title: WiseEye: Next Generation Expandable and Programmable Camera Trap Platform for Wildlife Research.
abstract: The widespread availability of relatively cheap, reliable and easy to use digital camera traps has led to their extensive use for wildlife research, monitoring and public outreach. Users of these units are, however, often frustrated by the limited options for controlling camera functions, the generation of large numbers of images, and the lack of flexibility to suit different research environments and questions. We describe the development of a user-customisable open source camera trap platform named 'WiseEye', designed to provide flexible camera trap technology for wildlife researchers. The novel platform is based on a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and compatible peripherals that allow the user to control its functions and performance. We introduce the concept of confirmatory sensing, in which the Passive Infrared triggering is confirmed through other modalities (i.e. radar, pixel change) to reduce the occurrence of false positives images. This concept, together with user-definable metadata, aided identification of spurious images and greatly reduced post-collection processing time. When tested against a commercial camera trap, WiseEye was found to reduce the incidence of false positive images and false negatives across a range of test conditions. WiseEye represents a step-change in camera trap functionality, greatly increasing the value of this technology for wildlife research and conservation management.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Sajid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nazir
authors.affiliation: The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.|Hedmark University College, Campus Evanstad, Evanstad, Norway.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Newey
authors.affiliation: The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: R Justin
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Irvine
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Verdicchio
authors.affiliation: The James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.|School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gorry
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fairhurst
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: René van der
authors.initials: RV
authors.lastname: Wal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000502:physiology; D016287:Computer Peripherals; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D058998:Remote Sensing Technology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D055814:Wilderness