to the BAR User Guide (v1.2)
Contents
1. Frontier E Labs Bioacoustic Audio Recorder User Guide Version 1 2 2015 Frontier Labs All Rights Reserved e Supports multiple sample rates 8kHz 16kHz 22 05kHz 44 1kHz 48kHz 96kHz with corresponding anti aliasing filters at their Nyquist frequencies e Adjustable gain from 10 to 60dB in 1dB increments e 16 bit sample resolution e GPS position and time synchronisation e Sunrise and sunset based scheduled recordings e Microphone detection line so you know the microphone is connected e Standard microphone includes a 20dB class A pre amp and output driver to drive long cables e Ultra low noise recordings e View and edit the schedule on the BAR unit or via Scheduler software on your PC e Simple user interface e Detailed diagnostic log files e Robust waterproof lockable enclosure made from a durable UV resistant plastic A message from Frontier Labs Thank you for using our Bioacoustic Audio Recorder BAR We designed the BAR with the goal of creating the best possible bioacoustic recorder for scientific field research To that end we created a recorder that is simple to use and easy to deploy with best in class sound quality so you can hear quiet and distant calls and we made it strongly built and reliable with the smallest size and weight possible so it s easier to carry in a backpack We included features like GPS location and time synchronisation to save you manual work in record keeping we desi2. a 20Hz high pass filter to allow more low frequency sounds through Attaching a microphone Follow the steps below to attach a microphone to the BAR Make sure you see the microphone detect icon appear on the home screen L ET 1 Plug the microphone into the Push the locking ring in and turn connector on the bottom of the it clockwise until it locks the BAR microphone into place You should should feel it click into place Home screen The home screen is what you see when you turn the BAR on It shows the status icons along the top the Recording Status in the middle and the current time and date in 24hr HH MM SS DD MM YY format along the bottom aS 4 m 100 100 RECORDING STATUS HH MM SS Lori The Recording Status on the home screen will change depending on whether you are currently in a scheduled recording period or not When you are in between scheduled recordings the Recording Status area will show the time and date of the next recording similar to the example shown here 12 ElE AG 0102714 11 59 20 41 4 14 When the BAR is recording the Recording Status area will show the WR icon with the bit depth and sample rate of the current recording underneath The large digits on the right show the elapsed time of the recording and the smaller text directly underneath shows the time when the recording will finish In the example shown below the BAR is 32 seconds into a 5 minute recording that began
3. at 12 00 and ends at 12 05 and is recording in 16bit 44 1kHz format CD quality or 705600 bps un 100 A BET ce AE ME Until 12 05 00 12 44 32 41 4 14 If there are no more recordings scheduled because you are after the end of the last recording or the schedule is empty the recording status area will say No Recordings Scheduled as shown here DD e 4 on 100 w 100 Ho Fecardings Scheduled 12 14 66 41 4 14 If the internal clock is not set which can occur after the BAR has been sitting without a battery for a while then the home screen will say Waiting for GPS time sync and the time and date will be displayed as until the clock is automatically updated from the GPS or it is manually set by the user in the Clock Settings menu When the GPS updates the clock this area flashes black for a second to show you it s updated Waiting for GPS Lime src 1 1 r r Press the ENTER button when the home screen is displayed to access the Main Menu and use the UP DOWN buttons to select different menu items Record Settings Card GPS Info Device Info Back Schedule menu Select Schedule from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the SCHEDULE menu SCHEDULE Heu entra REC gt FEC_SUHRISE REC_SUNSET Back Here you can view and edit the schedule on the SD card You can also add new entries to the schedule or delete ones yo
4. do not attempt to upgrade the firmware if you do not have a new firmware file The firmware upgrade procedure is listed below 1 Download and install the firmware upgrade utility from the Frontier Labs website 2 Download the new firmware file and save it onto your computer 3 Insert a fully charged battery into the BAR and enter the Main Menu gt Device Info menu and select Upgrade Firmware and follow the on screen prompts DEVICE INFO FIRMWARE Are You sure Firmwares 1 5 gt This will erase Me or ade u eS 4 Connect the USB cable from your computer to the BAR and switch the unit off and then on again You should see a new device appear in Windows on your computer 5 Launch the firmware upgrade utility and select the new firmware file you downloaded uE UpgradeFirmware Frontier Labs Step 1 Select the Firmware File Step 2 Scan for a connected BAR and select it From the list Make sure the USE cable is connected Step 3 Click Program and wait For it to complete Program 6 Select the connection to the BAR it should be something like COMx where x is a number then click the Program button 7 Unplug the USB cable from the BAR and switch it off and then on again 14 Tips and Troubleshooting If you have any questions or issues using the BAR or have ideas for improvements please visit the Frontier Labs support forum at http www frontierlabs com au forum Diagnostic Lo
