Mrudul Godbole
06-08-2011, 09:50 PM
Some good news to help in wildlife protection, as IIITA and IIS Bangalore Scientists work on ‘Wireless Sensor’ to protect wildlife.
Posted: Aug 01, 2011 at 0355 hrs IST
Allahabad : Preventing animals in forests from crossing over into human habitations, creating an alert when poaching takes place and detecting unwarranted cutting of trees in forests — these are some of the features of a complex but ambitious wireless sensor-based system that scientists from Indian Institute of Information Technology (Allahabad), Indian Institute of Sciences (Bangalore) and a couple of universities from the US are working on to protect wildlife and forests.
A team comprising scientists from IIITA, IISc and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, had visited Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh in May to assess the feasibility of such a project on the ground.
Following the visit, the team was assured that they were moving in the right direction. The team will make more visits and a conference on the subject is scheduled in Panna in December, where a few on-field demonstrations may possibly be shown to experts from various parts of the world.
Professor M Radhakrishna of IIITA, who led the team, said the park was well managed. “There is only one village within the park area. But we may need to protect animals from entering villages that are located on the periphery,” he said.
While the leg work on the project has already begun, it is yet to be formally sanctioned by the Department of Information Technology of the Government of India. The overall budget of the proposed two-year project has been pegged at over Rs 3 crore. Considering the complexities involved, the project may take up to three years to be completed.
There will be three major components of the project — “virtual fence” (VF), “trail surveillance” (TS) and “forest-patch monitoring” (FPM) — aimed at developing a holistic forest protection system.
IIITA director, Dr M D Tiwari, said the system will be based on highly developed sensors called Motes. These sensors are strong enough to detect sound at the minutest levels. They can also trace movement of animals using thermal energy generated in the act.
“Scientists from Ohio and Cornell Universities are also working on the project. The complex part is how to differentiate between various types of sounds in a forest setting, where several sounds get generated at the same time. Can we be able to detect the difference between rustling of leaves and cutting of trees? That is the question,” said Radhakrishna.
The team leader added that the VF would also ideally have a system where an animal veering out of the forest is “driven back” into its habitat. “Under normal circumstances, when villagers come to know about an intrusion of an animal, they generally beat drums and light torches to drive it back into the forests. We want the VF to be able to generate such sounds and light so that the animal does not cross over into human habitations. It is not going to be a linear system and we will have to integrate many complex aspects,” said Radhakrishna.
The TS component will help in tracking the movement of animals, while the FPM aspect will help in identifying those areas in the forest when some unwarranted activity is going on. Such systems will also be helpful in preventing animals from reaching railway tracks or even roads, where they can be killed by a fast approaching train or a vehicle.
Radhakrishna insisted that lot of work was yet to be done. “But if it is successful, it would be of great national interest,” he said.
Posted: Aug 01, 2011 at 0355 hrs IST
Allahabad : Preventing animals in forests from crossing over into human habitations, creating an alert when poaching takes place and detecting unwarranted cutting of trees in forests — these are some of the features of a complex but ambitious wireless sensor-based system that scientists from Indian Institute of Information Technology (Allahabad), Indian Institute of Sciences (Bangalore) and a couple of universities from the US are working on to protect wildlife and forests.
A team comprising scientists from IIITA, IISc and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehra Dun, had visited Panna National Park in Madhya Pradesh in May to assess the feasibility of such a project on the ground.
Following the visit, the team was assured that they were moving in the right direction. The team will make more visits and a conference on the subject is scheduled in Panna in December, where a few on-field demonstrations may possibly be shown to experts from various parts of the world.
Professor M Radhakrishna of IIITA, who led the team, said the park was well managed. “There is only one village within the park area. But we may need to protect animals from entering villages that are located on the periphery,” he said.
While the leg work on the project has already begun, it is yet to be formally sanctioned by the Department of Information Technology of the Government of India. The overall budget of the proposed two-year project has been pegged at over Rs 3 crore. Considering the complexities involved, the project may take up to three years to be completed.
There will be three major components of the project — “virtual fence” (VF), “trail surveillance” (TS) and “forest-patch monitoring” (FPM) — aimed at developing a holistic forest protection system.
IIITA director, Dr M D Tiwari, said the system will be based on highly developed sensors called Motes. These sensors are strong enough to detect sound at the minutest levels. They can also trace movement of animals using thermal energy generated in the act.
“Scientists from Ohio and Cornell Universities are also working on the project. The complex part is how to differentiate between various types of sounds in a forest setting, where several sounds get generated at the same time. Can we be able to detect the difference between rustling of leaves and cutting of trees? That is the question,” said Radhakrishna.
The team leader added that the VF would also ideally have a system where an animal veering out of the forest is “driven back” into its habitat. “Under normal circumstances, when villagers come to know about an intrusion of an animal, they generally beat drums and light torches to drive it back into the forests. We want the VF to be able to generate such sounds and light so that the animal does not cross over into human habitations. It is not going to be a linear system and we will have to integrate many complex aspects,” said Radhakrishna.
The TS component will help in tracking the movement of animals, while the FPM aspect will help in identifying those areas in the forest when some unwarranted activity is going on. Such systems will also be helpful in preventing animals from reaching railway tracks or even roads, where they can be killed by a fast approaching train or a vehicle.
Radhakrishna insisted that lot of work was yet to be done. “But if it is successful, it would be of great national interest,” he said.