– Detectable Posts<\/strong>: Although fairly easy to detect, sometimes non-posts get detected. I think a few more stripes to make finding them easier (at the cost of a slight reduction in the maximum distance). E.g. go from 11 stripes to 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were several issues that became apparent during and after the 2021 Summer experiments! I’ve listed some of these issues and the planned solution. This isn’t a very exciting post, skip down for the last few posts which have 3d videos! – Detectable Posts: Although fairly easy to detect, sometimes non-posts get detected. I think … <\/p>\n
– Improved pot design<\/strong>: It turns out we can tag the bees in-field with modified marking pots, but need to add lids to stop them escaping!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Tag contamination<\/strong>: The wax on the retroreflectors degrades them: Try using alternative materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Firing rate<\/strong>: This is a big challenge. There are several potential bottlenecks. I found the flash thermal-protection circuits kicked in. I did experiment with only firing half of the flashes each time – I’ve not looked at the results of this yet. Might be able to disable the protection circuit! The other problem was I found many failed images, due, probably, to buffers failing to be serviced quickly enough etc. Will need to experiment (might be able to downscale image 2×2). A rate of 4Hz is currently possible for 10 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Tag shape \/ detectability<\/strong> – related to the above issue is that the tags aren’t always visible, possibly because of their shape. Redesigning to make them visible from all directions (e.g. a cone, cylinder or sphere) could help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Timing alignment<\/strong> – a major issue I found was that the raspberry pi generated time stamps often ‘jumped’ or ‘froze’, given the importance of precise timing, this is causing a major problem. The solution I’m building is a (GPS-time-synced) ‘clock’ that simply displays the time to the nearest 4ms in binary, in a cylinder. LED driver<\/a>, LED<\/a>, GPS receiver<\/a>, arduino [e.g.<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/michaeltsmith.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/image-1024x490.png\")
– Range<\/strong> – should keep looking at how to improve the range – switching to glass corner cube reflectors? Focused flash? If frequency is increased could trade it for a tighter ‘high gain’ beam?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"