IoT of Animals: spacetech meets wildlife conservation with TALOS

Wildlife populations are declining at an alarming rate, and scientists lack crucial data to understand and address this crisis. 

German startup TALOS is developing innovative technology to track animals and gather critical insights into their behaviour and habitat.

 The bootstrapped startup sits at the convergence of spacetech and climatetech. Its currently developing “the IoT of animals,” which will allow scientists to track wildlife through a micro tracker fixed on an animal that links directly to a satellite. 

The tech was originally conceived by renowned scientist Martin Wikelski at Max Planck as part of the ICARUS Project, which aimed to revolutionise climate change research by tracking migratory bird patterns. This opened up a frontier in harnessing animal observation as a tool for conservation.

 However, the very first project, which was based on the ISS, was shut down at the beginning of the Ukraine War due to its ties to Roscosmos. 

Now TALOS is reviving the tech, with its first client the Max Planck Society, in collaboration with the Universität der Bundeswehr, as part of the ICARUS Project.

The first set of equipment will be delivered to the Max Planck Society by the end of summer, marking a significant step towards understanding climate change through animal behaviour.

I spoke to CEO Gregor Langer to learn more. 

TALOS's technology centres around an IoT tag with minute dimensions (approximately 19x25x10 mm and 5 grams of weight) that can be attached to any asset.

This compact tag not only captures its location but also gathers crucial environmental data, storing it locally. As Langer explained:

“Our technology comprises a minuscule IoT device powered by solar energy. This compact sensor collects a variety of data, including location, temperature, humidity, pressure, and acceleration. When a satellite passes overhead, it retrieves this data and stores it.”  

This information is then transferred to a cloud-based platform for processing and distribution to our customers. The IoT device's data collection frequency can be remotely adjusted as needed.

The devices can be attached to birds using a backpack-style harness, or like a necklace, stuck to the shell of a turtle.

“We say we want to harness the intelligence of animals because they have been on the planet for billions of years, and they have had to adapt to the environment. By having IoT devices on the animals, we know where they are, and how they react in different situations. We can measure their behaviour, and we can learn from it.”

From wildlife conservation to agriculture: TALOS' tech has wide-ranging applications

Animal tracking provides insights into environmental challenges such as climate change — such as droughts or water changes that force animals to change their route — , land use changes, and biodiversity loss. It helps monitor the spread of invasive species and infectious diseases, contributing to more effective environmental management. This information is being used to address environmental challenges such as climate and land use change, biodiversity loss, invasive species, wildlife trafficking and the spread of infectious diseases. 

There’s also safety. Early research by Max Planc detected wild dogs in Africa exhibiting abnormal behaviour based on sensor data. The park rangers were alerted, and it turned out the dogs were trapped in a barbed wire fence. 

As Langer notes, ”If spacetech hadn't detected this, the dogs most likely would have died.“

Animal tracking can also anticipate natural hazards and extreme weather events. By closely observing animal behaviour, researchers hope to detect early warning signs of impending disasters, such as volcanic eruptions, which often occur before they can be measured by traditional sensors.

In terms of other applications, technology also has potential in tracking livestock — which can reduce the risk of theft, and enable detailed analysis of grazing patterns. 

The company is in conversation with farmers in Germany and Austria about trialling the technology. 

There’s also the capacity for data monetisation in meteorology. As Langer shared:

“Animals are not only on the ground, they’re flying above the earth’s surface. So we want to use them as sentinels, especially in locations where you would never put a weather station.

Then we could sell this data to meteorological agencies to improve weather predictions, planning, insurance etc." 

Further, in logistics, TALOS’ tech could offer global, uninterrupted asset tracking without relying on terrestrial infrastructure.

TALOS capitalises on falling spacetech costs and faster development cycles

It's a great time for spacetech startups as the cost of spacetech has drastically reduced from the cost of sending payloads into space to lower materials and manufacturing costs. 

According to Langer: 

“Launch capacity has dropped dramatically in price. Satellite technology doesn't cost billions anymore, it's not even millions anymore to buy a satellite. It's way below.

Everything is more approachable. And now technology like ours can become profitable.” 

Langer also highlights a mindset change:

 “In the past, when you had space technology, everything was tested for 10 years, and you excluded any chance of failure. Now, companies and people are a little bit more error-tolerant. 

Of course, we test everything all the way through,  but we are not spending 10 years in simulations, so we're much more agile, and the lifetimes of all the equipment in space is not 10 years. This also allows us a much quicker development cycle. 

And all this propels space applications into a profitable domain.”

 In the future TALOS aims to reduce its 5-gram wearables even more to 1-gram. 

.Langer stressed the importance of ensuring the technology has no burden on the animals: 

“We don’t want the animals to be harmed in any way. However, for scientific purposes, you don't want to change the behaviour of an animal using the technology you attach because then all the data is flawed.”  

With its product in development, TALOS has the chicken and egg problem of many startups and getting customers without a working product. 

TALOS has been successful in gaining grants — it was selected for the GreenStartup program by the DBU, the German Environmental Agency, coming with substantial funding for the next 24 months. The company was also selected as one of the top 3 finalists in the ESA BA challenge of the InnoSpace Masters 2024 competition

Langer notes:

 “Sometimes, we randomly find funding possibilities, kind of by accident, and they turn out to be great. We won five rocket launchers for free because of the idea we had, and we just found it by accident.”

The company’s next steps are to get its tech up and running with the launch of a constellation of five satellites. With an initial customer in Max Planck, and a myriad of potential use cases, this is just the beginning for TALOS.

Lead image:TALOS. Photo: uncredited.