Flipping through field notebooks…
This project aims to understand the limitations of Automated Radio Telemetry Systems (ARTS) in the context of complex, mountainous landscapes. Environmental variables, such as steep topography, vegetation density, and subject-specific behavior, degrade radio signal strength and localization accuracy. Standard signal decay models frequently fail to account for signal attenuation caused by physical obstructions and complex environmental structures, despite advancements in telemetry technology for wildlife tracking and fine-scale study. Utilizing the existing ARTS grid at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) as a case study, this study aims to identify methods for controlling and accounting for these elevation variations and foliage densities, especially when considering flying organisms such as the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (Selasphorus platycercus). Both traditional trilateration and a novel Bayesian particle filter model (equipped with a Generalized Additive Model) were used to estimate point locations given signal strength, time, and node reception, and while trilateration slightly outperformed the new Bayesian model, there remains much to explore in the realm of radio telemetry model development.
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