Anti-poaching system to help wildlife conservation.

Poaching has been around for a long time around the world. Wild animals are targeted
for their tusks, fur, skin and other body parts. Wild elephants, Rhinos, tigers, crocodiles, the list
is endless. Illegal lumbering and felling of protected flora and fauna also fall in this category. In
his lust for money man has stepped into this domain killing these animals mercilessly and
denuding forests contributing to their near extinction state. People and government bodies
striving for prevention of this crime and conservation are often outsmarted by the poachers,
given the vast expanse of the forests. A very large force and huge resource is required to
monitor the area for illegal activities which is unaffordable. This project proposes a system
where using of intelligent sensors that would detect human activity within these forests and
pass such information to a central control center for monitoring so that they can gear up and
muster up for evasive action.
The system is a distributed activity detection system. Three sensor types are proposed.

 Motion detector and infrared camera sensor that can capture images. (figure 1)
 Fence tampering sensor that detects breaks in fences around the forest periphery.
(figure 2)
 Cell phone signal detection sensor that would detect cell phones in use. (figure 3)

All these sensors would be based on low powered microcontrollers. They will be operated on
rechargeable li-ion batteries that will be charged by solar power. As they are more likely to be
deployed on the edges of the forest they will get connected via a cellular network. A Satellite
uplink is better though not doable for this project, considering cost and other factors.
The Camera sensor would have a camera of 2 MP resolution and will be triggered by infrared
detector that will capture the image and upload the picture via GPRS to the central server for
analysis along with the cameras ID or location code.
The Cell phone detector sensor will detect emissions from phones in the 0.8 to 6 Ghz RF range
and a detection distance of 4 meters max. Any signal from any cell phone will trigger a message
from the unit along with its location code to the central server.
Fence tampering sensor will typically by detect current though a wire that is used as the fence,
any break causing disruption will be reported similar to the other two sensors mentioned
above.
All these devices will be water proof and ruggedized, they will be pole mounted, mounted on
trees or other suitable natural structures or on a mobile platform that can be left around
anywhere in the area of interest.
The central server and software running on suitable systems in the control center will collect,
analyze and flag a likely activity in progress for suitable action. Codes sent by each sensor will
help precisely pinpoint the activity location.

Solar panel

sensor deployment map

 camera and/or cell
phone sensor

Figure 3- camera sensor Figure 2- fence break detection sensor Figure 1 cell phone detector sensor