Queensland University of Technology Sensor networks developed by QUT researchers are tracking rare birds without disturbing the population. Remote-controlled sensor networks developed by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) are helping scientists track rare bird populations living at Brisbane Airport.

Acoustic signals captured by a network of smart phones track the location and population of different bird species, including the elusive Lewin’s Rail, said Richard Mason, from the Microsoft QUT eResearch Centre in the Faculty of IT.

“Sound provides the heartbeat of the environment,” Mr Mason said. “Like listening to someone’s heartbeat, it reveals a lot of information about health.”

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The 3rd European Conference on Smart Sensing and Context (EuroSSC) will be held on October 29-31, 2008 in Zurich, Switzerland.

This annual conference explores techniques, algorithms, architectures, protocols, and user aspects, underlying context-aware smart surroundings, and cooperating intelligent objects, and their applications to provide context-aware smart assistance.

EuroSSC was held before in Enschede (NL) and Kendal (UK). Building on the success of the last years, EuroSSC 2008 will include a highly selective single-track program for technical papers, accompanied by posters, demonstrations, invited speakers, and an industrial panel.

The topics include (but are not limited to):
Distributed smart sensing and context recognition
Context processing
Context-aware actuators, interaction methods, and human aspects
Applications, deployment, test beds and case studies

More information can be found here