![\"\"](\"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Avian-research.jpeg\" "\\"Avian")
<\/a>Providing technological support for BGSU researchers to collect data on bird and bat migrations are, from left, Dr. Jeremy Ross; UT engineering students Mohammad Wadood Majid, Vamshi Gummalla, Amin Jarrah and Golrokh Mirzaei; and Dr. Mohsin Jamali, who posed with project equipment.<\/p><\/div>The UT College of Engineering is partnering with Bowling Green State University on exactly that. In a study that\u2019s part of the Coastal Ohio Wind Project and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, UT is providing the technological support for Bowling Green researchers who are collecting data on bird and bat migrations. Despite their use of sonar to skirt obstacles, bats can be affected by barometric pressure changes around the turbines\u2019 revolving blades.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mohsin Jamali, UT professor of electrical engineering and computer science, explained the three-pronged approach the department is taking to assist BGSU researchers: \u201cWe\u2019re using acoustics, recording the bird and bat calls for analysis. Then infrared photography provides the X and Y coordinates \u2014 where the animals are. Finally, modified marine radar gives information that includes elevation and travel velocity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The goal, he added, is to design a comprehensive monitoring system, then miniaturize it for use in offshore turbines so that migration data can be continuously transmitted to researchers. Presently, the equipment is carried from site to site in a small truck. <\/p>\n
Dr. Jeremy Ross, BGSU wildlife biologist, has collected two seasons of data being analyzed by UT engineering. He spoke for this story after pulling an all-nighter assembling data in a deployment area at the mouth of Crane Creek in eastern Lucas County, on the border between Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge and Magee Marsh Wildlife Area.<\/p>\n
As he explained, \u201cWe\u2019re using these various tools to assess what\u2019s going on at the lakeshore transition zone, an area known globally for songbird migrations. It\u2019s also a breeding ground for other species.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the expense of projects like this lies in analyzing the data. We don\u2019t have the staff to spend hundreds of hours tracing by hand the blips on a radar screen that represent birds or bats, so we needed the development of an algorithm that could track the blips and provide the heading, altitude and relative size of the target. That\u2019s where the computer engineering comes in, being able to deal with many gigabytes of data.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJeremy tells us what he wants to see, then we produce it,\u201d added Jamali, who has nearly a dozen doctoral, master\u2019s and undergraduate students working with him. \u201cWe\u2019ve developed software in-house that\u2019s superior to the commercial version.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the process, the team may end up creating technology less expensive than typical monitoring equipment, making it attractive to other research teams with relatively small budgets.<\/p>\n
Jamali noted that applications for the software go further. He\u2019s involved in a bird strike project, which addresses the increasingly headline-grabbing problem of collisions between aircraft and birds or bats in flight. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll the work on this project is applicable to bird strikes as well,\u201d Jamali said, adding that he\u2019s working on a related proposal with Dr. Peter Gorsevski of BGSU, the principal investigator for the turbine project. Drs. Joe Firazado and Vern Bingmant are the other BGSU team members.<\/p>\n
Wind turbines will become common in this area, Ross said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to have the facts early so that animal migrations can be addressed. Ohio is taking the right tack by emphasizing pre-assessment before wind turbines are built.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UT researchers in the College of Engineering are providing technological support for BGSU investigators to collect data on bird and bat migration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18533\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}