlife telemetry. Wildlife telemetry is a technique used by biologists to track wildlife in the field, which requires the biologist to attach a small radio transmitter to an animal, usually using a specially designed collar, harness, or another means. These transmitters are battery powered and will emit or transmit a regularly timed radio signal that can be received by radio receivers carried by the researchers. Two issues faced by wildlife telemetry researchers are the cost of wildlife telemetry equipment and the inability of hearing-impaired researchers to participate in wildlife telemetry studies. Both problems are created by the inherent nature of the equipment. Should these two issues be solved, two significant barriers to the field of wildlife telemetry would be removed, encouraging greater accessibility to the field of wildlife telemetry. My research demonstrated two potential means of solving these issues. In 2022, I conducted research in designing and building low-cost antennas that could be both constructed and utilized by researchers. These antennas were then tested and compared to the commercial antennas currently used by wildlife telemetry researchers. In 2023, I conducted field tests using commercially available software-defined radios (SDRs). The goal of my experiments was to investigate the possibility of visually displaying telemetry radio signals and comparing reception of those visualized signals to audible reception of the same signals.
Recommended Citation
Danielson, Andrew
(2024)
"Technological Accessibility for Wildlife Telemetry Research,"
The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research:
Vol. 14, Article 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2158-4052.1670
