The document discusses using smartphones to detect and map the locations of the New Forest Cicada through crowd-sourcing. It details past examples of successful social mobilization projects like DARPA's Red Balloon Challenge. It then provides information on the specific project, which will use smartphone apps and low-cost hardware detectors to engage visitors to the New Forest area in reporting cicada sightings and songs to build population distribution maps of this rare insect. The goal is to test using this method for biodiversity monitoring and motivate the public to participate.

1. Smartphone-based
Biodiversity Monitoring
Mobilising the crowd in the
hunt for the New Forest Cicada
Davide Zilli & Alex Rogers
University of Southampton

2. Social mobilisation is the use of new web
technologies to mobilise the crowd
DARPA Red Balloon Challenge

3. Social mobilisation is the use of new web
technologies to mobilise the crowd
TAG Challenge

4. The New Forest Cicada is a test case for social
mobilisation in biodiversity monitoring
New Forest Cicada – Cicadetta Montana

5. The New Forest Cicada is a test case for social
mobilisation in biodiversity monitoring
New Forest

6. The New Forest Cicada is a test case for social
mobilisation in biodiversity monitoring
‘Survey for new sites’
571 km2
Sings at 13-14kHz
Difficult for adults to hear
13.5M day visits
3M overnight visits

7. The New Forest Cicada is a test case for social
mobilisation in biodiversity monitoring
24 km 6m
.
6 km
6m
24 km 13,500 visits
13.5M visits

8. Visited Slovenia to test whether smartphones
could be used to detect the New Forest Cicada

9. Visited Slovenia to test whether smartphones
could be used to detect the New Forest Cicada

10. Visited Slovenia to test whether smartphones
could be used to detect the New Forest Cicada

11. Visited Slovenia to test whether smartphones
could be used to detect the New Forest Cicada

12. Visited Slovenia to test whether smartphones
could be used to detect the New Forest Cicada
“I’m detecting Cicada life forms nearby, Jim.”

13. Recognition of New Forest Cicada in the
frequency domain is relatively simple

14. Recognition of New Forest Cicada in the
frequency domain is relatively simple
Goertzel algorithm
performing DFT in real time
• 8.5 +/- 0.5 kHz
• 14.0 +/- 3.0 kHz
Threshold on detection level

15. Current work is seeking to automatically
classify a number of other singing insects
New Forest Cicada
Common Grasshopper
Field Cricket
Roesel's Bush Cricket

16. Current work is seeking to automatically
classify a number of other singing insects
(a) (b) (c) (d)
(a) New Forest Cicada
(b) Common Grasshopper
(c) Field Cricket
(d) Roesel's Bush Cricket

17. How can we ensure this will work on typical
smartphones (particularly low end ones)?
faberacoustical

18. We are also developing low cost hardware
detectors (less than £0.50 component cost)
8 MHz
32 bytes RAM
512 bytes program space
Atmel ATtiny5

19. We aim to test a range of different models to
motivate and steer the crowd
Steering the crowd
New Forest Maps
DARPA Red Balloon
FourSquare Badges

20. We launch in May 2013
www.newforestcicada.info