SIMULATION, DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT OF MOBILE WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS FOR MIGRATORY BIRD TRACKING

This thesis presents CraneTracker, a multi-modal sensing and communication system for monitoring migratory species at the continental level. By exploiting the robust and extensive cellular infrastructure across the continent, traditional mobile wireless sensor networks can be extended to enable reliable, low-cost monitoring of migratory species. The developed multi-tier architecture yields ecologists with unconventional behavior information not furnished by alternative tracking systems at such a large scale and for a low-cost. The simulation, development and implementation of the CraneTracker software system is presented. The system is shown effective through multiple proxy deployments on wildlife and has been operational for 10 months at the time of writing. Adviser: Mehmet C. Vura