Embodiments of the disclosed subject matter generally relate to a cost- and power-efficient system and device for monitoring marine animals.
Changing climatic conditions and human activities are affecting sea life. Efforts are currently underway to study these changes by sensing environmental parameters (e.g., water density, temperature, pressure, oxygen level, pollutants, etc.), as well as activities of marine animals. Current devices for measuring environmental parameters or activities of marine animals are typically expensive, complex, and bulky. For example, one study involved using baited remote underwater video recording. This solution is expensive because it requires specialized underwater video cameras configured to trigger video recording when a marine animal eats the bait.
One particular problem encountered in measuring environmental parameters or activities of marine animals is how to get the measured data from sensors within the water to land. One solution to provide continuous data communication between the sensors and land employs a hybrid communication technique in which data is transmitted using acoustic waves while the sensor is underwater and using radio frequency waves when the sensor is at or near the surface of the water. Because marine animals typically spend most of their time below water, this solution consumes a large amount of power because the generation of acoustic waves while the sensor is underwater consumes a significant amount of power. Thus, this hybrid communication technique requires a large battery to maintain a long underwater operational life. Because the device attached to the marine animals should be as unobtrusive as possible, increasing the size of the battery is particularly disadvantageous in this environment.
Another solution involves using cables, such as optical fiber cables, to communicate sensor data from underwater sensors to land or a buoy. The use of cables can be problematic due to marine animals or debris in the water that can sever the cables. Yet another solution involves placing sensors on marine animals and then later removing the sensors for offline reading of the sensor data. This is a very resource-intensive in terms of time and costs, and the data cannot be accessed until the marine animal is located and the senor removed.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods for monitoring marine animals that exhibits low power consumption and provides sensor readings on a timely basis relative to when the sensor readings were taken.
According to an embodiment, there is a system for monitoring marine animals includes a monitoring tag attachable to a marine animal. The monitoring tag includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, at least one communication interface, and at least one sensor. The processor is configured to store readings from the at least one sensor in the memory. The system also includes at least one communication receiver having a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and at least one communication interface. The at least one communication receiver is configured to float in water. The processor of the monitoring tag is configured to determine, using the at least one sensor, whether the monitoring tag is within a communication range for radio frequency communication with the at least one communication receiver, and to transmit, via the at least one communication interface of the monitoring tag, the stored readings to the at least one communication receiver responsive to the processor of the monitoring tag determining that the monitoring tag is within the communication range for radio frequency communication with the at least one communication receiver.
According to another embodiment, there is a tag for monitoring a marine animal. The monitoring tag comprises a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, at least one communication interface, and at least one sensor. The processor is configured to store readings from the at least one sensor in the memory. The processor is configured to determine, using the at least one sensor, whether the monitoring tag is within a communication range of at least one communication receiver, and to transmit, via the at least one communication interface, the stored readings to the at least one communication receiver responsive to the processor determining that the monitoring tag is within the communication range of the at least one communication receiver.
According to a further embodiment, there is a method for monitoring a marine animal using a monitoring tag attached to the marine animal. The monitoring tag obtains a reading using at least one sensor of the monitoring tag. The reading is stored in a memory of the monitoring tag. A processor of the monitoring tag determines whether the monitoring tag is within a communication range for radio frequency communication with at least one communication receiver. The stored readings are transmitted via at least one communication interface of the monitoring tag using radio frequency communication to the at least one communication receiver responsive to the processor determining that the monitoring tag is within the communication range for radio frequency communication with the at least one communication receiver.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate one or more embodiments and, together with the description, explain these embodiments. In the drawings:
The following description of the exemplary embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings identify the same or similar elements. The following detailed description does not limit the invention. Instead, the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims. The following embodiments are discussed, for simplicity, with regard to the terminology and structure of systems and devices for monitoring marine animals.
Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with an embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the subject matter disclosed. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” in various places throughout the specification is not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
A system for monitoring marine animals will now be described in connection with
As will be appreciated from
There are a number of ways for the monitoring tag 105A-105X to determine whether it is in communication range of one of the communication receivers 110A-110X, including using the communication interface 215 itself and/or using a pressure sensor. For example, the communication interface 215 can scan for radio frequency broadcasts from one or more of the communication receivers 110A-110X and when the received signal strength and/or signal-to-noise ratio of the broadcast is at or above a threshold value, the processor 205 can determine that the monitoring tag 105A-105X is within communication range of one of the communication receivers 110A-110X. Referring again to
Additional aspects of the monitoring tag will now be addressed in connection with
In one embodiment the processor 205 employs a priority order for determining which communication interface to employ. In one example this can involve having the wireless macro network interface having the highest priority, the LoRa interface having an intermediate priority, and the Bluetooth interface having the lowest priority. In this example, once the monitoring tag 105A-105X determines it is in communication range of one of the communication receivers 110A-110X, the processor 205 first attempts to communicate using the wireless macro network interface, and if this is not possible or not successful, the processor 205 then attempts to communicate with the LoRa interface. If neither of these are possible nor successful, the processor 205 then attempts to communication using the Bluetooth interface. It should be recognized that when the wireless macro network interface is employed, the monitoring tag 105A-105X communicates directly with a communication receiver in the form of a wireless macro network radio tower, whereas the LoRa and Bluetooth interfaces are used to communicate directly with one of the water-based communication receivers 110A-110X.
In the illustrated embodiment the communication interface 215A is a wireless macro network, and accordingly a user identification card, such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) or Universal SIM (USIM) is operatively coupled to the communication interface 215A so that the monitoring tag 105A-105X can access and communicate over the wireless macro network. As will be described in more detail below in connection with
The at least one sensor 220 can comprise any number of sensors, which are selected for whichever parameters that are desired to be measured. In one embodiment, the sensors can include a temperature sensor, pressure sensor, accelerometer, and a magnetometer. Additionally, the monitoring tag can include a battery voltage sensor to determine the current voltage produced by the battery 230.
The monitoring tag 105A-105X can also include a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) communication interface (e.g., a GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, and/or Beidou communication interface) for obtaining the current location of the monitoring tag 105A-105X when it is at the surface of the water (due to the relatively low strength of GNSS signals the monitoring tag must be very close to or at the water surface to successfully receive the signals).
The readings are stored in the memory 210 of the monitoring tag 105A-105X along with a timestamp of when the readings were obtained. The timestamps can be obtained from a clock in the monitoring tag, which can be started using a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) characteristic, on which a specific value can be written to make the monitoring tag 105A-105X start operation. Alternatively, the clock can be synchronized before starting operation of the monitoring tag 105A-105X, and then the monitoring tag 105A-105X maintains the clock. Further, sampling intervals can be set for obtaining readings from each of the sensors, and the sampling interval of one or more of the sensors can be set to zero or off if data is not be to collected from the particular sensor, which saves power when the particular sensor is not being used.
The monitoring tag 105A-105X can further include an ambient energy collection device 235, which can be a solar panel and/or a kinetic motion energy collection device (e.g., a piezo electric device that generates energy due to bending). The ambient energy collection device 235 can be employed to charge the battery 230, thus prolonging the useful life of the monitoring tag 105A-105X.
In an embodiment, the monitoring tag 105A-105X can be attached to a marine animal using an adhesive that is selected so that it detaches from the marine animal around the end of the rated lifetime of the battery 230. Thus, for example, a first side of the monitoring tag 105A-105X has an adhesive and is configured for attachment to the marine animal and the battery 230 and other electronics can be arranged on a second side of the monitoring tag 105A-105X, the second side being opposite of the first side. The particular adhesive that is used can be determined by simulating the desired water environment and testing one or more adhesives until one is identified that fails around the useful lifetime of the battery to be employed. The monitoring tag 105A-105X is designed to be buoyant, and thus detaching the monitoring tag 105A-105X from the marine animal results in it floating to the water surface so that the readings can be offloaded by communication with one of the communication receivers 110A-110X. This is particularly advantageous for marine animals that do not, or only infrequently, rise within the water close enough to the surface to successfully communicate with one of the communication receivers 110A-110X.
The monitoring tag 105A-105X described above is particularly advantageous because it requires a relatively low amount of power to communicate its readings to a communication receiver 110A-110X compared to using ultrasonic communications. If, however, more frequent reporting of readings is desired, the monitoring tag 105A-105X can also include an ultrasonic communication interface. In this case, the monitoring tag 105A-105X will initially attempt to communicate the readings using one or more radio frequency interfaces and if that is unsuccessful then the ultrasonic communication interface is employed.
It should be recognized that
The components of the monitoring tag 105A-105X can be arranged on a flexible substrate. This is particularly advantageous because it allows the monitoring tag 105A-105X to conform to a shape of the marine animal to which the monitoring tag is attached, which decreases the likelihood that the monitoring tag 105A-105X is inadvertently detached as the marine animal moves through the water.
