Acoustic detection

trackIT Systems is working on new automatic and digital methods to improve the detection of wild animals worthy of protection. Large parts of terrestrial vertebrates such as birds, amphibians or mammals, but also some insect species (grasshoppers, cicadas) make characteristic sounds that can be used to recognize the species. This characteristic is used for the observation and research of corresponding species, in which experts recognize and locate the animals in the field. Automatic audio recorders are becoming increasingly popular for recording bats in particular, but also for birds, producing huge amounts of data, much of which has to be examined manually afterwards.

As we need to obtain reliable data quickly and over a large area in the rapidly advancing biodiversity crisis, this approach is not sensible, as the subsequent analysis of the data incurs high costs in terms of time and money and the availability of experts trained for this task is limited.

Recording and AI-based evaluation of animal sounds

The acoustic detection of wild animals

trackIT Systems, funded by the Distr@l program of the Digital Ministry of Hesse, is developing AI-supported recognition of vocalizations of various animal species on autonomous sensors in the field.

Solar-powered sensor units consisting of a mini-computer (Raspberry Pi), the microphone and power unit and an LTE module are installed at any location.

Recognized bat species

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Recognized bird species

Locations in Hesse and RLP

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BirdEdge

Principle of real-time recognition of animal voices

The stations run easy-to-use software that contains neural networks (AI) for recognizing animal sounds (4). The network is optimized in size and architecture for use on minicomputers and enables the classification of recorded animal sounds in real time with relatively low computing power requirements.

Classification is performed on the live audio stream. This means that sound files do not have to be stored and analyzed after recording. This approach enables significant savings in terms of recorded and stored data, as it is possible to define on the devices the species and number of reference recordings to be stored per day (5). For example, not every robin or pipistrelle detected needs to be saved as a recording file.

However, if a very rare species is detected, it should be possible to have this recording checked by experts.

audio-tracker:audio - Real-time recognition of animal sounds

Permanent recording of birds and bats
Configurable storage of reference recordings
Data transmission in real time
Support for field work
E.g. site selection for net catches

In use

Transmission and visualization in real time

The classifications are transmitted in real time to a remote server, where they are stored in a database with a time stamp, recognized animal species and confidence level (how certain the neural network was during recognition) and immediately displayed visually.

Expandable with sound dummy

For the detection of particularly rare bird species, it may be necessary to lure them with the help of a sound dummy. The audio tracker can also be equipped with a loudspeaker so that recordings can be played at defined times and for a defined period of time. The playback events and the reactions to them can be viewed in real time from home.

3000+ observations per hour per transmitter and station

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650 individuals observed (bats, birds, snakes, hedgehogs, ...)

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Locations at wind turbines

Road construction projects

In figures

Our experience

The trackIT system has been developed and tested by the founders over the last 6 years, initially at the University of Marburg as part of the Nature 4.0 project and since 2023 in the company they founded. Since 2019, the founders have been accompanying its use in intervention procedures such as road construction or wind power processes and in research projects. Our customers and project partners range from planning offices to nature conservation associations (NABU, LBV) and authorities (NLWKN, HLNUG).

Acoustic recording in our projects

trackIT Systems’ technology can enable continuous monitoring and detection of wildlife in conservation projects. Our solutions offer automated radio telemetry and AI-powered methods for acoustic detection of birds, bats and amphibians to provide accurate data for infrastructure and conservation projects.