Low-Cost SMS Driven Location Tracking Platform Towards Anti-Poaching Efforts

Abstract

Throughout the world, poaching has been an ever-present threat to a vast array of species for over many decades. Traditional anti-poaching initiatives target catching the poachers. However, the challenge is far more complicated than catching individual poachers. Poaching is an industry which needs to be fully investigated. Many stakeholders are directly and indirectly involved in poaching activities (e.g., some local restaurants illegally providing meat to tourists). Therefore, stopping or severely decapitating the poaching industry requires a unified understanding of all stakeholders. The best way to uncover these geographical and social relationships is to track the movements of poachers. However, location tracking is challenging in most rural areas where wildlife sanctuaries are typically located. Internet-connected communication (e.g. 3G) technologies typically used in urban cities are not feasible in these rural areas. Therefore, we decided to develop an SMS (short message service) base low-cost tracking system (SMS-TRACCAR) to track poachers. The proposed system was developed to be deployed in Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary, Sabah, Malaysia and nearby villages and cities where poachers typically move around. Our evaluations demonstrated that SMS-based tracking could provide sufficient quality (granular) data (with minimum energy consumption) that enable us to monitor poacher vehicle movements within rural areas where no other modern communication technologies are feasible to use. However, it is important to note that our system can be used in any domain that requires SMS-based geo-location tracking. SMS-TRACCAR can be configured to track individuals as well as groups. Therefore, SMS-TRACCAR contributes not only to the wildlife domain but in the wider context as well.