Reliable communication using Erasure Codes for monitoring bats in the wild

We show the feasibility of using Erasure Codes (ECs) for reliable communication in strongly energy-constrained sensor network applications. In particular, we aim at observing group dynamics of bats in their natural habitat. Bats are to be equipped with ultra-light sensor nodes to continuously monitor contacts between each other and to track their flights. This data needs to be uploaded to a stationary ground network whenever a bat comes into communication range. As the quality of this communication link is fluctuating, reliability improvement techniques need to be implemented. ECs allow to enhance the reliability of data transmissions with only a marginal overhead. After showing the improvements using ECs in simulation, we now implemented the full system using a prototype platform to study the general feasibility in a more realistic environment.