Game Surveillance

My solution is an IoT-(Internet of Things) based system that monitors and records an animal's biological data, such as temperature in an attempt to predict impending danger to an animal.

Thousands of endangered species in Africa- rhinos and elephants- die annually due to wildlife crime. Escalating demands for ivory in Asian countries reflect accelerations in poaching activities. Since 2016, there have been more elephants being killed than there are being born. When it comes to rhinos, there has been a 97% drop in rhino populations. Wildlife poaching has led to a total extinction of rhinoceros in Mozambique and is estimated to have increased by 365% between 2015 and 2020.

A leading cause for an increased demand of ivory is false beliefs attached to it. It is believed that ivory can cure diseases like cancers and hangovers but there has been no medical evidence to support these beliefs. Poaching attracts other crises like extinction of animal species, imbalance in the ecosystem, destruction of the planet's biodiversity and lose of revenue in the tourism industry. These facts show that there is a need to protect endangered wild animals in order to sustain the world’s future ecosystem and preserve generations of wildlife species.

There have been many efforts by governments and non-profit organizations to conserve wildlife. However, the problem is that most wildlife conservation methods are expensive. In Kenya, many private sectors have taken interest in wildlife conservation and contribute a large percentage to conservation activities. However, this number has reduced over the years as private sectors incur extremely high costs because wildlife conservation methods are very expensive. For example, it would cost $5.8million to $8.8 million for a single national park to carry out dehorning, a common conservation measure, one time for female rhinos alone. This process has to be repeated each time an animal’s horn grows. Currently, privately managed sanctuaries have created highly protected wildlife zones and use dog units. However, poachers are now armed with sophisticated technology such as night vision goggles and highly developed snare traps to gain access to wild animals. With limited capital, these private sectors cannot afford the manpower or resources they need. 

My proposed solution is an IoT system that has sensors to record biological data such as body temperature and heart rate of an animal to give rangers insight into an animal's biological state. Counting on this existing information, the system will alert the rangers on duty of abnormal heart activity, or body temperatures. This way, the ranger can save the animal in case of any danger. This system uses inexpensive and non-invasive electronic components and sensors which give comprehensive information about an animal's biological state. This system is also easily scalable and requires little to no human intervention.

The proposed solution uses an IoT-(Internet of Things) based system that monitors and records an animal's biological data, such as temperature, pressure and heart rate, in an attempt to predict impending danger to an animal. The reason why these biological parameters are imperative in this solution is because animals tend to give 'fight' or 'flight' responses under different circumstances which leads to a change in their biological state. For instance, when in danger, an elephant may experience an increased heart rate and increased blood pressure. The system is made using Arduino technology with sensors to collect biological information which will then be analyzed, interpreted and presented in a way that will be easy for rangers to understand using a display monitor. The system will send an alert to game rangers when these records exceed normal or healthy rates. 

Below is a diagram showing a visualization of how the system works. 

Poaching affects the security of a wide range of wild animals in Africa. I decided to focus on two keystone species namely- elephants and rhinos. In Kenya, the two species are one of the most sought after by poachers putting them at the edge of extinction. I felt it was important to provide a solution to the most vulnerable groups first then work my way up to other species. 

Poaching of elephants is often a violent, brutal and bloody process that causes a lot of pain to elephants. Poachers often use methods such as lethal wired snares, heavily poisoned arrows, guns, machetes and grenades. Elephants that are trafficked alive are often kept under extremely abusive conditions, usually for the purpose of entertainment. Besides causing repercussions to the planet’s biodiversity, elephant poaching and trafficking leaves a devastating impact to their own elephant community. Elephants have been known to be social and intelligent animals with strong bonds to one another. Killing other members of their herd leaves the rest in deep loss and many calves orphaned. Over the past years, strict laws and measures were put in place to protect wild animals. As a result, poaching activities declined. However, there has been an emergence of increased elephant poaching recently.

Rhinos are another group of highly demanded animals in other parts of the world. Their most sought after body parts are their horns. Like elephants, the process of extracting their body parts is often excruciating. The price of a rhino horn in the black market has kept increasing more and more over the years, currently standing at a quarter million dollars. This puts rhinos at an even more risk as poachers get an even bigger financial incentive to engage in their crimes. Additionally, rhino horns are believed to provide cures to diseases like cancer and hangovers in Asia. However, rhino horns are made from keratin, and there has been no scientific evidence to support their medicinal value. Some parts of Africa have already faced an extinction in rhinos. In Kenya, there are only 1,000 rhinos left. With the increased demand for rhino horns, these numbers are set to decrease even more in the coming years.

