Kick-off of the ICARUS Machine Learning Project

13 April 2022

ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space) is an initiative from researchers in the domain of animal behavior to develop a tracking system able to follow the movements of various animal species on Earth. Academic partners with expertise in satellite communication systems, including the Chair of Signal Processing, have been involved in the past years in the signal processing design necessary to recover the position data from very small transmitters on the animals via a space-based relay. Following the successful deployment of this ICARUS system, a follow-up project has been kicked off in March to extend its capacities. During this study, machine learning techniques to improve the detection and the analysis of weaker signals will be developed to enable a further reduction of the size and weight of the transmitters and, hence, allow for the tracking of even smaller animals.

The project is supported by the German Space Agency (DLR) with funds from the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and led by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.     

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