In Brazil, Trees To Call For Help If Illegally Felled 130
Damien1972 writes "The Brazilian government has begun fixing trees in the Amazon rainforest with a wireless device, known as Invisible Tracck, which will allow trees to contact authorities once they are felled and moved. Here's how it works: Brazilian authorities fix the Invisible Tracck onto a tree. An illegal logger cuts down the tree and puts it onto a truck for removal, unaware that they are carrying a tracking device. Once Invisible Tracck comes within 20 miles (32 kilometers) of a cellular network it will 'wake up' and alert authorities."
Poor battery life ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do they need to be recharged in a year? Simply checking orientation with a microcontroller in deep sleep the rest of the time shouldn't take that much power.
Re:And here is the solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Anything that raises the hassle level to untracably do illegal/harmful activity will probably either catch or deter a reasonable chunk of the would-be criminals. We live with knowing that the locks we use in our homes could be picked, and if someone *really* wanted to take the time and the risk or spend the money, they could probably get in in various ways, just like we never achieve 100% safety from other crimes. That doesn't mean our safety measures are worthless though.
So, some dude with a badge shows up... (Score:4, Insightful)
...and gets his hundred bucks to ignore it.
-jcr
Re:Poor battery life ... (Score:3, Insightful)
That would be great news for the tree cutters: They could use the heart beat signal to locate the valuable trees, and the device on the trees. Then it's just a matter of carefully removing that device and putting it on a nearby uninteresting tree before cutting the valuable one.
Tree phone home (Score:3, Insightful)
Ripe for plenty of gags...
Humour aside, this is a good use of technology, and much needed. I've seen what happens when deforestation is left un-policed (it doesn't take long for a developing nation to clear one, given the amount of money that it can generate). Seeing what's left of the 'Amazon of the southern hemisphere' as they call it in Borneo, was very sad. Less than 2% is left, and you can imagine the natural habit that's also gone. Not to mention the global impact on climate. The next 30 years will be a challenging time imho - unfortunately, the required action will no doubt after things have really gone downhill, as is usual when government and regulation is involved (e.g. someone has to die before safety regulations are improved).
Re:And here is the solution (Score:4, Insightful)
This isn't an attempt to stop industrial-scale illegal logging. There are much easier ways to track and trace activity on that scale.
This is an attempt to stop "sustinance" logging. Literally poor individuals poaching timber.
Re:Numbers (Score:4, Insightful)