Data transmission

Scientists who observe animals using transmitters have high telephone bills. The reason: to date, the transmitters have been transmitting their measurements as SMS messages via the GSM mobile radio standard. Mobile tariffs, which also include roaming in Africa, are expensive but cannot be avoided if researchers want to track animals such as fruit bats, storks and cuckoos in Africa.

The transmitters send their data to the receiver station in outer space and receive command signals from it (A). The receiver communicates with the control centre in Moscow (B).

© MPI of Animal Behavior/ MaxCine

The transmitters send their data to the receiver station in outer space and receive command signals from it (A). The receiver communicates with the control centre in Moscow (B).

© MPI of Animal Behavior/ MaxCine

With Icarus, data transmission costs will at least be less expensive in the future. This is because the new Icarus transmitters will no longer be sending their measurements via the mobile network but to a separate receiver station on board the International Space Station ISS. A data packet is approximately 220 bytes in size and will be transmitted in three and a half seconds. The data will be coded using the so-called CDMA method. With this technology, several data streams can be transmitted simultaneously in a common frequency range. The mini-transmitters not only forward their sensor data, they can also store several gigabytes of data. To be able to read out this data, the transmitter must be collected again.

Travelling in a vertical direction, the data packets reach the receiver station (ISS) about 400 kilometers away in space. In a horizontal direction, in contrast, the data packets are not only weakened by the atmosphere but are also absorbed by the vegetation and the landscape. This means that the signals from the transmitters can only be captured on Earth over short distances and also only within the transmission window that lasts a few seconds. The data is therefore transmitted in unencrypted form although a simple encryption is technically possible.

To ensure that the transmitters do not expend their limited energy reserves unnecessarily, data transmission to the ISS takes place in narrow time windows, namely only when the station flies over the transmitter. The transmitters calculate these times independently from the ISS orbital data that are transmitted to them regularly. After that, the transmitter goes into sleep mode and wakes up again at the predetermined times.

The transmitters are in standby mode for most of the time (1). It switches on at certain times and checks whether the signal from the ISS is being received (2, 3). It then calculates when it can send its data (4). While it is in the ISS reception window it transmits its data (5). The ISS confirms when it has received the transmitter’s signals (6). The transmitter then goes back into its energy-saving mode (7).

© Rhode & Schwarz, Inradios

The transmitters are in standby mode for most of the time (1). It switches on at certain times and checks whether the signal from the ISS is being received (2, 3). It then calculates when it can send its data (4). While it is in the ISS reception window it transmits its data (5). The ISS confirms when it has received the transmitter’s signals (6). The transmitter then goes back into its energy-saving mode (7).

© Rhode & Schwarz, Inradios

At the determined time, it awakens again and transmits its data to the receiver station out in space. It is also possible in the opposite way, however, to adjust the configuration of the transmitter at the request of the scientist. Each transmitter generally transmits its data once a day to the ISS. The ISS stores the data and transmits it at the next radio contact with the ground station to the Russian control centre in Moscow. The control centre forwards the data to the Icarus user data centre where the data is processed and made available to scientists in the Movebank database. As a result, more than 24 hours can pass between measurement and publication in Movebank.

Due to the war in Ukraine, the Russian space agency Roskosmos has terminated its cooperation with many partners. This also affects the Icarus project on the International Space Station ISS. The transmission of data from the ISS was stopped on March 3, 2022.

The research team is currently considering alternative options for continuing Icarus independent of the ISS. One option is to operate its own small satellite to receive the data from the animals it transmits. In the meantime, the team is investigating whether the data can be read out from individual animals that have been transmitted on Earth.