Minnetonka, Minnesota, US – Digi International has developed a remote monitoring solution for the Wildlife Research Institute that allows the monitoring of bears in their dens during hibernation.
One particular bear, Lily, hibernated deep in the Minnesota woods where there is no access to landline Internet service. To establish a camera uplink to Lily’s remote den, the Wildlife Research Institute is using the Digi TransPort WR21 wireless router, which provides a high-speed Internet connection over Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network.
“We are allowing the Wildlife Research Institute to gain valuable insights into the activity of bears during hibernation by establishing a 4G connection in the wilderness,” said Joel Young, Senior Vice President of research and development and CTO of Digi International. “We have connected hundreds of thousands of remote devices throughout the world, and this application is a great example of how technology can be used to take control of widely-deployed assets.”
Using the video uplink, researchers could see how Lily prepared for birth during hibernation and how she reacted to the cubs just after birth. A second camera was also installed outside Lily’s den that records activity near the den during warmer months.
Digi also helped the Wildlife Research Institute connect scales that detect when a bear is present in the den. When the bear steps on the scale, weight is recorded and the sensors trigger the camera to begin recording.
“It’s incredible that with a small amount of money and effort, these low-tech devices have been made smart just by adding connectivity,” said Jim Stroner, a research program volunteer and special products development manager with Digi International. “This application is a great example of how connected devices can impact society, and we are extremely pleased to be a part of this exciting and valuable research.”
Digi International is an M2M expert, combining products and services as end-to-end solutions to drive business efficiencies. Digi provides the industry’s broadest range of wireless products, a cloud computing platform tailored for devices and development services to help customers get to market fast with wireless devices and applications. Digi’s entire solution set is tailored to allow any device to communicate with any application, anywhere in the world.
.