Additional details of the communication receivers 110A-110X will now be addressed in connection with
It should be recognized that
The particular manner of routing within the network of communication receivers 110A-110X and to the ground station 405 can be accomplished in a number of different ways. The communication receivers 110A-110X can be configured with a fixed route through the network of communication receivers 110A-110X. Alternatively, the communication receivers 110A-110X can be configured as a mesh network in which connections between the communication receivers 110A-110X are formed and removed consistent with prevailing communication conditions. In one embodiment the communication receivers 110A-110X employ a priority scheme for determining how to communicate the readings to the server 410. For example, a communication receiver 110A-110X can initially attempt to communicate the readings using the wireless macro network interface to communicate with ground station 405, and if that is unsuccessful the communication receiver 110A-110X can attempt to communicate the readings using the network of communication receivers 110A-110X. Continuing with this example, the LoRa interface can initially be employed to communicate with another one of the communication receivers, and if that fails the Bluetooth interface can be employed. If a communication receiver 110A-110X is unable to communicate readings directly with ground station 405 or directly with one of the other communication receivers, the readings will be maintained in storage until a connection is made and the readings are successfully communicated to either the ground station 405 or another one of the communication receivers.
The server 410 stores and processes the readings and can output them to an end-user device 420, which can be, for example, a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet, and/or a smartphone. Specifically, the server 410 can expose an API/Script to receive sensor readings and the associated time stamps via network 425 from the monitoring tags 105A-105X, communication receivers 110A-110X, and/or ground station(s) 405. The server 410 stores the sensor readings in a database and processes them for output via a user interface on user device 420. The user interface can, for example, display a list of all monitoring tags stored in the database and allow selection of any of the monitoring tags in the list. Selecting a monitoring tag can produce a list of sensors having readings stored in the database for that particular monitoring tag. The user interface allows a user to then select a sensor, input a date/time range in order to obtain a table and graph of the sensor readings over time and/or a table and map of locations stored by the monitoring tag (the map can include, for example, arrowhead lines showing movement of the marine animal based on the timestamps).
An exemplary method for monitoring a marine animal using a monitoring tag attached to the marine animal will now be described in connection with
If the processor 205 determines that the monitoring tag 105A-105X is outside of a communication range for radio frequency communication with at least one communication receiver 110A-110X (“No” path out of decision step 515), the readings are maintained in the memory 210 and the processor 205 continues to determine whether the monitoring tag 105A-105X is within a communication range for radio frequency communication with at least one communication receiver 110A-110X (step 515). Alternatively, if the monitoring tag 105A-105X is equipped with an ultrasonic communication interface, the monitoring tag 105A-105X can transmit the readings using the ultrasonic communication interface when the monitoring tag 105A-105X is outside of a communication range for radio frequency communication with at least one communication receiver 110A-110X.
In order to reduce drag, the monitoring tag 105A-105X is preferably planar. Accordingly, the monitoring tag 105A-105X requires a planar antenna. Because the locations of the monitoring tag 105A-105X and the communication receivers 110A-110X change over time, the planar antenna is preferably quasi-isotropic, i.e., it has a quasi-omnidirectional radiation pattern. Because antennas having a perfectly isotropic radiation pattern are not achievable in practice, a quasi-isotropic antenna is employed, which those skilled in the art will recognize is an antennas whose gain deviation (i.e., the difference between the maximum and minimum gain) is less than 7 dB across the entire radiation sphere. Quasi-isotropic antennas are also sometimes referred to as being near-isotropic. An example of such an antenna is illustrated in
High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS) software was used to simulate this antenna. The resonant frequency mainly depended on the lengths of the dual monopoles L3+L4 and L6+L7. By adjusting the lengths of the monopoles, the surface currents could have equal magnitude and a 90° phase delay with each other. It was found that impedance matching slightly deteriorated as length L5 increased. At the same time, parameter L5 made an important contribution to the quasi-isotropic radiation of the antenna. When parameter L5 was 14 mm, the gain deviation at 2.4 GHz was the best at about 4.75 dB, and the reflection coefficient was also acceptable at the operating band of 2.4 GHz. Other antenna parameters also affected the operating frequency and radiation pattern, and the optimized parameters of the proposed antenna are shown in the table below.
It should be recognized that these particular parameters are merely examples and other parameters can be employed. For example, if the surface area available for the antenna is greater or less than that for the design above, these parameters can be scaled. For example, if the available surface area is one-half of that of the design above, each of these parameters can be divided by two. Similarly, if the available surface area is twice that of the design above, each of these parameters can be multiplied by two.
Testing of this antenna demonstrated a communication range of 120 m in air and 12 m in water (the shorter range in water is due to signal losses caused by the water).
