Beegle Solar-Flight Tracking Collar for Cheetah

Description

Our Solar Collar is a light-weight (approx 250g) solar powered Iridium tracking device for animals that sets a new standard in animal welfare. The unit has a flexible transmission schedule which can be updated over the air. Equipped with an internal battery which supplies power at night and during overcast/rainy days or when in the shade. The battery can power the device for several weeks without any sun and recharges when sun is available. It also has an intelligent power management system which reduces power usage as the battery depletes. This ensures no position data is lost.

By making use of the Iridium satellite constellation for communication, no terrestrial infrastructure is needed (base stations, repeaters, etc.). The position data from the animal is transmitted directly to satellites and made available on a web-based tracking portal which can be viewed at any time, from anywhere. This significantly reduces the costs, administration and environmental impact of tracking compared to traditional VHF methods where vehicles, large antennas, personnel and time are needed. Since positions are transmitted at scheduled intervals (not continuously), our devices are fitted with a VHF transmitter so that the animal can easily be found if hiding in bush/grass near to it’s last transmitted location.

Since animal security is a major concern, our VHF transmitter is fully configurable over-the-air (satellite). This allows control over a transmission schedule, where the transmitter only runs for selected times of the day (or all day, or completely off). The transmission frequency, pulse duration and pulse interval are all configurable over-the-air.

All our trackers include:

• GPS receiver
• Iridium satellite transceiver
• VHF transmitter, fully configurable over-the-air, including frequency, pulse duration, pulse period and on/off schedule
• Activity sensor from 3-axis accelerometer sampled continuously at 25Hz
• High-efficiency solar cell to keep the battery charged
• Rubberised collar that is both comfortable and highly durable