BatEchoMon: India’s First Automated Bat Call Monitor
Why in the news
A new field device now records, processes and analyses bat calls on its own, promising to speed up studies of one of the least-studied mammal groups in India.
Key facts
- Developers: Kadambari Deshpande and Vedant Barje.
- Hardware: Raspberry Pi controller plus Audiomoth ultrasonic detector.
- Starts at sunset, filters out insect and human-made ultrasound, and matches calls with a convolutional neural network.
- Outputs: spectrograms, audio clips and species-wise nightly activity reports.
- Size 200 x 80 x 80 mm; solar-powered with up to 8 days of backup; modular design.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Processing time | 20 nights of data: 11 months earlier, a few hours now |
| Cost | One-third of advanced global detectors |
| Species covered | 6-7 common Indian species |
Significance
- May be the first in the world to combine recording and species classification in one field-ready unit.
- Can advance work on species distribution, nocturnal behaviour and ecosystem health across urban and forest areas.
Limitations and next steps
- Needs better reference libraries and training datasets; Indian input to ChiroVox and Xeno-Canto is sparse.
- Plans include wider field testing and beta testing with selected researchers.
Exam angle
- Technology: CNN-based species classification of echolocation calls.
- Related terms: spectrogram, ultrasonic detector, echolocation.