Published 18:14 IST, December 9th 2019
Researchers develop special phones to keep tabs on frogs in the area
Researchers have come up with a unique device 'FrogPhone' that allows them to keep a tab on frogs in the area and monitor them, according to the reports.
Researchers have come up with a unique device 'FrogPhone' that allows them to keep a tab on frogs in the area and monitor them. The FrogPhone is the world's first solar-powered remote survey device that transmits environmental data to the observation team through text messages. They conduct real-time remote surveys over the phone. These findings are published in the British Ecological Society Journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution today. The device features a new concept that allows researchers to call a frog habitat anytime from anywhere, once the device has been installed.
Device accesses 3G/4G cellular mobile data
The device has been developed at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra and the University of Canberra in partnership with the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and Region Frogwatch Program and the Australian National University.
The FrogPhone accesses 3G/4G cellular mobile data services and works on the characteristic wideband audio of mobile phones which acts as a carrier for frog calls. The real-time frog calls can be transmitted via the 3G/4G network service directly to the user's phone. It supports clear sound quality and minimum background noise that allows the users to identify the calls of different frog species.
FrogPhone collects real-time information
The device is waterproof and it combines both passive acoustic and active monitoring methods. It also contains digital thermal sensors to automatically collect environmental data such as air and water temperature in real-time. It can also accept incoming calls after three seconds. The period of three-second allows to activate temperature sensors and measure the battery storage levels. All the readings then get automatically messaged to the caller’s phone. A trial was conducted in Canberra from August 2017 to March 2018. The researchers used spectrograms and graphs that allow comparing the visuals of the spectrum of frequencies of frog signals to study the recording viability of the device.
Updated 19:13 IST, December 9th 2019