Radio Telemetry Tracker Opportunities Update WI25 (#239)

* updated opportunties and removed team member section

* fixed spelling mistakes and rewrote descriptions rtt

_data/opportunities.yml

@@ -86,37 +86,49 @@
   - Have worked with NoSQL databases (MongoDB)
   - Experience with any testing frameworks
 - project: Radio Telemetry Tracker
-  title: Mechanical Engineer
+  title: User Interface Developer
   link: /radio-collar-tracker
-  description: The Radio Telemetry Tracking project seeks to aid scientists in the monitoring and conservation of wildlife by offering an efficient and reliable method of tracking animals. We are currently working on creating a long-term monitoring system that requires hardware mounts to be designed and built, and are seeking students with background in mechanical engineering to help us. We would be looking for students to commit at least 4 hours a week.
+  description: The Radio Telemetry Tracker project aims to develop an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) that displays location estimates of transmitters and animals, provides status updates from field devices, and enables users to control these devices and access previous deployments. We are seeking enthusiastic students interested in designing and developing interfaces that are both functional and visually appealing.
   required:
-  - SolidWorks CAD + Drawings
-  - 3D Printing and/or Laser Cutting
-  - Familiarity with using hand tools (screwdriveres, wrenches, etc)
+  - Python
+  - HTML/CSS/JavaScript
+  - Git/GitHub
+  desired:
+  - Experience with Flask
+  - UI/UX design experience
+  - Experience with React
+  - Experience with GIS-based mapping libraries/tools (Leaflet, Folium, QGIS, etc.)
 - project: Radio Telemetry Tracker
-  title: Electrical Engineer
+  title: Embedded Systems Engineer
   link: /radio-collar-tracker
-  description: The Radio Telemetry Tracking project seeks to aid scientists in the monitoring and conservation of wildlife by offering an efficient and reliable method of tracking animals. We are looking for students to help maintain, develop, and test next generation monitoring systems ranging from drone payload trackers to mobile tracking stations. We would be looking for students to commit at least 4 hours a week.
+  description: The Radio Telemetry Tracker project aims to provide system prototypes to collaborators for field testing. We are seeking students to develop reliable control systems for our field devices. This role involves selecting appropriate components, assembling the devices, and creating software that enables wireless communication between the system's peripheral devices and the user interface.
   required:
-  - Circuit design
-  - Experience in electrical debugging
-  - Technical documentation
+  - Basic communication interfaces (I2C, Serial, GPIO, etc.)
+  - Python, C++, or Rust programming
+  - Experience with microcontrollers/microprocessors (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, etc.)
   desired:
-  - Experience soldering
+  - Experience with IoT, particularly long-range communication
+  - Experience with solar panels and battery management
 - project: Radio Telemetry Tracker
-  title: Student Co-Lead
+  title: Mechanical Engineer
   link: /radio-collar-tracker
-  description: |
-    Engineers for Exploration (E4E) is looking for motivated students to take on a leadership role for our Radio Telemetry Tracker (RTT) team. This role could tie into an undergraduate or master's thesis project, and we encourage students to explore this option. RTT is a multidisciplinary systems project in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance which aims to improve methods of tracking animals using radio telemetry. This type of animal tracking picks up signals from radio transmitters which have been attached to or embedded in subject animals. Traditional on-foot methods of radio telemetry require researchers to trek through difficult terrain with unwieldy antennae, so we're developing two systems to make the process easier: a drone-based system to fly over the terrain, and a tower-based system to be set up and left to collect data with little supervision.
-
-    We have deployed our system to the field previously, and the project's current goals include designing a new PCB for our payload, redesigning our payload's physical housing, and developing software to communicate with the system's peripheral devices, all to prepare for upcoming deployments. Examples of skills which would be helpful for this role include systems engineering, PCB design, electrical debugging, embedded programming, and digital signal processing.
-
-    We assemble our system with custom sensors to gather the data we need and record it for later analysis. Due to such customization and the multidisciplinary nature of RTT, this project has many moving parts, and the ideal candidate would have some experience navigating such problems of complexity. This role includes the expectation and opportunity to deploy the system you develop into the field in order to track animals and report on results.
+  description: To prepare for a field test of our system, the Radio Telemetry Tracker team needs to develop durable mounts and enclosures for field devices that will be deployed on drones and towers for extended periods. We are seeking students to help design and construct these mounts and enclosures.
+  required:
+  - CAD Design + Drafting
+  - SolidWorks or similar CAD software
+  - 3D Printing 
+  desired:
+  - Designing with IP and IP protection in mind
+  - Experience with hand tools
+- project: Radio Telemetry Tracker
+  title: Digital Signal Processing Researcher
+  link: /radio-collar-tracker
+  description: The Radio Telemetry Tracker team is seeking students to help research and develop digital signal processing and location estimation algorithms. This role focuses on the core research aspects of the project. We are looking for students to design methods for processing raw data from software-defined radios (SDR) and converting it into accurate transmitter location estimates.
+  required:
+  - Reading research papers
+  - Basic DSP knowledge (signal basics, modulation/demodulation, frequency domain analysis, etc.)
+  - MATLAB, Python, C++, or Rust programming
   desired:
-  - Leadership/Project Management
-  - PCB Design/Layout/Assembly/Testing
-  - Mechanical Design/Fabrication/Assembly/Testing
-  - Digital Interfacing (I2C/Serial)
-  - Embedded Linux (I2C/Serial/GPIO/sysfs/networking)
-  - Python (pybind11/threading)
-  - Digital Signal Processing (STFT/spectral analysis/mixing)
+  - Writing research papers
+  - Antenna design
+  - Tangible experience with SDRs (USRP, HackRF, Airspy)

