Wildlife Tracker

MSD IIP14347

Final Presentation

Team P14347 “Arrow Guys” & Introduction

Member Role

Eric Peterson Team Leader / EE

Alex Pelkey ME

Joseph Ciccarello EE

Frank Meola EE

Timothy Nash ME

Agenda• Project Description• System Architecture• Design Summary• System Testing Results• Project Evaluation• Future Work• Questions

Current & Desired State• Injured animals can travel substantial distances, may be difficult

to track• Game which has been shot and cannot be found leads to more

animal deaths and inefficient hunting• Wildlife Tracker will detach from arrow and remain attached to

animal• Handheld device will provide GPS location of animal

Stakeholders

• Primary Customer: Dr. Eli Saber• Faculty Guide: Art North• End Users: Bow Hunters• Other: Hunting Stores/Distributors, Game Wardens,

Environmental Activists, Linx Technologies• MSD Team 14347

Project Deliverables

• Durable re-attachable tracking device that connects onto an arrow (Proof of concept)

• Handheld user device that monitors the location of the GPS attachment

• Intuitive, easy to understand User Manual

Customer Requirements

Engineering Requirements

Functional DecompositionLocate Wildlife

Attach to Arrow

Access Arrow

Attach to Wildlife

Does not alter Shot

Detach from Arrow

Link to Animal

Remains attached during Flight

Protect Functional Integrity

Safeguard Electronics

Indicate Location of Attachment Device

Transmit

Signal

Activate

Transmitter

Receive

Signal

Activate

Receiver

Process and

Interpret Signal

Morphological AnalysisSolutions

Sub-Functions

 

1 2 3 4 5

Attach to Arrow Spring-Dowel Pin Clip Adhesive Magnet Tether

Attach to Wildlife Barbed Hook Pronged Tip Spring-Activated 

ClampRetractable Prongs

Transmit/Receive Signal Transponder WiMAX Cell Phone Signal Radio Waves

Indicate Location Audio Speaker LED Screen Visual-Blinking LED

Cellphone Integration Dial Indicator

Protect Functional Integrity

Enclosure Potting Compound Airbags?

Activate Transmitter Accelerometer On/off switch Animal Circuit 

Activation    

Physical Architecture

Bill Of Materials

Design Summary - Enclosure• 2-Sided Enclosure

1. Electronics including GPS, antennas, transceiver, and battery2. Barbed hook side is solid plastic, captive metal hook

• High Strength tether joins the two, snap-fit/adhesive allows attachment to arrow

Design Summary - Enclosure• Custom ferrule with O-ring groove replaces stock ferrule• O-rings are placed behind the arrow as well as in the O-ring

groove of the custom ferrule• Maximum weight governed by front of center analysis

Design Summary – Barbed Hook

• Based on fishing hook/harpoon• Solid plastic housing absorbs shock from impact• Easily Manufacturable (WaterJet)• ~6 lbs holding force in deer hide

Design Summary – User Device

• Standard plastic enclosure with cutouts• Holds LCD, battery, transceiver, and Raspberry-pi

Arrow Attachment Design (Electrical)

• Proof-of-concept: required embedded GPS with antenna to send coordinates to a local transceiver• Transceiver sends coordinates over radio waves to

receiving end for processing and interpretation• Electronics powered with lightweight LiPo battery

User Device Design (Electrical)

• Proof-of-concept: Constructed circuit to receive and interpret data• Transceiver in user device receives coordinates over the

air• Sends them to Raspberry Pi for processing, prints them

on LCD Screen, can be used with GPS in smart phone to locate arrow attachment and wildlife

Arrow Flight Testing

• Test Procedure Summary• Bow sights calibrated for regular arrow• 5 shots fired from 20 meters of each design• X and Y Distances measure from bulls-eye• Calculate mean, median, standard deviation…etc

Flight Test Attachments

• 400 Grain Carbon Arrows with 125 Grain Field Tips• 65lb Martin “MAG CAT” Compound Bow

Attachment Weight Total Weightgrams grams

Arrow  - 34.02Tapered Obround 43.1 77.12Obround 55.15 89.17Tapered 45.75 79.77Streamline 55.23 89.25

Arrow Flight Test ResultsAverage Distance

mm X Y DistanceBaseline 19.45 12.44 19.01 16.34Tapered Obround 399.12 12.44 35.56 35.39Obround 833.66 25.90 233.02 232.74Tapered 350.92 55.65 52.30 51.60Streamline 270.34 22.14 34.45 33.77

Standard Deviation (mm)

Conclusion:Streamline shape

affected the shot less than the other proposed

designs and made the least amount of noise.

Barbed Hook/Enclosure Testing

• Test Procedure Summary• 20 meter test field with deer hide target• Arrow attachment loaded onto shaft• 3 shots fired from 20 meters• Accuracy, arrow penetration depth, and holding force were

recorded

Barbed Hook/Enclosure Testing Results

• 4, 6, and 8 pound hook holding forces were recorded with a spring scale

• Arrow flight was not affected as much as initial flight testing due to lightweight plastic used

• Attachment to the arrow must be perfected in terms of consistency

• Penetration depth of the arrow was not affected when the enclosure detached properly

Electrical Testing Results

• Problems

1. Unreliable GPS data

2. Difficult interfacing with components

3. Unfamiliar characters displayed

4. Difficulty transmitting long distances while battery powered

• Solutions

1. Order new receiver

2. Consulted Tim from Poseidon Systems

3. Remove autostart program

4. Transceiver needed a better ground than battery provided

Electrical Testing Results

• Short-Distance Test (1st test):• User Device inside 3rd floor lab (test hunter)• Arrow Attachment device (deer) was brought outside, lost signal

once device reached SAU (~1/8 mile)• Long-Distance Test (2nd test):• Brought User Device to the Red Barn• Slowly drove around Andrews Drive with Arrow Attachment

device (deer)• Lost signal around Perkins Rd (~1mi)

• Conclusion: metal in building heavily attenuates signal• Clear skies – huge benefit• Buildings around RIT and other cars act as interference

Long Distance Results

• Red X = Location of User Device• Dots = Path of Car (Deer)• Lost signal near circled area

Problem-Solving Process Results

Successes

• Transceivers communicate back and forth over long distance successfully

• GPS Receiver reliably provides location• Location data transmits between transceivers• LCD screen successfully parses and displays NMEA data• User device as well as arrow attachments fully powered

using selected batteries

Shortcomings• Suppliers• Smaller transceiver was never released in time for our final design• Received incorrect arrow attachment pieces. (Sent two of the

same half instead of the entire design)• Barbed hook needed modifications because it was created at the

wrong thickness which added unnecessary weight to the design

Shortcomings

• Information Displayed• Suggested Improvement:• Design cellphone app

• Large components• Suggested Improvement:• Smaller microcontroller, transceiver, and GPS receiver• Be more rigorous with the vendor

• Power Efficiency• Suggested Improvement:• Configure GPS receiver to send data less often• Less power-hungry components

Suggestions for Future• Injection molding (If brought to a large scale)

• Would improve material for the arrow attachment instead of brittle rapid prototyping plastics

• Would require slight modifications to the design which would include the addition of draft angles, interior ribbing, uniform thickness, and optimization for side actions

• Barbed hook overmolding to remove epoxy and strengthen the overall design of the impact site

• Suggested material : Dupont Zytel

Suggestions for Future• Smartphone Application

• Write an application for smartphone to enhance convenience of using wildlife tracker

• User device would plug into smartphone and upload coordinates into the application

• Compactness• PCB design for arrow attachment to fit all electronics inside• Implement smaller transceivers

Questions?