We are planning a radio-tracking project on the Giant African Swallowtail - Papilio antimachus in Liberia. Of course, it will not be an easy task to do, so we would like to gather as much information on the available techniques as possible, before we invest in the equipments. My colleagues are trying to convince me, that we should use various fixed and geologially well positioned receiver stations but I would still vote for a single mobile flying unit, which will be able to follow the tracked butterfly. My biggest problem is the real-time communication between the receivers and a server to ensure that actually the receivers can sense the signal and from the signal we are able to position the specimen. These questions might sound trivial to many of you, but as I am not good at maths and physics I need clear explanations.

The questions are:

1. Is it possible to calculate-estimate position if the signal is received by a single station (like a radar), or I would certainly need three signals for triangulation?

2. Is it possible to equipe the receivers with a communication device, which would allow real-time transmission between the specimen and our data-server? We would prefer mobile communication or mobile internet, as there is 100% coverage in the area.

3. If we equip more than a single receiver on a traverse, would the distance between our receivers sufficient enough for accurate triangulation?

4. In certain papers there was mention of rovers, which followed the specimens using the existing road network. This equipment-receiver should also calculate direction and distance from a single signal, but I found no further explanation on this method.

5. Is there any afforable method and equipment to follow the specimen in the air e.g. drones, quadrocopters, which can carry a gps unit and or digital camera and has battery capacity to stay in the air for 5-6 hours a day?

Of course your answers will raise further questions, but this is the first "batch".

I hope many of you can help me to understand the methods and the entire radio-tracking process better at the end .

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