Advanced Telemetry Systems -Trailblazer Spotlight

Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS) has been a part of wildlife radio telemetry for over 35 years. Their mission is to provide researchers and managers in ecology and biology with animal tracking and monitoring products of the highest quality and reliability.

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Their commitment to fish and wildlife biotelemetry dates back to 1963, when researchers at the University of Minnesota, Cedar Creek Bioelectronics Laboratory, first began exploring electronic methods of tracking animals in the wild.

This commitment continued with the founding of Advanced Telemetry Systems in 1981 by a core group of engineers and biologists from Cedar Creek. These men and women had been instrumental in fielding the first successful automated animal tracking system.

Map pins placed where ATS has provided equipment for animal studies.

ATS has provided telemetry for research in almost every part of the world and as such is a global company. “Why use radio tracking for creatures of the wild?” In addition to learning about animal behavior, there are many other reasons why radio-telemetry is important in today’s world. Many of the studies involve geopolitical or legal concerns. In either case, data is needed and ATS equipment can be used to help collect the required data.

This technology allows researchers to determine environmental impacts on different species, wildlife management practices, detecting disease cause, natural resource management and collection of data for habitat conservation. Radio telemetry offers the ability to monitor animal populations while observing for translocating of animals and determining cause such as a disturbance of food source.

The model G5-2D Iridium/GPS Collar uses the Iridium satellite to transmit GPS location data collected by the collar. An integrated VHF transmitter allows you to track the animal in the field. Your collar's GPS location data is uploaded to ATS' managed Iridium website and a Google Earth data file is included. You can set-up your collars to send text alerts for mortality, geo-fencing, or Neolink neo-natal birth alerts. The G5-2D collar is programmed wirelessly and you can control how often fixes are collected and stored, how often data is uploaded to the ATS Iridium website and how often the VHF beacon will transmit. You can also remotely command program changes to the fix rate and mortality schedule, fix duration time, and Iridium data transmission interval, using the website.

ATS is a privately held corporation located in Isanti, Minnesota, a rural community about 45 minutes north of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Their facility has grown rapidly over the years to keep pace with an expanding global demand for their innovative and cost-effective radio telemetry solutions. Their most recent expansion, completed in 2004, more than doubled the size of their facility. Today, their building includes space for over fifty ATS employees, and houses research and development, sales and customer service, and manufacturing operations.

Trailblazers in Conservation represents a level of commitment from industry partners and others that support the mutual interests of science-informed wildlife management and conservation, and hunter ethics and advocacy.