GPU-Accelerated 3D Visualisation and Analysis of Migratory Behaviour of Long Lived Birds (LAYCOCKUCMP17NEX)

Project Rationale
Advances in GPS, GSM technologies has opened up possibilities in the field of movement ecology. Now vast amounts of data are being collected to track animal movements with the aim of answering fundamental questions related to animal behaviour. As miniaturisation and efficiency of electronic components improves additional sensors can begin to be coupled with the GPS tracking to enable features related to the animal’s state at a given position to be recorded. New devices incorporate accelerometer and other sensors to enable classification of the behaviour of the animals they tracked. Websites such as Movebank.org struggle to visualise the quantity of data points involved in some data sets and they do not currently support visualisation or analysis of data from other sensors such as accelerometers or heart-rate loggers.

The hardware is becoming available but there is a need for software to display the large multisensory data sets which are being produced now and will inevitably become more prevalent in the future. This software is of paramount importance to enable researchers to analyse and visualise their data. This is especially relevant to understand how environmental conditions may affect the movement decisions of birds and the energetics of flight under changing environmental variables.

Methodology
This project will take advantage of 5 years of tracking data comprising more than 100 white storks moving in Europe and Africa. White storks from Iberia have recently changed their migratory behaviour and non-migratory individuals have been reported in these previously wholly migratory populations. These rapid changes in migratory behaviour provide an opportunity to both identify the mechanisms through which complex and highly evolved behaviours are affected by changing environmental conditions. The project will also have access to tracking data from seabirds, such that 3D visualisations can be developed for animals in the marine realm incorporating GPS, accelerometer, immersion, time-depth and other types of at-sea movement and activity data. The key aim of this project is to develop techniques to visualise the data in 3D.

Objectives:
1) To develop techniques to efficiently render GPS data combined with additional sensor on a globe.
2) The tools should scale to enable data for up to 100 tracked birds.
3) The user should be able to interactively navigate the globe obtaining an overview and also zooming in to view the original data.
4) Understand the links between movement decisions of birds and the energetic costs of flying under different environmental conditions.

Training
The NEXUSS CDT provides state-of-the-art, highly experiential training in the application and development of cutting-edge Smart and Autonomous Observing Systems for the environmental sciences, alongside comprehensive personal and professional development. There will be extensive opportunities for students to expand their multi-disciplinary outlook through interactions with a wide network of academic, research and industrial / government / policy partners.

The student will be registered at University of East Anglia, hosted at School of Computing Sciences. They will be trained in visualization techniques for GPS data and GPU programming using the C++, OpenGL and GLSL languages. The student will be expected to take training modules such as "Statistics and modelling for scientists in R". The student will spend time at British Trust for Ornithology, benefitting from their experience on the Movetech project and will also work with a wide variety of sensors for marine studies through supervision from British Antarctic Survey.

Funding Conditions
This NEXUSS CDT studentship is fully funded by NERC through the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) for the period of 3 years 8 months. An annual stipend (£14,553 for 2017-18) will be available to the successful candidate who meets the UK Research Council eligibility criteria. These requirements are detailed in the RCUK eligibility guide which can be found at http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/documents/publications/traininggrantguidance-pdf . NERC has, exceptionally, relaxed the residential eligibility rule for NPIF studentships, therefore the award may be made to an international candidate if justification can be made that it has not been possible to recruit a UK candidate. This appointment will be subject to approval by NERC. A successful international applicant will be eligible for a full award paying tuition fees and maintenance.