5. gt the home screen will flash black for a second to show you it s updated the clock from the GPS 3 Refining position Initial position fix acquired and now refining on the position fix to improve its accuracy 4 Position found Position fix has been acquired and the GPS is og GPS disabled turned off to conserve power Failed No signal If a position fix cannot be found within 30 ogo minutes then an X will appear under the GPS EA icon If the schedule contains sunrise or sunset based recordings then the default location that was specified in the schedule file is used to calculate these The GPS works best with a clear unobstructed view of a large area of the sky if you are i unable to get a fix and the number of visible satellites is low and or the signal strength of each satellite is low then consider moving the recorder into a clearing until it gets a fix which should only take a few minutes Device info Select Device Info from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the Device Info menu DEVICE INFO gt Firmware Wi 3 Urarade Firmware Back This screen shows the current firmware version of the recorder and also allows you to begin the firmware upgrade process See Firmware Upgrades 13 Firmware Upgrades As new features and bug fixes are released we encourage you to upgrade the firmware of the BAR to take advantage of these improvements AN Caution
6. O2Micro SD SCSI Disk Device Disk dives o Samsung 550 840 Series Disk drives amp y TEAC DVD ROM DY 20SWw DYDYCD Device Properties Manufacturer Standard disk drives Location Bus Humber Target ID 0 LUN 0 Device status This device is working properly Properties Apply 16 O In the Device Properties window click Change Settings O2Micro SD SCSI Disk Device Properti Be O2eMicroa SD SCSI Disk Device Device type Disk drives Manufacturer Standard disk drives Location Bus Number 0 Target ID 0 LUN O Device status This device 15 working properly C Ey Change settings O Click the Policies tab at the top of the window Select the Quick Removal policy then click OK O2Micro SD SCSI Disk Device Pra Policies Yalumes Driver Details Removal policy Quick removal Disables write caching on the device and in Windows but pou can disconnect the device safely without using the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon Better performance default Enables write caching in Windows but vou must use the Safely Remove Hardware notification icon to disconnect the device safely Wrrite caching policy Enable write caching on the device Improves system performance by enabling write caching on the device but a power outage or equipment failure might result in data loss or corruption Turn off Windows write cache buffer flushing on the device To preve
7. ce HEW ENTRE NEW ENTRY Start Bria Start Brie Start 61 42 14 Start 61 42 14 Duration Hahzan Duration Bahsin RePeat YES RePeat Y every oe Fu Een si 1 Ed ME until 07 02 14 44 1kHz In the example above the recording is scheduled to start at 7 00am on 1 Feb 2014 and record for 30 minutes every hour until 9 00am every day until 7 Feb 2014 To edit or delete and existing schedule entry select the entry from the SCHEDULE menu and press the ENTER button to open the EDIT ENTRY menu SCHEDULE EDIT ENTER Start aria Start 41 42 14 e Duration 44h36m Fereat FEC_SUNSET H Back H Clock Settings menu Select Clock Settings from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the SET CLOCK menu SET CLOCK Time 43 44 Date 41 42 14 T zone UTC 146 5 time sance YES This menu allows you to set the current time and date the time zone that the BAR will be deployed in and enable or disable the GPS time sync feature note that daylight savings is not taken into account Recording settings menu Select Record Settings from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the RECORD SETTINGS menu RECORD SETTINGS This menu allows you to set the total signal gain of the BAR between 10 and 60dB Note this figure takes into account the gain of the microphone You can also chose if all of the recordings get stored 10 in a single directory on the SD card or in a new di
