2040 Newsletter

Manufacturing partner for The Cacophony Project

Kia ora,

In this newsletter we have a new audio dashboard, news on DOC AI Cam integrations with Celium and NZ Autotraps. Along with on-going improvements to the solar battery pack and an update on the High Interaction Rate Trap.

Since the last newsletter we've published:

• a case study on how Orkney Islands are using DOC AI Cams. This is our biggest installation. Some of these stoat videos are less than 1s long.
• Lawrence Smith's comparison of two popular trail cameras with the DOC AI Cam

It was to great meet so many people on the DOC stand at Fieldays back in June. Unfortunately the weather conspired against me attending the Predator Free NZ hui in New Plymouth (I had a 3 hour flight from Christchurch to Christchurch). Apparently it went well, despite the power cut.

I did manage to make it to Taranaki last month for a hui to discuss the design of a trial testing different technologies to detect possums in low numbers (DOC AI Cam, Critter Solutions OWL-Camera, Hark Audio, and dogs). It will be fascinating to see the results of this. It's due to start later this year.

Next week I'll be at the SONZi workshop in Wellington.

Finally I've included a couple of interesting videos from our customers: a bird catching a rat on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula and wallabies fighting in the Bay of Plenty.

Kā mihi nui,
Shaun Ryan
2040 Limited, manufacturing partner for The Cacophony Project.

A bird (maybe ruru) doing some pest control work on the Whangaparāoa Peninsula

Wallabies fighting in the Bay of Plenty. Shared by the Rotoehu Ecological Trust.

The DOC stand at Fieldays

DOC AI Cam

Audio dashboard

The Cacophony Project has released an audio dashboard, summarising the birds that have been detected. You can select this by clicking on the audio link at the top of the dashboard on the Cacophony Portal. 

Progress with integrations

We recently received a node and hub from Encounter Solutions which has helped us test the camera's integration with the low bandwidth Celium network. When integrated, the DOC AI Cam runs the AI locally and communicates any animals that have been identified along with the battery voltage to a Celium node via the (blue) auxiliary port. The node sends this information through the Celium network and the results can be seen on the Celium portal. We are identifying and fixing bugs with this integration.

We are working to make the Celium setup easier. We've introduced the ability to upload a video and test the AI on the camera, so you can confirm that the camera recognises the animal and the communications with the node works as expected.

This can also be used to test the integration between the camera and traps, for example, with the Cacophony High Interaction Rate trap. NZ Autotraps are testing this integration with the AT220. This will reduce bykill and will be an alternative to the AT520 which has integrated AI and connectivity.

Other improvements

We've also rolled out other improvements:

• our battery monitoring has better accuracy and faster reading on startup.
• We have faster visits reporting which is particularly useful for projects with lots of cameras but will also make it easier to add other features.

Solar Battery Pack

We have enhanced the design of the solar battery pack. If it is too cold to charge the batteries and the sun is shining the battery pack will use the energy from the solar panel to warm the batteries to a temperature where they can start charging. We have also developed a more robust testing routine which should improve the reliability of the battery packs.

Manufacturing update

We have caught up on our camera orders and have almost caught up on our battery packs. We now have good alternatives for the hard to source components, so we can continue production and get any new orders fulfilled quickly.

The new audio dashboard.

High Interaction Rate Trap

The Cacophony Team have continued to work on the High Interaction Rate Trap since our last newsletter. They have been testing the new sensor trigger and are happy with how it's performing: it has shown significant improvement in daytime triggering.

The trap has a new circuit board that supports two-way communication between the trap and the DOC AI Cam. This will allow the camera to update the software on the trap, send configuration and commands and receive status information from the trap.

The field trials have expanded with 2 traps in Christchurch using the AI trigger and one being deployed in the harsh winter environment of Milford Sound. We are now gearing up for production.

They have also completed the initial reliability testing of the automated cage door. This will be used to either release a non-target animal, or open the cage to a 3rd party kill mechanism.

Over the coming months we are working on the two-way communications between the trap and the Cacophony servers, via the camera, and testing the automated cage doors.

The automatic cage door that opens and closes remotely.