Homepage: https://erg.abdn.ac.uk/wise/

WiSE (Wireless Internet Sensing Environment) is researching and testing new techniques for monitoring that can be used to understand how our natural world is being impacted and changing as the Digital Economy develops, providing essential information that allows people to introduce new ways of operation that can positively impact the natural environment.

The WiSE platform combines new digital techniques to support a range of new applications. The project uses digital cameras to record high quality imagery - both still images and video content. Advanced coding methods detect and compress relevant imagery. The project has designed a system that allows retrieving data using low-cost satellite networking. This flexible approach represents a new paradigm for collecting environmental data enhancing accuracy and quality, with the potential to revolutionize data collection. The techniques are expected to find application in many arenas allowing future support of a range of applications.

The WiSE project is:

• Developing an effective, digital platform for non-invasive monitoring;
• Research video compression and processing algorithms to enable automated selection and subsequent display of desired imagery;
• Researching and developing mechanisms for transport, and management of imagery captured in remote areas;
• Exploring user-driven exemplar scenarios to use the platform and evaluate the impact of using imagery in each scenario.
• Exploring the potential for using the new techniques to enable transformational impact.

The first application of the WiSE platform is to a remote upland area to assess the impact of changes in a critical aspect of deer management. This deployment took place in July 2013 and is exploring a new approach for biodiversity management in an extremely remote location, with data collection via satellite.

A series of stand-alone camera traps is also being developed during the project. These use some of the methods developed for the WiSE platform, but seek to transfer this to a low-cost solution that can be used in a series of field trials to monitor wildlife in different locations.

• control/ - Sensor node control application
• contiki/ - Initial development work on a Contiki-based sensor node
• sql_proj/ - Experimental development work using SQL based data store