The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universities in the United Kingdom.
Tracking Poachers using BLE Beacons
Exploring the Suitability of BLE Beacons to Track Poacher Vehicles in Harsh Jungle Terrains
Tracking technologies are currently limited to relying on satellites or cellular towers, for environments that do not permit access to these signals very few viable alternatives exist. This project implements and extensively tests the use of Bluetooth low energy (BLE) as a method to track vehicles. It works by mounting Bluetooth beacons beside a road and placing a receiver concealed somewhere inside the vehicle. As the vehicle drives past the beacon the receiver and beacon are momentarily in range, the receiver then stores a unique ID from the beacon and when the vehicle is then in an area with GSM signal an SMS is sent containing the unique IDs of the beacons that have been detected. The design of the tests is based on deploying the system into a jungle environment as this project is to be prototyped with the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah, Malaysia. The results offer insights for how effective Bluetooth beacons are in a detection situation for where the beacon and receiver are in range for a short period of time as well as how different obstructions will affect the range and strength of the signal.
Team
Funding
EPSRC (ECR Capital Award)
Cardiff University
Cardiff University is the only Welsh member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities.
Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is part of the UK’s official development assistance (ODA). Its aim is to support cutting-edge research and innovation that addresses the global issues affecting developing countries.
Partners
Danau Girang Field Centre
Danau Girang is a collaborative research and training facility managed by Sabah Wildlife Department and Cardiff University.
Outcomes
Conference
Karan Juj, Charith Perera, Exploring the Suitability of BLE Beacons to Track Poacher Vehicles in Harsh Jungle Terrains, Proceedings of the IEEE 6th World Forum on Internet of Things (WF-IoT), , New Orleans, LA, USA, 2020, pp. 1-6 
