Index
2.4 Equipment
Some environmental monitoring programs may require large inventories of equipment in order to meet survey objectives and sample size. The ABMI and BU alone manage thousands of cameras and ARUs for a multitude of purposes. With this comes quality assurance and control of the equipment itself, and not just the data it collects.
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Equipment management
The ABMI and BU offer standards and protocols for some of the major types of ARUs and cameras on the marketplace and provide standard practices for environmental sensor repair and assessment that go far beyond the objectives of this book. The goal of the Equipment tab in WildTrax is to centralize your environmental sensor monitoring equipment and keep track of its operational status within the provided forms.
WildTrax does not make direct recommendations on how to repair or operate sensor equipment given their usage extends beyond its operating functionalities. However it encourages sharing and collaboration to create standard protocols. Environmental sensors are rugged but long periods of field activity gradually reduce their functionality, as with any equipment exposed to the elements. Researchers are encouraged to ensure their equipment is functioning properly before collecting data.
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Syncing equipment
Just like with locations and visits, you can batch upload and download equipment and equipment metadata by clicking the
button. Here are the fields and descriptions for the csv upload. - Make: The make of the equipment (e.g. Wildlife Acoustics, Reconyx)
- Model: The model of the equipment
- Serial Number: The equipment’s serial number
- Purchase date: The date the equipment was purchased
- Type: The type of equipment (SD card, ARU, camera, microphone)
- Status: Status of the equipment (e.g. active, broken, loaned out)
- Comments: A brief description of the equipment
To sync your equipment:
- Click the
in order to get the current list of all equipment and metadata in your organization. If you don't have any metadata yet, the csv will provide the column headers. - Conduct the edits or changes to your csv
- Click on
- This will take you to the Upload CSV form; choose your local CSV file and click
- this will allow you to preview the changes you’ll be making to your location data. If there are no differences, a prompt indicating 
will appear - To accept the modifications, scroll down and click
Remember, equipment can be added when you add visit metadata as well.