An extended Kalman filter for large-volume path positioning of aquatic animals within acoustic telemetry arrays
- 1Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries
Abstract
Acoustic telemetry is a core methodology for collecting fine-scale movement data for aquatic animals. When telemetry receivers are set up in closely spaced arrays with overlapping detection ranges, the detection times of a tagged animal can be used to estimate its position and movement paths. In practice, estimating these paths can be challenging. Traditional time-difference-of-arrival methods generally provide positioning accuracy too poor for inferring fine-scale behaviours, while more robust state-space positioning models can be computationally intensive and practically infeasible to run on large datasets. Here, a novel telemetry positioning method is presented where time-of-arrival positioning is implemented as a state-space model within an extended Kalman filter. The resulting model, termed EK-TOA, provides closed-form solutions to track estimation. Simulated datasets of fish movement within a 2D telemetry array are used to verify the models performance and a real case study is provided where EK-TOA is utilized for the long-term tracking of a tagged fish. In comparison to currently available positioning models, EK-TOA provides a fast and accurate solution for tracking fine-scale movement behaviours of aquatic animals over long, continuous periods of time.
Related
- Underexplored diversity and transmission of RNA viruses in Antarctic aquatic animals
- Effects of Application of Lactobacilli on Lipid Metabolism in Monogastric and Aquatic Animals: Benefits and Underlying Mechanism.
- Green turtle satellite telemetry: identifying spatial movements, residency patterns, and habitat associations in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Continuous monitoring of deficit irrigation in avocado across two contrasting rainfall years using sensor networks, telemetry, and machine learning
- GPS telemetry reveals changes in the movement patterns of a cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) flying over an active war zone
BibTeX
@misc{campbell2026extended,
title = {{An extended Kalman filter for large-volume path positioning of aquatic animals within acoustic telemetry arrays}},
author = {J. A. Campbell and J. Elings and P. Lundberg and R. Mawer and I. Pauwels and F. Hölker},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.17.752304},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752304v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - An extended Kalman filter for large-volume path positioning of aquatic animals within acoustic telemetry arrays
AU - J. A. Campbell
AU - J. Elings
AU - P. Lundberg
AU - R. Mawer
AU - I. Pauwels
AU - F. Hölker
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/17
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.17.752304
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.17.752304v1
AB - Acoustic telemetry is a core methodology for collecting fine-scale movement data for aquatic animals. When telemetry receivers are set up in closely spaced arrays with overlapping detection ranges, the detection times of a tagged animal can be used to estimate its position and movement paths. In practice, estimating these paths can be challenging. Traditional time-difference-of-arrival methods generally provide positioning accuracy too poor for inferring fine-scale behaviours, while more robust state-space positioning models can be computationally intensive and practically infeasible to run on large datasets. Here, a novel telemetry positioning method is presented where time-of-arrival positioning is implemented as a state-space model within an extended Kalman filter. The resulting model, termed EK-TOA, provides closed-form solutions to track estimation. Simulated datasets of fish movement within a 2D telemetry array are used to verify the models performance and a real case study is provided where EK-TOA is utilized for the long-term tracking of a tagged fish. In comparison to currently available positioning models, EK-TOA provides a fast and accurate solution for tracking fine-scale movement behaviours of aquatic animals over long, continuous periods of time.
ER -