TernCam: an automated energy-efficient visual surveillance system

The Matsu Islands in Taiwan are an archipelago of islands surrounded by the sea. Some of the islands are chosen as the breeding places by many kinds of migratory birds. Among these sea birds, one of the critical endangered species is the Chinese Crested Tern (Thalasseus bernsteini). In the past, its habitual ecological behaviour has been inspected by manual observation with trivial information. Thus, we developed a wireless real-time visual surveillance system to monitor the terns, so the in-situ situation could be captured immediately. It is expected that the system can unravel the mysterious ecological behaviour of the tern. Meanwhile, in order to be suitable for the circumstances of wild islands, the system is designed with a specific packet transmitting strategy capable of increasing image validity while decreasing power consumption. The experimental results show the system is feasible for ecological monitoring and able to effectively preserve the image completeness.