"Shazam for Bats & Birds" - Mentor meetings notes

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This thread will be used to document the exchanges between mentor & mentee of the project Shazam for Bats & Birds, @audevuilli.

After each meeting you can add your notes as a reply to this thread, so you can have all your notes in one place. Remember the forum is a public place, don’t document any personal information.

Here’s a suggested format for taking notes, feel free to copy and paste with your notes for each meeting.

Mentor meeting 1

  • Date:
  • Attendees:

Agenda

  1. Recap from previous meeting (or expectations & goals if this is your 1st meeting)
  2. This week’s assignments: questions, doubts, challenges?
  3. Timeline: are we on track?
  4. Contacting experts: do we need help?
  5. Any other questions or comments?

Actions for next meeting

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Meeting Notes #1

Date: 31 March 2022
Attendees: @audevuilli (mentee), @akoum (mentor)

Expectations & Goals

Mentor-Mentee Relationship:

  • Help keep track of progress. Discuss problems and difficulties. Define and set goals for next meetings.

Project Goal

  • Have a Works-Like-Looks-Like (Pre-Production) Prototype at the end of the 15 weeks. Having documentation for Shazam4BB written that would allow people to build the device and test it at home. On-going work on Shazam4BB GitHub Repo and Shazam4BB Webpage.

Working Steps

  • BirdNet and Bats Classification Algorithm are running on an RPi.
  • Choice of microphones according to audio quality (AudioMoth, Dodotronic, Others).
  • Datastream over WiFi, LoRa, Cellular to a database (MQTT). Decide the connectivity aspect. Currently, run on WiFi.
  • Visualisation of the data in real-time on a web platform.

Project Questions

  • Understand the power requirement of the system.
  • Understand the tradeoff between optimisation vs. accuracy.
  • Contribution and/or collaboration from communities in Asia, Africa, Latin America. Current AI models are optimised for bird and bat species from North America, Europe. Could models for Asia, Africa, Latin America, Oceania be developed and implemented?

OHM Timeline

Weekly Schedule - Documentation on-going work
  1. Implement BirdNet on a RPi using the BirdNet-Pi Repo. Write script to save the classify data in a .csv file. Write script to do audio sampling (eg. 1min recording every 5min).
  2. Test the BirdNet-Pi.
  3. Configure AudioMoth and Build EM272 Microphone (or a similar microphone recording UltraSonic range) based on @dd4wh documentation.
  4. Implement BatNet along BirdNet on RPi.
  5. Compare power consumption, quality and accuracy of the 3 microphones.
  6. Configure MQTT Database. Communication between RPi and MQTT Server over WiFi. Write Script to wakeup RPi, Connect to WiFi, Send Data to MQTT Server.
  7. Look at other means of communication (LoRa RPi Hat, Cellular IoT)
  8. Work on Website. Friendly User-Interface. MQTT Database or another one?
  9. Holiday
  10. Project Demo on Friday 10th and Saturday 11th June.
  11. Project Public Showcase on Thursday 16th June
  12. Calculate Power Requirement for the system. Look at powering options using solar, wind. Tradeoff between data sampling rate and power requirement.
  13. Debrief. Next Steps. Feedback. Closing.

Actions for Next Meeting

  • Check if there is possibility to use two microphones (one for audible sounds, one for ultrasonic sounds) on the RaspberryPi or other microcontroller devices.
  • BirdNet running on the RPi. Classification results store in a result folder, .csv file.
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Meeting Notes #2

Date: 14 April 2022
Attendees: @audevuilli (mentee), @akoum (mentor)

Progress Update

  • Implement scripts to record audio files and generate spectrograms on Raspberry Pi with Dodotronic Microphone.
  • Implement BirdNet Algorithm on Raspberry Pi to analyse the recorded audio files.

Question

  • Use the sox library to record and process the audio files. What about using other sounds library such as ecasound, arecord? Which library is as lightweight as possible? How do libraries compare in terms of time and energy?

Actions for Next Meeting

Technical Aspects

  • Work on scripts to automate the recording of audio files. Work on scripts to have the option to select recording length and time of day.
  • Ask for AudioMoth device. When will the USB-AudioMoth be delivered? Does someone in the lab has a spare one, I could borrow?
  • Order components to try with DIY EM272 Microphone based on open-source project by @dd4wh

Documentation Aspects

  • Think about contributions to the project. What, How, Who? Write first draft.
  • Contact people working on similar projects. Discuss arguments for/against modularity.

Keep in Mind

  • Revise workflow every 2 weeks. What needs to be adapted?
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