Post by DannyRock on Feb 4, 2006 12:00:20 GMT -5
This could be interesting... Too bad we didn't think of it first... 
Pigeons with mobile phones to monitor pollution
A flock of pigeons wearing mobile phone backpacks are to be used to monitor air pollution in California.
About 20 pigeons will each carry a mobile phone with a GPS tracking chip and air pollution sensors, reports New Scientist.
Data will be sent back via text messages to a so called pigeon 'blog' on air quality.
And miniature cameras tied around the birds' necks will post aerial pictures of trouble spots.
Beatriz da Costa, a researcher from the University of California at Irvine, and two of her students came up with the idea.
They built a prototype of the pigeons' equipment, containing a mobile phone circuit board with SIM card and communication chips, a GPS receiver and sensors capable of detecting carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The pigeons are to be released in August into the smog-filled skies over San Jose in California.
www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1709297.html?menu=news.quirkies
Pigeons with mobile phones to monitor pollution
A flock of pigeons wearing mobile phone backpacks are to be used to monitor air pollution in California.
About 20 pigeons will each carry a mobile phone with a GPS tracking chip and air pollution sensors, reports New Scientist.
Data will be sent back via text messages to a so called pigeon 'blog' on air quality.
And miniature cameras tied around the birds' necks will post aerial pictures of trouble spots.
Beatriz da Costa, a researcher from the University of California at Irvine, and two of her students came up with the idea.
They built a prototype of the pigeons' equipment, containing a mobile phone circuit board with SIM card and communication chips, a GPS receiver and sensors capable of detecting carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide.
The pigeons are to be released in August into the smog-filled skies over San Jose in California.
www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1709297.html?menu=news.quirkies