From the Field
Deployments in action
Photographs from real-world deployments — collaring, sensor housings, and A3EM audiologgers on animals across our field sites.
A3EM audiologgers have been deployed on seven species across three continents — validating hardware and firmware in real conditions, generating annotated acoustic data, and building the collaborations essential to the project's long-term success.
Photographs from real-world deployments — collaring, sensor housings, and A3EM audiologgers on animals across our field sites.
The first-ever audiologger deployment on free-ranging elephants, combining GPS tracking with vocalization data to study spatiotemporal variation in wild elephant calls.
A first prototype deployed in 2025 recorded for an estimated 55–58 days before its drop-off mechanism failed to release; notably, on day 55 the collared female gave birth, an acoustically rich event the recording may have captured. A second cohort of 4 units (of 6 built) was deployed in early 2026 in aluminum housings attached inside the GPS collar, with two units co-located with a backup AudioMoth recorder; two have been recovered, one was lost, and one remains deployed.
The first-ever application of this technology on forest elephants, following a scheduling delay caused by field-veterinary injuries.
The remaining five units sit in difficult and sometimes dangerous terrain — one recovery team was charged by elephants during retrieval efforts, which continue.
Targeting acoustic detection of pneumonia symptoms — coughing — a significant disease concern for bighorn sheep populations in the mountain west.
A planned multi-unit round on the Navajo Nation was reduced to a single field deployment by field logistics, with a data-ownership agreement assigning that data to the project. Analysis of prior coughing data also helped surface the cold-temperature analog microphone artifact described on the Research page.
Investigating insect harassment impacts on caribou distribution — insect abundance produces detectable acoustic signatures that complement traditional distribution models.
An open-source heating-element drop-off mechanism was tested in this semi-controlled captive deployment; one released cleanly, the other only partially due to cold temperatures and minimal heating-element contact — a design issue since resolved.
A no-cost pilot placing acoustic systems alongside an existing 30+ unit GPS collar program, using digital microphones required for the cold environment and partner-supplied drop-offs.
Permanently mounted, digital-microphone systems built for a year-long GPS-collar study.
An internal test bed for iterating quickly on hardware and firmware in a convenient, low-stakes setting.
Recovering the device is as critical as recording the data. Tracking release outcomes across deployments led the team to standardize on Telonics for critical elephant work.
| Manufacturer | Successful releases | Deployments |
|---|---|---|
| Telonics, Inc. | 6 | 8 |
| Savannah Tracking Ltd. | 2 | 5 |