8. es an a SO MEN the a gt gt 2 at 2 EREEREER E estimated battery life and time when A EEE m EB the SD card will be full kau anme os B EEHEEHE CREER For more information on creating cu sore Ge Mm m m mE m m Y Enable sunrise sunset calculations 11 12 E mM EN m E Ei schedules please see the Scheduler D u Em mE m m User Manual which is included with Er A AS Power on 01 02 2014 y 12 00AM 15 16 man zn nn nn nn EE m mE ME E it E E m e TE TE 7 Em xs Mom m EHH HE MW Es Mo EEE 23 00 All our microphones have a built in class A pre amp with a fixed gain and an output driver to drive cables and maintain the best signal quality The BAR is able to detect which type of Frontier Labs smart mic is attached and adjust its internal gain so that the total system gain stays the same even when you change to a microphone with a different pre amp Currently we make 2 different microphones both of which have a fixed gain of 20dB however this may change in future as needs arise The standard black bodied microphone uses a highly sensitive and ultra low noise sensor element with an 80dB S N ratio and 14dBA self noise It has a fixed gain pre amp of 20dB and a flat frequency response 2dB from 80Hz to 20kHz It includes an 80Hz high pass filter to filter out low frequency wind noise The low frequency green bodied microphone is exactly the same as the standard microphone but uses
9. formatted as exFAT by default and Microsoft Windows doesn t let you format them as FAT32 however this is not a limitation of the FAT32 file system which can handle devices up to 2TB To format your card to FAT32 insert it into the BAR and select the Format Card option from the SD Card menu see the instructions on page 16 15 Disabling Windows cache settings In Microsoft Windows the default behaviour of removable drives i e SD cards is to have file caching enabled which puts off writing data to the card until a later time in order to improve system performance This means it is very easy to remove the disk and leave with either the old schedule fIs file still on the card or none at all if the card was empty to start with Even when you re load the file directly from the card to check it there is no guarantee that the correct file has been copied onto the disk yet In order to prevent this you must select Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media from the right hand side of the start bar or disable the file caching settings for your SD card drive recommended To disable file caching right click on the SD card in My Computer then click Properties O Click on the Hardware tab at the top of the window O Select the drive of the SD card It may have a strange name look for the letters SD Double click on the drive in the list or click the Properties button a Hardware disk drives E Type
10. g files The BAR generates detailed diagnostic log files every time it is used Each action that is performed is logged with a time and date stamp Even if there is no SD card present the BAR will log a small amount to internal memory until an SD card is inserted and then dump the internal buffer to the log file Log files are saved in the folder for that days recording The log files also contain information about each recording such as the gain used the time it started and ended the battery charge remaining and how much SD card space is left If the BAR behaves unexpectedly or you miss a recording that you think should have occurred check the log files to see why Recording time vs Sample Rate The table below shows the typical recording time vs the sampling rate of the BAR when powered from one 18650 battery with a capacity of 3400mAh Note that with a higher sampling rate the SD card is written to more often which causes the power consumption to increase If you have the extended battery pack in the lid which holds up to 3 batteries then simply multiply the recording time by the number of batteries you have installed For example with a 22 05kHz sampling rate and 4 batteries installed you should get a little more than 330 hrs of recording time Sample Rate in kHz Typical Hours Recorded with 3400mAh battery 16 88 22 05 84 44 1 74 96 65 Formatting SD cards larger than 32GB SD cards larger than 32GB usually come
11. gned smart microphones with the lowest noise a built in pre amp and cable driver that tells the BAR when they re connected and what type of mic it is and we designed it to use a high density rechargeable lithium battery instead of bulky and wasteful alkalines We designed the BAR to make your field work easier and more reliable We hope you enjoy using it and if you have any feedback or ideas for improvements we would love to hear from you Michal Wn Calla Michael Maggs Mark Carder Getting to know your BAR 1 SD Card icon Shows the SD card free space When the card is empty this will show 100 E GPS status icon Shows the status of the GPS system E blinking getting clock sync _ radio waves blinking getting position fix T solid refining fix mp fix acquired fix could not be found when searching the number of satellites is shown under the icon e g pl Microphone detect icon Shows if the microphone is connected Battery level icon Check the battery level If the additional battery pack is installed this is included in the measurement O SD card slot Insert your Fat32 formatted SD card here To eject the card push it down and it will spring back out Do not eject cards while the BAR is switched on Power ON OFF switch Turn on to begin scheduled recording and take a GPS fix Turn off to power down the BAR Battery pack connector The optional extended battery pack plugs into this c
