About the Series

Welcome to the third season of WILDLABS Tech Tutors, the series that answers the "how do I do that?" questions of conservation tech! Brought to you with the support of Microsoft AI for Earth, Tech Tutors is made for conservation tech beginners of all knowledge levels (and yes, even experts can still be beginners when it comes to tackling a new aspect of conservation tech or starting a new project.). Our Tech Tutors will give you the bite-sized, easy-to-understand building blocks you'll need to try new conservation technology, enhance your research, DIY a project for the first time, or simply explore the possibilities.

Taking place every Thursday, each Tech Tutor will present a 30 minute tutorial guiding you through an aspect of conservation tech, followed by a 30 minute live Q&A session with the audience.

What do you gain as a Tech Tutors participant? You'll leave each episode with the confidence to build on the skills discussed in these tutorials, and you'll have an ongoing opportunity to learn and collaborate with other members of the WILDLABS community! The connections made through the past seasons of Tech Tutors have led to real projects and results, and our third season is set to introduce you to even more new ideas and community members who are ready to start something new! 

Can't make it to an episode this season? Don't worry! You can find every tutorial after it airs on our Youtube channel, and you can collaborate and ask questions in each episode's thread on the WILDLABS Tech Tutors forum.

Want to catch up on Tech Tutors Seasons One and Two? Find links to our episodes' recordings and resources here and here.

Meet Your Tutor: Alasdair Davies, Arribada Initiative

Alasdair is a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and the founder of the Arribada Initiative. He has over 15 years experience solving conservation challenges in the field through the implementation of conservation technologies. As an advocate of open source hardware and software, Alasdair sees a future where open source technologies and the sharing of knowledge will revolutionize the monitoring of species globally.

We asked Alasdair...

What will I learn in this episode?

We'll take a hands-on look at how you can use satellite IoT to monitor the status of an AudioMoth on a mountain side, track sea turtles and plastic waste across oceans, or receive updates from remote timelapse cameras in Antarctica all from the comfort of your armchair at home. This episode will be particularly interesting for anyone seeking to develop their own solutions, or if you're interested in getting up to date with emerging satellite IoT technology and discovering who's who in the race to space.

How can I learn more about this subject?

If you're interested in using satellite IoT to track wildlife or environmental assets I would recommend exploring the Argos, Iridium, Lacuna Space and SWARM websites. There are developer kits available for each of these satellite providers so it's a great place to start.

If I want to take the next step, where should I start?

If you're interested in getting hands I'd recommend looking at the Arribada Horizon ARTIC kit or the Sparkfun ARTIC breakout board to get started. You may also want to look at a RockBLOCK module and pick up an AudioMoth Dev board too, or get a SWARM solar startup kit if you want to monitor terrestrial equipment on land.

What advice do you have for a complete beginner in this subject?

Don't be afraid to experiment. If may feel daunting when thinking of developing your own hardware but there's now a collection of new and emerging boards and solutions available to help get you up and running and using satellite IoT technology in your projects.



Ready to learn with Alasdair? Watch Alasdair's episode on Youtube here.

Learn more about our upcoming Tech Tutorials

Visit the series page on WILDLABS to find the full list of WILDLABS Tech Tutors.