projects/radio-tracker/radio-tracker.md

@@ -23,80 +23,7 @@ The Radio Telemetry Tracker project is a collaboration between the San Diego Zoo
 
 Since the start of this project, we have had the opportunity to use this platform in the field. In a 2015 collaboration with Stesha Pasachnik (San Diego Zoo), we took the Radio Telemetry Tracker to the Dominican Republic to study the rhinoceros iguana (Cyclura cornuta) and the Ricord’s iguana (Cyclura ricordi). Then, in a 2016 collaboration with Jennette Moss (Mississippi State University) and Glenn Gerber (San Diego Zoo), we took the Radio Collar Tracker to Little Cayman to study the Sister Isle’s Rock Iguana (Cyclura nubila caymanensis).
 
-# THE TEAM
-Tyler Flar, B.S. Computer Science at UC San Diego
-
-Nathan Hui, Staff Engineer at UC San Diego
-
-Matthew Peng, B.S. Computer Science at UC San Diego
-
-Praveen Swaminathan, B.S. Electrical Engineering at UC San Diego
-
-Vaibhav Maloo, B.S. Computer Engineering at UC San Diego
-
-Wesley Lewis, B.S. Computer Science at the University of Virginia
-
-Claire Wang, B.S. Mechanical Engineering at UC San Diego
-
-Aniket Bhosale, B.S. Electrical Engineering at UC San Diego
-
-# PAST MEMBERS
-
-Hannah Grehm (2021 – 2024)
-
-Mia Lucio, UC San Diego (2020 – 2021)
-
-Eric Lo, UC San Diego (2013 – 2020)
-
-Emmanuel Gharehbekloo (2019 – 2020)
-
-Aditi Gaur (2019 – 2020)
-
-Rujvi Mehendre (2019 – 2020)
-
-Emilio Figueroa (2019 – 2020)
-
-Eric Tran (2018 – 2019)
-
-Charles Kinzel, CSU San Bernardino (2019 NSF REU)
-
-Matt Epperson, UC San Diego (2017)
-
-Katlin Dahn, Portland State University (2017 NSF REU)
-
-Anthony Koutroulis, UC Santa Cruz (2017 NSF REU)
-
-Jacob Domine, UC San Diego (2016 – 2017)
-
-Thomas An, UC San Diego (2017)
-
-Naveen Ketagoda, UC San Diego (2017)
-
-Daniel Knapp, UC San Diego (2017)
-
-Samuel Vineyard, UC San Diego (2017)
-
-Jacob Torres, UC San Diego (2016 – 2017)
-
-Daniel Webber, Santa Clara University (2016 NSF REU)
-
-Samuel Bauza, UC San Diego (2016)
-
-Nan Shu, UC San Diego (2016)
-
-Gilberto Antonio Marcon dos Santos, Universidade Federal de Gois (2014 NSF REU)
-
-Zachary Barnes, UC San Diego (2014 NSF REU)
-
-Xavier Tejeda, UC San Diego (2014)
-
-Alex Ke, UC San Diego (2014)
-
-Bryan Ritoper, UC San Diego (2013 – 2014)
-
-Lauren Nishizaki, Harvey Mudd College (2013 NSF REU)
-
-Han Lin, UC San Diego (2013)
+Project Lead: Tyler Flar ([[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]))
 
 # PUBLICATIONS
  - Hui, N. T., Lo, E. K., Moss, J. B., Gerber, G. P., Welch, M. E., Kastner, R., & Schurgers, C. (2021). A more precise way to localize animals using drones. Journal of Field Robotics, 1– 12. [https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.22017](https://doi.org/10.1002/rob.22017)