12. ition for sun based recordings until a fix has been acquired otherwise it will display the time of the next scheduled recording Connect the microphone and check the microphone detected status icon appears L E It s a good idea to wait until the GPS has acquired a fix before leaving the site in case you need to move to a clearing to get better signal Under clear skies it should only take a minute or two to get a GPS fix It only records a GPS fix once after it has been switched on then disables the GPS to conserve power so if you move the unit during a deployment and want a new GPS fix simply turn the unit off and then back on again Do not eject the SD card while the unit is switched on as this can result in loss of data and corruption of the file system Always switch the BAR off before swapping SD cards Types of Recording Schedules The recording scheduler allows you to program recordings to start at a particular time and date with repeating periods throughout the day and over multiple days The recording scheduler allows for 3 types of schedule entries Record Type Description Absolute time based These recordings are set to begin and end at specified times e g 05 30 n b 24 hour clock Sunrise based These recordings are set to begin relative to the sunrise time at the unit s location e g sunrise 30 mins Sunset based These recordings are set to begin relative to the sunset time at the unit s location e g su
13. me zone setting By default the BAR will automatically update its clock from the GPS satellites every time it is switched on this may take a minute or two see GPS Info If the clock is being updated to an incorrect time then check the Time zone field in the Clock Settings menu You must ensure this is set correctly for the location the unit is being deployed in It is also important to note that daylight savings time is not taken into account by the BAR Incorrect Dawn Dusk times Dawn and dusk times are calculated on the BAR based on its GPS location when it was last switched on using the ON OFF switch If the BAR is unable to get a GPS position fix then the position that you set in the Scheduler GUI program when the schedule was created will be used as a backup If the position specified here is largely different from the real location of the BAR then there will be a discrepancy between the calculated and real dawn dusk times For example 0 3 degrees of longitude away or 30km E W if you were at the equator would result in about 1 minute of error 18 No Recordings Scheduled when there should be When you see the No Recordings Scheduled screen shown below this means there are no more scheduled recordings left to be done in the future and there is nothing left for the BAR to do DD 4 on 100 100 Ho Recordings Scheduled 12 14 66 41 4 14 This can occur for a number of reasons Past the End Date Do
14. ngs then it is good practice to set the location and time zone fields in the Scheduler program to roughly where the BAR will be deployed This will make the recording times shown in the main window more accurate and also provide a backup location value inside the schedule file that the BAR can use to calculate sun based times if it is unable to get a GPS position fix in the field Save the schedule as schedule fls onto your SD card It must have this name and not be inside any folders for the BAR to use it Now is a good time to check everything is working as expected before heading out into the field Follow the deployment steps listed below and check the time of the next scheduled recording is correct You can then turn it off until you are ready to deploy it In the field 1 Insert the SD card containing schedule fls into the SD card slot of the BAR then turn it on with the Power ON OFF switch Check the status on the home screen or configure the unit by pressing the ENTER button e ifthe unit has been without a battery for a long time the Setup Wizard will appear and ask you to enter the time zone where the BAR is being deployed note daylight savings is not taken into account The home screen will then say Waiting for GPS time sync until the clock is automatically updated by the GPS or manually set by the user e If there are sunrise or sunset based recordings in the schedule then the home screen will say Waiting for GPS pos
15. nset 30 mins All schedule entries have a start time and date a recording duration and configurable recording settings such as sample rate and bit depth Each recording can be repeated during the day at regular intervals finishing at a specific time e g Start recording at 09 00 on the 01 02 2014 and record for 30mins every 2 hours until 21 00 which specifies the last recording of the day Recordings can also be repeated daily either every day or every n days which skips the days in between e g Start recording at 09 00 on the 01 02 2014 and record for 30mins every 2 hours until 21 00 every 2 day until 07 02 2014 which specifies the last day on which recordings will take place Schedules can be created or edited on a computer or on the BAR unit itself see the Schedule item of the Main Menu In order to create a schedule on your computer you must first install the Scheduler GUI program which can be downloaded from the Frontier Labs website www frontierlabs com au Power off 13 4 2016 8 03PM _ V Estimate 16 17 14 the Scheduler software 17 18 Storage 18 19 Medium SD card 32GB gt 19 20 Available 32GB E change Fill up never 20 21 V Estimate Utilisation 28 R 8 8 Scheduler unnamed lola The Scheduler GUI program allows 8 2 GO s weemce ou to create and edit recordin SA a es y mn A i z Le SC ul
