IoT Sensor Network for Wild-Animal Detection near Roads

The monitoring and detection of wild animals is a significant topic for researchers who study the behavior, lifestyle, and environment of wild animals, as well as for people who encounter wildlife both in residential areas and near roads while traveling. An innovative wild-animal detection internet-of-things (IoT) sensor network running on harvested solar energy and detection methodology is described in this article. The sensor-networks node is implemented via the principle of an embedded system incorporating passive infrared sensors, a long-range (LoRa) module, and a solar panel for energy harvesting. For experimental purposes, a small IoT sensor network was implemented near the road. The network consists of eight nodes placed near the road with a distance of 50 m between nodes, a gateway for gathering detection data from the nodes, and a thermo-vision camera for verification of the received data.