A low-cost RSSI based localization system design for wildlife tracking

We present a low cost localization system for bats tracking. The system is based on an angle-of-arrival estimation using field strength difference measurements of two directional antennas. The receivers are constructed of low-cost commercial broadcast receivers and an embedded processing platform. A concept for an efficient 2-stage differential correlation is shown to address the dynamic range limitations of the low-cost hardware, the processing power limitations and frequency offsets. We show that the dynamic range can be improved by >16dB compared to a power detection method. The full system has been validated in a field trial in the rain forest of Panama.