Animals tend to naturally give off a physiological reaction in dangerous or frightening situations. Hormones released during this process change the body’s chemistry causing a change in biological conditions such as heart rate, temperature and pressure. Moreover, weapons used by poachers such as poison alter an animal’s biological system and movement. Capturing these sudden changes in biological states can inform rangers on whether or not an animal is in danger. My solution is a multisensory system that works to record important bodily conditions of an animal that quickly change under different circumstances. It includes a temperature sensor and a heart rate sensor. When the sensors record a number higher than the normal rates, an alert that includes location details  will be sent to rangers. I am working on incorporating a motion sensor as well to indicate when an animal has been still for unusually long periods of time, implying that it has been trapped, poisoned or killed by a poacher. These information can help to save the lives of these animals.

I am currently in my third year of university pursuing an undergraduate degree in Computer Technology. Over the course of my academic experience, I have had the opportunity to gain and refine my skills in programming. Specifically, I have roughly two years of experience in app development. Using this knowledge, I am working on creating a communication application that rangers can use to view data collected from the multi-sensory IoT system in an easy and fast way. I plan on deploying this application in two main ways, Firstly, using smartphones, and secondly, using smartwatches for rangers to receive alerts. These methods are convenient because the two devices can easily be carried by rangers during their patrol. 

Furthermore, I have partnered with a local engineering training institution known as Gearbox Academy. Through its research lab and guidance of its staff members, I have had the opportunity to conduct extensive research on IoT technology, and apply that information in creating a product. In the last two months I have collaborated with them, I have been able to design and create a working prototype of a multi-sensory Arduino system. I am also currently working on adding more functionalities to the existing prototype through this institution. 

Lastly, I have recently joined forces with a local startup called Gokijany. This is a company that focuses on environmental sustainability through wildlife conservation. Through their help, I have been able to get more insight into the day-to-day activities and challenges of wild animals and rangers in national parks and conservancies. This information has helped to guide the design and implementation of my solution. Moreover, through their collaboration and that of officials from a national park, I shall conduct a test for the product on the animals.

So far, I have collaborated with an existing startup in Kenya called GoKijany that focuses on bringing solutions to wildlife conservation. in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by national parks and sanctuaries when it comes to fighting poachers. I interviewed a key member of the startup to gain answers. Through this collaboration, I learned the following about my target customers and users:

• Many rangers are unmotivated to perform their duties well due to existing inefficient and dangerous methods of conserving wildlife.
• Poaching and trafficking of elephants and rhinos had reduced in the past, but has began re-emerging.
• Most poaching activities in Kenya are carried out by nationals from neighboring countries who also often belong in terrorist groups. This means that they have access to sophisticated weapons that allow them to override many of the security measures already put in place in wildlife protection areas.
• Most poaching activities occur in areas that are far away from official wildlife protection zones in unmanned areas. 

When it comes to wildlife conservation, there exists other solutions to mitigate wildlife poaching and trafficking. One of them is the use of Forward-Looking Infrared (FLIR) technology. This solution provides thermal camera imaging to help rangers see in the dark, a time when wildlife crime is at its peak. This method helped rangers in Maasai Mara apprehend more than 160 poachers in 2016. However, poachers are also now armed with sophisticated technology like night vision goggles to see in the dark. Another existing solution is using tracking Global Positioning System (GPS) collars to give the precise location of animals. The challenge with this solution is that it provides limited information about an animal's current state. Additionally, dehorning is a method used in Zimbabwe where a rhino’s horn is removed in order to make the animal unattractive to poachers. The challenge with this approach is that it requires a large sum of money and has to be repeated each time an animal’s horns grow. Lastly, some game reserves in South Africa use drones. The drones have cameras that relay the footage back to mobile control centers where a crew of pilots operates the aircraft. However, this solution heavily relies on man-power, as the drones are man-driven, and requires skilled pilots to operate the drones. 

My solution attempts to complement these existing solutions by addressing some of their challenges. My system takes a new approach of using IoT to monitor and collect biological records that inform one of the level of safety of an animal. There are 46 billion connected IoT devices globally. There was also an 18 percent increase in IoT connectivity in the year 2022. This number is predicted to keep growing in the coming years. This information informs us that IoT is an efficient and widely available tool that can be used to implement solutions in wildlife conservation. In addition, compared to other existing methods, my solution uses profoundly inexpensive electronic components. Moreover, my system can easily be replicated and scaled to be used in other parts of my country and internationally.

The following are my impact goals for the year 2023:

• To  save 100 elephants and 50 rhinos from wildlife poaching in Kenya by creating a high-responsive multisensory hardware system to monitor and record an animal’s physiological data to combat cases of wildlife crime by continuing to partner with Gearbox Academy research laboratory and my university. 