In order to evaluate the monitoring system in practice, the antenna's performance in a flexed state was evaluated. The antenna was affixed on a foam cylinder surface with R1=30 mm radius. The impedance matching of the flexed antenna was compared with that in the non-flexed state and it was found that bending operation of the antenna did not affect the resonant frequency, and the −10 dB bandwidth remained at about 0.76 GHz (2.24 GHz-3.0 GHz).
Simulated 3D radiation patterns of the antenna at 2.4 GHz in planar state and in a flexed state were obtained. The gain for the planar case was 2.0 dB and the gain deviation was 4.75 dB. For the flexible case, the gain remained 2.2 dB and the deviation became 6.37 dB, which indicated that the antenna maintains good flexible performance with quasi-isotropic radiation. Integrating the antenna with a balun resulted in the gain being 1.46 dB and the deviation remaining at 7.4 dB, and thus the radiation of the antenna remained quasi-isotropic. This demonstrates that employing an additional balun does not affect the quasi-isotropic radiation characteristic of the proposed antenna.
The antenna can be formed in the following manner. Initially, Ti/Au is deposited on a Si carrier wafer. This material was chosen for ease of removal of the device at the end of the fabrication process. PDMS (thickness=100 μm) can then be spun onto the Si wafer, followed by curing at 75° C. for 75 minutes (
An example of one configuration of a communication receiver is illustrated in
Similar to the antenna of the monitoring tag 105A-105X, it would be desirable for the antenna of the communication receiver to be quasi-isotropic (i.e., having a quasi-omnidirectional radiation pattern). One example of such an antenna is illustrated in
It should be recognized that these particular parameters are merely examples and other parameters can be employed. For example, if the surface area available for the antenna is greater or less than that for the design above, these parameters can be scaled. For example, if the available surface area is one-half of that of the design above, each of these parameters can be divided by two. Similarly, if the available surface area is twice that of the design above, each of these parameters can be multiplied by two.
As will be appreciated from
In one example, the cuboidal structure consists of Vero Black Plus (εr=2.8, tan δ=0.02) having a thickness of ts=0.47 mm. In a direction perpendicular to the vertical walls of the cuboidal structure, the antenna stack-up comprises three more layers, in addition to the base Vero material. These layers include a 30 μm Kapton (εr=3, tan δ=0.007) layer (for a low-loss material suitable for inkjet printing of the metallic antenna), and a metallic layer (for antenna geometry implementation), which is followed by a 90 μm Kapton layer (to act as a waterproofing layer). This arrangement facilitates the production process, as well as protects the antenna from the water environment. The conductor part of the antenna can be fabricated by inkjet-printing using nano-silver ink having a conductivity of, for example, σ=5.0×106 S/m and a thickness of ta=0.005 mm after curing.
This antenna was subject to testing single-ended equipment by integrating a balun. A Perfect Electric Conductor (PEC) was employed at the bottom of the cuboid structure to replicate a Sub Miniature version A (SMA) connector in simulations because it is mostly metallic. A cone structure (illustrated in
The communication receiver can be constructed using, for example, a Objet260 Connex 3D printer by Stratasys® in two independent steps. A thin layer (e.g., 30 μm) of Kapton tape can attached temporarily to a glass slide for ease in inkjet printing. The conductor part can then printed by, for example, a Dimatix Materials inkjet printer (DMP-2831) using nano-silver ink, which can then be cured, for example, at 150° C. for one hour. The Kapton tape can then be removed from the glass slide and attached to the 3D printed cuboid. Another 90 μm Kapton tape can be wrapped on the cuboid for waterproofing purpose. The conical structure can then be integrated with the cuboidal structure.
The disclosed embodiments provide a system and device for monitoring marine animals. It should be understood that this description is not intended to limit the invention. On the contrary, the exemplary embodiments are intended to cover alternatives, modifications and equivalents, which are included in the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Further, in the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a comprehensive understanding of the claimed invention. However, one skilled in the art would understand that various embodiments may be practiced without such specific details.
Although the features and elements of the present exemplary embodiments are described in the embodiments in particular combinations, each feature or element can be used alone without the other features and elements of the embodiments or in various combinations with or without other features and elements disclosed herein.
This written description uses examples of the subject matter disclosed to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the same, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the subject matter is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/831,938, filed on Apr. 10, 2019, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR ACQUIRING WIRELESS DATA FROM MARINE ANIMALS,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/IB2020/053418 | 4/9/2020 | WO | 00 |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62831938 | Apr 2019 | US |