16. nt data loss do not select this check box unless the device haz a separate power supply that allows the device to flush its buffer in case of power failure More information about write caching settings 0 cance 17 No GPS lock If you are unable to get a GPS lock then consider moving the BAR into a clearing and turning it OFF and then ON to restart the searching process The GPS works best with a clear unobstructed view of a large area of the sky and it takes longer under cloudy skies Deploying the BAR near the bottom of cliffs in caves or under a dense canopy will likely result in the GPS taking longer to get a fix or failing to get a fix If you are having trouble getting a fix go to the Main Menu gt GPS Info on the BAR to view the GPS status the number of satellites the BAR can see and a graph of their signal strength as a percentage out of 100 The BAR requires a minimum of 3 GPS satellites in order to get a fix The more satellites it can see and the higher the signal strength then the faster and more accurate the position fix will be If the number of visible satellites is low and or the signal strength of the satellites is low then consider moving the BAR into a clearing away from walls and tall trees so you can see more of the sky and horizon Once the BAR has a position fix you can move it back to where you want it deployed BAR showing incorrect time This is most likely caused by an incorrect ti
17. onnector Recording status View the status of current or pending recordings In Record mode shows the elapsed time end time sample rate and bit depth of the current recording In Waiting mode shows the time and date of the next recording Current time and date View the current time and date of the BAR in 24hr HH MM SS DD MM YY format M UP DOWN buttons In Menu mode scroll through menu items Increment decrement selections M ENTER button Access the main Menu In Menu mode accepts the current selection Battery socket Insert only 18650 lithium rechargeable batteries Positive terminal pointing up 13 USB port Used only for firmware upgrades You can t charge the BAR or copy data through this port Recommended operating procedure In the office 1 2 Make sure your SD card is formatted as FAT32 and it s speed is class 6 or faster SD cards larger than 32GB usually come formatted as exFAT by default so you ll need to insert them into the BAR and format them through the SD Card menu before you can use them Create a recording schedule using the Scheduler program on your computer e When adding new recording events to the schedule it s a good idea to give them a short but meaningful name as this will appear in the filenames of the recorded files This name is called the Event name on the last page of the Recording Wizard when you add a new recording e f there are sunrise or sunset based recordi
18. rectory each day and if desired you can also override the sample rate settings of all of the scheduled recordings The BAR can detect what model of Frontier Labs microphone is attached and adjust its gain so that the total signal gain will stay the same even if you change to a microphone with a different pre amp see Microphones To choose whether the BAR puts all of the recordings into a single directory or creates a new directory for each day selecting the Single DIR option and pressing the ENTER button RECORD SETTINGS y RECORD SETTINGS al LE single DIF WES anal UIE zit gt i rate H Sale Cancel To override the sample rate settings of all of the scheduled recordings select the Override Rate option and press the ENTER button then set the sample rate that you want to use for all recordings RECORD SETTINGS RECORD SETTINGS Gain dB l Gain 2848 Er h Ei SD Card menu Select SD Card from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the SD CARD menu MEHU 50 CARO Schedule Used Arne Clock Settings Free aaacaerie nto Device Info Back This menu shows the amount of used and free space available on the SD card and allows you to format the SD card 11 SD cards larger than 32GB usually come formatted as exFat by default In order to use them in the BAR you will have to format them using this menu option before the BAR will recognise it To format the SD card select the Fo