• To decrease the costs of anti-poaching activities by approximately 80% using cheap and easily accessible hardware components to address the existing problem of incurring large costs in wildlife conservation . 

• To provide 70 wildlife rangers a safe method to use while patrolling by integrating a communication system between the multisensory hardware and mobile app from where rangers can receive alert notifications and location details of an animal in danger. This is to combat the challenge of a significant number of rangers being killed by poachers while in the line of duty.

The core technology that powers my solution is the Internet of Things, IoT. IoT is based on the use of hardware components and sensors that communicate with other devices over a network. To develop my prototype I used Arduino Uno. The system compromises of the following components:

• Arduino Uno microcontroller

• Jumper wires

• Breadboard

• LM35 temperature sensor

• MAX30102 pulse oximeter

• 16X2 Liquid Crystal Display monitor

• Potentiometer

Arduino pulse oximeter heart rate senorLM35 Temperature SensorMAX30102 pulse oximeter sensor

All the above hardware components work together to collect biological data of an object upon contact. Additionally, I used the Arduino Integrated Development Environment to write code used to read and display records collected by sensors.

As I continue to develop the product, I will use other microcontrollers that have more capabilities, therefore allowing remote communication between the multisensory system on an animal and the app used by rangers. 

I have linked a video demonstrating how my prototype works this YouTube video.

When connected to an LCD display monitor, it can show two imperative biological parameters, which are the heart beats per minute and the blood oxygen levels of a living thing. To integrate this system, I used male and female jumper wires to create a connection between the sensor and an Arduino Uno board through a breadboard. Additionally, I used a 16x2 LCD display monitor and a potentiometer to display the readings of the sensor. Lastly, I created a program to read and display signals from the MAX30102 sensor.

I am currently in the prototyping phase and not serving any customers.

In the next year, I expect to serve 100 elephants, 50 rhinos and 70 rangers. 

• Getting access to permits from the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife may take a long time.
• Inadequate capital to hire labor to assist in creating the number of products,150 hardware devices and a mobile application, I plan on releasing in the first year.
• Difficulty for the rangers to learn how to work with the system as it requires technical training for first-time users 

Game Surveillance currently has the following partnerships:

• Gearbox Academy – a leading electrical engineering research institution in Kenya. Through this partnership I have been able to acquire the necessary training and resources to create my first prototype. I'm currently working on advancing the built prototype to develop an end product. 
• Computing Department at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology - this is a public university in Kenya leading in tech innovations within and outside the country. Through this institution, I have and continue to learn about software development skills I will use in developing my solution

National parks and privately managed sanctuaries incur high costs because common conservation measures are expensive. Currently, wildlife protection areas are now creating highly protected areas. However, they too are expensive to run. I have come up with a solution that will allow users to identify highly potential poaching activities in a park using affordable multi-sensory hardware devices and mobile apps to communicate. Below is a business model for this solution.

Segments

The following groups benefit from my intervention:

• Workers within Kenya’s tourism sector
• Kenyan economy, because 80% of revenue earned from Kenya’s tourism comes from wildlife.

Type of intervention

The type of my intervention is a software-accompanied multi-sensory hardware.

User value proposition

Ability to gain physiological and locational information of an animal in order to carry out wildlife conservation activities safely and efficiently. 

My impact measures are:

• Number of hardware devices sold

• Number of software licenses sold

• Number of animals rescued through the solution. 

Customer

There are 54 government-owned national parks and reserves in Kenya and 160 privately owned conservancies in Kenya. These two groups are my target customers.

Customer value proposition

Ability to save wildlife conservation costs by 80%.

Channels

I plan to reach my customers and users using these ways:

• Wildlife outreach programs

• Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife

Key Activities

• Creating and testing multi-sensory hardware devices and mobile application

• User training on hardware devices and mobile application

• Issuing app licenses

Key Resources

• Kenya Wildlife Service

• Local national parks and game sanctuaries

• Gearbox Academy

• Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology

Partners and Key Stakeholders

• Gearbox Academy

• Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

Cost Structure

• Hardware development - $18,112

• Mobile app development - $9,660

Total = $27,772

1. Revenue

• App licensing - $9,660

• Hardware device sales - $30,187

Total = $39,847

Surplus

I plan to invest my profits in marketing and improving the efficiency and capability of the multi-sensory hardware device.

I plan to acquire capital through these ways:

• Selling hardware devices.
• Selling app licenses.
• Sustained donations and grants

I plan to start with two wildlife protection zones that holds a significant population of rhinos and elephants during the first year of operation. I will begin by targeting 100 elephants, 50 rhinos and 70 game rangers. Given these users and customers, I will make a net profit of $12,075 from a single national park. My target customers in Kenya are 214 wildlife protection zones. I also plan to scale my service internationally in the future.