Tigertek brings specialist monitoring expertise to RSPB conservation on Rathlin
Applied communications technology supporting demanding environmental fieldwork
Tigertek’s work supporting RSPB’s LIFE Raft programme on Rathlin Island demonstrates the value of specialist sensing and communications in conservation. The assignment connects its technology with an organisation whose field operations require dependable information in challenging conditions.
For charities and environmental NGOs, the test of a system is practical. It must suit the landscape, support the people using it and provide information that helps them carry out their work. Rathlin shows why the combination of radio networking, monitoring software and engineering support matters.
Technology in support of an important conservation mission
LIFE Raft brings conservation specialists and the Rathlin community together to protect internationally important seabird populations from invasive predators. The programme operates across an inhabited island with varied terrain and limited conventional mobile coverage.
RSPB reports successful feral ferret eradication on Rathlin, recognising the collective work of the conservation team, project partners and island community. Tigertek’s role forms part of the monitoring and communications support behind that wider effort.
Adapting communications to the environment
The project’s technical account in the Island Invasives conference material explains the choice of LoRaWAN for trap monitoring. Limited mobile coverage made individual cellular connections less suitable, creating a requirement for an alternative communications approach.
The system uses modified sensors attached to traps, supported by gateways positioned following coverage modelling. Both mains-powered and standalone solar-powered gateways feature in the design. An online platform brings the sensor information together for monitoring.
This illustrates the value of applying established technology intelligently. The equipment is selected and adapted around the field requirement, while the network reflects the terrain and available power. The aim is usable information from dispersed locations in a difficult operating environment.
Tigertek supports the operational system
Tigertek’s documented contribution spans trap-sensor monitoring software, network and data hosting, software updates, connectivity and on-island maintenance. Practical engineering support includes attention to the gateways and sensors on which the system depends.
For a field team, these elements are connected. The sensor, radio link, gateway and monitoring platform must work together. A specialist able to support that chain provides a service beyond the supply of an individual device.
Remote trap-status information can help teams organise checks and prioritise attention. The project’s technical account discusses the approach in relation to staff time, cost and animal welfare, all central considerations for conservation delivery.
Recognition within the conservation community
The Rathlin LoRaWAN approach was presented at the Island Invasives conference in Auckland, New Zealand. Mike Little is listed among the technical abstract’s co-authors. This places the project’s communications approach before an international audience of conservation researchers and practitioners.
For Tigertek, the work demonstrates the relevance of its services to a recognised conservation organisation and to the broader NGO market. Remote habitats, biosecurity programmes and environmental field operations often present similar questions about access, power, coverage and monitoring.
The Rathlin experience opens conversations with organisations seeking a specialist who can work through those constraints and support a system designed for the conditions on the ground. It is a clear example of technology serving a conservation requirement through practical delivery.
To discuss remote monitoring for conservation or environmental fieldwork, contact hello@tigertek.io.
