Dawn Chorus Proof Of Concept Proposal.

Proof of Concept

The Proof of Concept will achieve the following:

  1. Show the system works
  2. Create an audio experience for a single recording for a single location
  3. Provide information to estimate on: 1.1 the number of AudioMoths devices needed for a given area 1.2 the accuracy of frequency and phase lock needed between AudioMoths 1.3 the accuracy of achievable GPS sync using the chirp method 1.4 the accuracy of the sound source algorithms available 1.5 the quality of ambient sound suppression available 1.6 the immersivity of headphone & speaker test environments

1. Equipment

The PoC will be performed at least twice in at least 2 locations providing at least 4 different recorded environments.

  • 3 pods containing
    • AudioMoth recorders (preferably GPS locked)
    • metarex GPS, temperature & humidity recorders (one per AudioMoth)
    • Battery power
    • Memory cards to cover the duration of the recording (30m)

2. Setup

Lab tests will be performed to determine a synchronisation mechanism to lock the devices to the GPS signal. The current idea is for each metarex pod to emit a modulated frequency sweep that can be recorded by all the pods. The chirp will identify the pod and the metarex GPS recorder will record the GPS time of the emitted chirp.

Software testing should enable the identification and synchronisation of the pods to be evaluated until a reasonable accuracy can be achieved.

3. Recording

The recordings will run for around 30 minutes for each proof of concept and will result in 3 streams of audio data and 3 streams of metadata for each recording.

4. Post processing

Post processing of the result will attempt to isolate sound sources and to plot graphs giving metrics for the numbered requirements.

5. Results

The preliminary results will be restricted and made available to project participants for evaluation on the metarex website. If the results are signed off by the participants, these results will be made publicly available.

6. Timeline (time (T) measured in weeks)

  1. {T=0} Hardware & Funding available
  2. {T+5} pods constructed and setup complete
  3. {T+6} recording complete
  4. {T+10} post processing complete
  5. {T+13} preliminary results review period
  6. {T+15} results published & phase 2 documented

7. Provisional costs

1
2
3
4
5

Metarex:
  £3000  4wk   Full time engineering @ £150/day
  £ 450  3off  AudioMoth
  £ 225  3off  Metarex GPS kits
  £150   1off  AWS processing fees (estimate)