19. rmat Card option and press the ENTER button FORMAT A confirmation message will appear select Yes and press the ENTER button to confirm Formatting the card can take a while over a minute for large cards so please be patient FORMAT mm Formatting Card Please Walt AN WARNING Formatting the SD Card will erase all the data on it GPS Info Select GPS Info from the Main Menu and press the ENTER button to bring up the GPS menu GPS IMFO Searching EH eujce Into 12 4231833 b Back Back This screen shows the status of the GPS as well as the signal strength of up to 10 GPS satellites that are visible to the BAR The number under each graph shows the satellite ID number and the height represents the signal strength of that satellite as a percentage out of 100 It is normal for the number of visible satellites to change over time but the more satellites and higher signal strength then the faster and more accurate the position fix will be Generally a signal strength above the first dotted line 25 is good 12 The first line of the GPS INFO screen shows the status of the GPS which operates in the following sequence Stage Status text Description Home screen icon 1 Searching Searching for satellites and waiting for time on synchronisation Flashing on off 2 Clock Updated Time sync acquired waiting to get a position on fix Note it s at this point that the clock area on Flashing
20. u no longer want See Types of Recording Schedules for more detailed information about the different types of schedule entries Each schedule entry is listed as an item in the SCHEDULE menu The name of each menu item is the name given to the schedule entry when it was programmed on the computer To create a new entry select New entry and press the ENTER button to open the NEW ENTRY menu HEW ENTRY FEC_SUHRISE a gt Sunset based Back REC_SUNSET Back Select the type of entry that you want to create and press the ENTER button Note when creating a new entry on the BAR the name will be automatically set to REC REC_SUNRISE or REC_SUNSET depending on the type of entry being made MEW ENTRY Start aria gt Start Bl 62 14 Repeat gt HO ed Set the Start Time Start Date Recording Duration and the Sample Rate of the recording To repeat a recording during the day select the Repeat option and press the ENTER button to toggle the status to YES Then set the repeat period and the time you want the repeating to stop HEW ENTRY HEW ENTRE Start 01 62 14 Start 01 92 14 ion BOL gt Fes alle Rate 44 1kHz To repeat the recordings daily every day or every n days skipping the days in between select the Repeat daily option and press the ENTER button Then set the repeat period in days and then the day you want the repeating to stop Note this is the last day on which recordings will take pla
21. uble check the start and end date of the recordings you were expecting as well as the time and date on the BAR as you may be past the end time and date of the last recording Incorrect schedule file name Check file name and location of the schedule file on the SD card The schedule must have the file name schedule fls and it must be saved in the root directory of the SD card for the BAR to use it See below OW a Computer BAR F v I Search BAR F EE O SSS SSS Organize Share with New folder a Libraries schedule fls Favorites 2 Homegroup E Computer amp Local Disk C E BAR F hi Network 1 item Incorrectly formatted SD card Make sure the SD card is formatted as FAT32 SD cards larger than 32GB come formatted as exFAT when you buy them and you will need to format them to FAT32 before you can use them See Formatting SD cards larger than 32GB No GPS position for sun based recordings Sun based recordings require location information to calculate the sun rise and set times If no GPS position could be found and there was no backup location set in the schedule file then sun based schedule entries are ignored Note this will not occur if you used the Scheduler GUI program on the PC When you make a new schedule on the BAR directly you can t set a backup location and you must get a GPS fix when you deploy it Schedule file did not properly copy across to SD card Windows file caching postpones
22. writing files to the SD card making it easy to leave with the old schedule file still on there or no file at all See Disabling Windows cache settings 19 Silent recordings The most likely cause of this is that the microphone was not properly connected Make sure that you see the microphone detected symbol L on the top row of the home screen to know that the microphone is properly attached Unplug the microphone then plug it back in again and check that the symbol appears Note that after the microphone is pushed on the locking ring at the base of the connector needs to be turned to lock it into place see Attaching a mircophone Calculating Gain To convert a gain value given in dB into a multiplication factor of the original signal you can use the following equation multiplication factor 10 i 4B 20 For example 20dB gain is 10 to the power of 20 divided by 20 giving 10 which equals a multiplication factor of 10 Below is a table of common gain values in dB and the corresponding value as a multiplication factor of the original signal 10 3 16 or V10 20 10 30 31 6 40 100 50 316 60 1000 The table below shows what gain values on the Songmeter SM2 are equivalent to on the BAR oneg aTe ol SAR 2 el z are 36 30 48 42 60 54 20 Frontier E Labs 2015 Frontier Labs All Rights Reserved
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