The wildlife monitoring camera that we developed in collaboration with The Arribada Initiative for Penguin Watch made it through the Antarctic winter! It has captured periodic snapshots, enabling monitoring localised penguin populations and climatic change altering their environment.
Tens of thousands of King Penguins in South Georgia are monitored by the camera developed for Penguin Watch by Arribada & IRNAS
Source: The Arribada Initiative
With our engineering expertise, we have combined cutting-edge technologies available on the market, like the Raspberry Pi Camera Module and Voltaic Systems high-quality solar panels, with some custom-developed modules, to build a cost-effective open-source solution with edge-processing capabilities.
The Arribada Penguin Monitoring Camera did its job in the world’s coldest and most remote area, proving that open-source tech can bring great value even in the harshest environments. It did return back home a bit sun-tanned, but the Nanuk case protected the inside components perfectly.
After overwintering in Antarctica our cameras are coming back yellow. UV has changed the hue and we now have a retro coffee stained look going on. pic.twitter.com/pMcPGF8ef3
— Alasdair Davies (@Al2kA) March 20, 2019
Source: The Arribada Initiative
The captured photos of a Gentoo penguin rookery are simply fantastic. For more check the full timelapse video – A Year in Antarctica.
Working in an open-source fashion enables us to build on existing knowledge, meaning we can deliver custom solutions faster and in a cost-effective manner. This is how not only penguin monitoring cameras came to life, but many other tech for wildlife projects too – like turtle cameras that can survive up to 500m under water, or Angelshark acoustic tag attachments. Currently, we are collaborating with Smart Parks on another very exciting project The Open Collar – a tracking collar hardware and software for environmental and wildlife monitoring that plans to incorporate another open source solution with our partner Arribada, the Arribada Horizon GPS tag.
Are you working on a conservation challenge that could be tackled better with the appropriate use of technology? Read more about our work in the conservation field and get in contact to discuss your idea! The future is collaborative and open-source!
