We have recently been talking to international conservation charity the Zoological Society for London (ZSL) about a really interesting wildlife conservation project they are running called Instant Detect.
Instant Detect is a multi-sensor alarm system for protected areas; it has been developed to help save critically endangered species such as rhino, elephant and tigers from illegal poaching. Covert, low power sensors are placed in the field to detect illegal poaching of wildlife and send instant alerts to rangers. The rugged system communicates via the satellite network to provide connectivity anywhere in the world. This greatly expands rangers’ capacity to monitor intrusion routes around-the-clock.
Instant Detect has already been recognised as making an important contribution to conservation efforts and only this week ZSL has been presenting the solution as a finalist at the Wildlife Crime Technology Challenge.
We at Nominet R&D have been lending our technological expertise to the Instant Detect team to help them understand various aspects of the Internet of Things (IoT) and how they can use these technologies to further improve their system in the future. Despite looking quite different to cars parks, flooding or our recent work with the BBC micro:bit, ZSL faces challenges similar to many other IoT systems: collecting data from remote sensors, processing that data and then providing useful information to enable better decisions to be made. For Instant Detect we have been exploring these challenges using the same IoT Tools that power the Flood Network and Smart Car Parking system.
If you would like to help ZSL in their mission to protect endangered wildlife please contact: Sophie Maxwell, Conservation Technology Lead, Zoological Society of London [email protected].