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Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment

The use of GPS tracking technologies has revolutionized the study of animal movement providing unprecedentedly detailed information. The characterization of GPS accuracy and precision under different conditions is essential to correctly identify the spatial and temporal resolution at which studies c...

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Autores principales: Acácio, Marta, Atkinson, Philip W., Silva, João Paulo, Franco, Aldina M. A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8966994/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35353826
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265541
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author Acácio, Marta
Atkinson, Philip W.
Silva, João Paulo
Franco, Aldina M. A.
author_facet Acácio, Marta
Atkinson, Philip W.
Silva, João Paulo
Franco, Aldina M. A.
author_sort Acácio, Marta
collection PubMed
description The use of GPS tracking technologies has revolutionized the study of animal movement providing unprecedentedly detailed information. The characterization of GPS accuracy and precision under different conditions is essential to correctly identify the spatial and temporal resolution at which studies can be conducted. Here, we examined the influence of fix acquisition interval and device deployment on the performance of a new GPS/GSM solar powered device. Horizontal and vertical accuracy and precision of locations were obtained under different GPS fix acquisition intervals (1min, 20 min and 60 min) in a stationary test. The test devices were deployed on pre-fledgling white storks (Ciconia ciconia) and we quantified accuracy and precision after deployment while controlling for bias caused by variation in habitat, topography, and animal movement. We also assessed the performance of GPS-Error, a metric provided by the device, at identifying inaccurate locations (> 10 m). Average horizontal accuracy varied between 3.4 to 6.5 m, and vertical accuracy varied between 4.9 to 9.7 m, in high (1 min) and low frequency (60 min) GPS fix intervals. These values were similar after the deployment on white storks. Over 84% of GPS horizontal positions and 71% of vertical positions had less than 10m error in accuracy. Removing 3% of data with highest GPS-Error eliminated over 99% of inaccurate positions in high GPS frequency intervals, but this metric was not effective in the low frequency intervals. We confirmed the suitability of these devices for studies requiring horizontal and vertical accuracies of 5-10m. For higher accuracy data, intensive GPS fix intervals should be used, but this requires more sophisticated battery management, or larger batteries and devices.
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spelling pubmed-89669942022-03-31 Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment Acácio, Marta Atkinson, Philip W. Silva, João Paulo Franco, Aldina M. A. PLoS One Research Article The use of GPS tracking technologies has revolutionized the study of animal movement providing unprecedentedly detailed information. The characterization of GPS accuracy and precision under different conditions is essential to correctly identify the spatial and temporal resolution at which studies can be conducted. Here, we examined the influence of fix acquisition interval and device deployment on the performance of a new GPS/GSM solar powered device. Horizontal and vertical accuracy and precision of locations were obtained under different GPS fix acquisition intervals (1min, 20 min and 60 min) in a stationary test. The test devices were deployed on pre-fledgling white storks (Ciconia ciconia) and we quantified accuracy and precision after deployment while controlling for bias caused by variation in habitat, topography, and animal movement. We also assessed the performance of GPS-Error, a metric provided by the device, at identifying inaccurate locations (> 10 m). Average horizontal accuracy varied between 3.4 to 6.5 m, and vertical accuracy varied between 4.9 to 9.7 m, in high (1 min) and low frequency (60 min) GPS fix intervals. These values were similar after the deployment on white storks. Over 84% of GPS horizontal positions and 71% of vertical positions had less than 10m error in accuracy. Removing 3% of data with highest GPS-Error eliminated over 99% of inaccurate positions in high GPS frequency intervals, but this metric was not effective in the low frequency intervals. We confirmed the suitability of these devices for studies requiring horizontal and vertical accuracies of 5-10m. For higher accuracy data, intensive GPS fix intervals should be used, but this requires more sophisticated battery management, or larger batteries and devices. Public Library of Science 2022-03-30 /pmc/articles/PMC8966994/ /pubmed/35353826 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265541 Text en © 2022 Acácio et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Acácio, Marta
Atkinson, Philip W.
Silva, João Paulo
Franco, Aldina M. A.
Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title_full Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title_fullStr Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title_full_unstemmed Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title_short Performance of GPS/GPRS tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
title_sort performance of gps/gprs tracking devices improves with increased fix interval and is not affected by animal deployment
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8966994/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35353826
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265541
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