WIPER is a novel wireless animal-borne anti-poaching device that provides an immediate alert with a GPS location to authorities once a shot is detected near the protected animals. WIPER is based on a low-power acoustic shot detector integrated into existing GPS tracking collars currently being used to study a wide variety of animals. As opposed to muzzle blast-based detectors, WIPER detects the ballistic shockwave generated by the bullet that cannot be muffled by suppressors commonly used by poachers.
Female Elephant with Wireless GPS-collar (Save the Elephants)
WIPER System Illustration
The project won second place in the Vodafone Wireless Innovation Project competition in 2017.
Check out a brief presentation at the Social Inovation Summit.
People:
- Akos Ledeczi
- George Wittemyer
- Peter Volgyesi
- Miklos Maroti
- Gyorgy Kalmar