Innovative Features of BlueSky Telemetry™ DataTraX™

Scheduling:

GPS deployment period is fully programmable. There are three different deployment modes:
- Simple: the GPS collar can be programmed to take a location once every 4s through to once every 24 hours.
- Complex - same as above but different schedules can be programmed for day and night and/or for different seasons. Both Simple and Complex modes are ideal for habitat location studies.
- Real time – the GPS collar can be programmed to take locations at pre-determined real times so all collars in a group will turn on at exactly the same time enabling detailed and meaningful proximity studies to be undertaken.
The UHF Transmitting (Tracking) Beacon can be separately programmed to be on for limited periods of the day and the pulse rate can also be varied. Both features enable considerable savings in battery power. The UHF Tracking Beacon will always remain active even after the GPS receiver has stopped drawing energy. The length of time the beacon remains active can also be programmed.
Similarly, the UHF Receiver in the collar can also be programmed to be active for specific time periods and the return pulse rate can also be varied in length.

All collars use wireless communication for setup and downloading data.
- For AgTraX™, wireless communication can be achieved over short distances up to 25m in the lab or in the field.
- For WildTraX™, wireless communication can be achieved over distances ranging up to 2000m in the field.
- For CellTraX™, wireless communication is achieved through the GSM network.
Data download is fast. Ten locations are downloaded each second in “Position” mode and contact time with the animal can therefore be minimized. For example, one month of data collected at 1 hour intervals will be downloaded in <8 seconds.
Communication with the collar is not interrupted while the GPS receiver obtains a location.
The collar can be interrogated at any time to confirm and/or change settings and obtain a visual confirmation that valid GPS location data are being collected.

The GPS maximum horizontal/vertical error to be accepted and the number of satellites to be used in a calculation can all be pre-set.
The minimum and maximum time that the GPS receiver takes to acquire locations can be set to optimize data collection in different habitats.
Temperature sensors are accurate to 0.1° Celsius.
The activity sensor measures the angle of deflection in degrees from horizontal in the pitch and roll planes. Accurate to 4 degrees.
All collars are calibrated with a new set batteries prior to shipping and all subsequent power demands in the collar can be monitored.

The data collected is in latitude and longitude format using the WGS84 datum. The WGS84 location data will require transformation to match any local datum used.
GPS data can be collected as a position fix or in a RINEX outputted format. In RINEX outputted format, the data can then be differentially corrected using post-processing software.