ArticlePhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2021
Animal tag technology keeps coming of age: an engineering perspective.
Article in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Six decades of animal accelerometry: trends, applications, and future directions.Movement ecology · 2026Review
- Multi-Sensor Assessment of Pigeon Flight Behavior: Role of Biomechanical and Landscape Characteristics.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Unlocking sea turtle diving behaviour from low-temporal resolution time-depth recorders.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Understanding and predicting animal movements and distributions in the Anthropocene.The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Review
- Article
- Toward a comparative framework for studies of altitudinal migration.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Development of a multisensor biologging collar and analytical techniques to describe high-resolution spatial behavior in free-ranging terrestrial mammals.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- LocoMote: AI-driven Sensor Tags for Fine-Grained Undersea Localization and Sensing.IEEE sensors journal · 2024Article
- Energetic trade-offs in migration decision-making, reproductive effort and subsequent parental care in a long-distance migratory bird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Advances in biologging can identify nuanced energetic costs and gains in predators.Movement ecology · 2024Review
- Badger Ecology, Bovine Tuberculosis, and Population Management: Lessons from the Island of Ireland.Transboundary and emerging diseases · 2024Review
- Deployment of biologging tags on free swimming large whales using uncrewed aerial systems.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Animal lifestyle affects acceptable mass limits for attached tags.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Future trends in measuring physiology in free-living animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Heart rate as a measure of emotional arousal in evolutionary biology.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Diving physiology of marine mammals and birds: the development of biologging techniques.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Review
- Introduction to the theme issue: Measuring physiology in free-living animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Animal-borne tags (biologgers) have now become extremely sophisticated, recording data from multiple sensors at high frequencies for long periods and, as such, have become a powerful tool for behavioural ecologists and physiologists studying wild animals. But the design and implementation of these tags is not trivial because engineers have to maximize performance and ability to function under onerous conditions while minimizing tag mass and volume (footprint) to maximize the wellbeing of the animal carriers. We present some of the major issues faced by tag engineers and show how tag designers must accept compromises while maintaining systems that can answer the questions being posed. We also argue that basic understanding of engineering issues in tag design by biologists will help feedback to engineers to better tag construction but also reduce the likelihood that tag-deploying biologists will misunderstand their own results. Finally, we suggest that proper consideration of conventional technology together with new approaches will lead to further step changes in our understanding of wild-animal biology using smart tags. This article is part of the theme issue 'Measuring physiology in free-living animals (Part II)'.
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