STMicroelectronics and UvA Cooperate to Soar with Birds

STMicroelectronics and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty of Science has announced the development of  a bird-tracking system to track bird’s behavior and migration using advanced Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS )sensing technology from ST.

The trackers enable valuable scientific research on bird behavior by measuring Global Positioning System (GPS) position every 3 seconds.

The tracker collects acceleration and direction data from STMicroelectronic’s LSM303DLM digital compass to determine the bird’s location. The MEMS chip monitors the direction and vertical/horizontal orientation of the animal and determines the body angle of birds flying in a crosswind.

Benedetto Vigna, Executive Vice President and General Manager of ST’s Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group said, “MEMS technologies are finding their way into a broad range of applications and only ST has the breadth of technologies available to serve as a one-stop supplier. The light weight, low power, and high accuracy of the MEMS make it ideal for innovative projects like UvA’s bird tracking system to study avian migration and behavior.”

Adding to this development Willem Bouten of UvA stated, “Animals have a lot to teach us and, especially as the Earth’s climate changes, there are many projects that we can undertake to study animal behavior and migration patterns. STMicroelectronics is a strong partner for us in developing technologies that are suitable and adaptable to researching challenging problems that could help us address the effects of global warming and land use change.”