Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter EM3+ User Manual

Hide thumbs

Table Of Contents

Table of Contents

Quick Links

Download this manual

User Manual

Echo Meter EM3+

Table of Contents

Need help?

Do you have a question about the Echo Meter EM3+ and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Summary of Contents for Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter EM3+

Page 1 User Manual Echo Meter EM3+...
Page 2: Electromagnetic Interference
Copyright © 2011-2013 Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. Rev. 4/22/13 All rights reserved. Wildlife Acoustics is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Song Scope, Song Meter, Echo Meter, EM3+, SM1, SM2, SM2BAT, Kaleidoscope, and Real Time Expansion are trademarks of Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Table of Contents Table of Contents Introduction................1 Getting Started..............3 Layout ................3 Buttons and Ports ............3 Display ............... 4 Powering Up ..............4 Settings................5 Time ................5 Sample Rate ............... 5 Prefix................6 Format................ 6 Max dur..............7 Trigger ...............
Page 4 Table of Contents Zooming in the X and Y Axes ......... 18 Recording................21 Active Recording ............. 21 Recording Modes............21 Stopping and Restarting..........22 Trigger Display ............22 Time Stamps .............. 22 Tags and Voice Notes ..........23 Scheduled Recording ............23 Batteries and Charging ............
Page 5: Introduction
The EM3+ can be used as a short-term passive recorder using a simple scheduling option. For complex schedules or long-term passive recording in any environment, the Wildlife Acoustics Song Meter SM2BAT+ is a more appropriate detector. Copyright © 2011-2013 Echo Meter EM3 User Manual...
Page 7: Getting Started
Getting Started Getting Started Layout The layout of the EM3+ inputs and buttons can be seen below. The subsequent sections of this User Manual will discuss the functionality behind the buttons in detail. Buttons and Ports Internal Microphone External Real-time Microphone Input Spectrogram Gain Switch...
Page 8: Display
Getting Started Display Battery Indicator Compressed/Expanded Trigger Indicator Axis Indicator Card Capacity Mode Optimal het Freq. Monitoring Waveform Mode Freq. Ref. Line het Freq X Scale Buffer Location GPS Status Time GPS Location Indicator Powering Up To power on the unit, press the Power button until you see the Wildlife Acoustics splash screen.
Page 9: Settings
Getting Started Settings Press and hold the X/Y button to enter the settings menu.The default settings are shown below. Use the Left and Right Arrow buttons to navigate to a setting field and the Up and Down Arrow buttons to change the setting. When positioned at a left most settings field, the Up and Down Arrow buttons will go to the previous and next settings row.
Page 10: Prefix
Format There are three recording formats that can be selected; WAC, WAV or WAV/ZC. In WAC mode, recordings are made in Wildlife Acoustics' proprietary lossless WAC compression format (WAC0 for those familiar with Wildlife Acoustics’ Song Meter passive recorders). WAC files are intended to be set for long durations, several minutes to 30 minutes.
Page 11: Max Dur
Getting Started native ZC recordings because Kaleidoscope can create ZC files using a full spectrum recording of weak signals that would be missed by a native ZC recording. More details about Kaleidoscope can be found in the Managing Recordings chapter of this manual as well as the Wildlife Acoustics website where you can also download the software from the downloads page.
Page 12: Schedule
Getting Started lower than the frequency of any echolocation of interest. Note that lower values may result in false triggers from low frequency noise sources. Next set the amplitude threshold for the trigger. This is directly to the right of the frequency threshold. Higher values are less sensitive and lower values are more sensitive.
Page 13: Save And Exit
Getting Started The Letter buttons will act as tags unless a heterodyne preset has been set in the settings menu. Details on tag functionality can be found in “Tags and Voice Notes” on page 23. If a heterodyne preset is set, that Letter button will immediately tune to that frequency when in heterodyne monitoring mode (but will not tag).
Page 14 Getting Started The EM3+ ships with 36dB set as a default and this is optimal for most cases. If a loud bat echolocates very close to the microphone, clipping may occur and the gain should be set lower for better recording quality. SM2BAT users note that these gain settings do not equate to the same settings on an SM2BAT as the EM3+ microphone has a different circuit and is more sensitive than an SMX-US.
Page 15: Monitoring And Playback
Monitoring and Playback The EM3+ can convert ultrasonic bat echolocations to audible frequencies in real time using heterodyne (het) technology, or Wildlife Acoustics' Real Time Expansion (RTE). Regardless of which monitoring technology is selected, the unit can simultaneously record in full spectrum and optionally zero crossing to the flash card.
Page 16: Real Time Expansion (Rte)
Monitoring and Playback (while viewing the spectrogram), then you can "zoom in" acoustically on the echolocations using the het mode if you prefer. Real Time Expansion (RTE) Real Time Expansion is a patent pending method of acoustically delivering the maximum amount of spectral and temporal information of the bat echolocation in real-time.
Page 17: Playback
Monitoring and Playback example, if the het is tuned to 50kHz and a bat echolocates at 51kHz, the EM3+ will play back at the difference of 1kHz. If another bat echolocates at 55kHz it will be heard as 5kHz. Even though the frequencies of the actual echolocation are only 10% different the sound played for the user is 500% different.
Page 18 Monitoring and Playback mode for playback, as the space in between the echolocations will be quite long otherwise. A progress bar at the bottom of the display will be shown during playback of echolocations from the history buffer. To continue monitoring, press the RTE/het button, or press the Record button to begin recording.
Page 19: Spectrogram Display
Spectrogram Display Spectrogram Display The EM3+ has an integrated real-time spectrogram. This allows you to see important characteristics of bat echolocations as they are happening. The spectrogram is updated even while monitoring or recording. Viewing Modes and Adjustments The default view mode for the spectrogram is “black on white” as shown below.
Page 20: Compressed And Expanded Views
Spectrogram Display If you momentarily press and release the Display button, you can then adjust brightness using either the Plus and Minus buttons or Up and Down buttons. The contrast is adjusted using the Right and Left Arrow buttons. The adjustment levels are displayed on the bottom of the screen. Pressing any other button or waiting 5 seconds exits the display adjustment mode.
Page 21: Viewing Spectrogram History
Spectrogram Display Viewing Spectrogram History While continuing to acquire new bat echolocations, you can scroll back in time to review recent bat activity by pressing the Left Arrow button. Pressing and holding the Right or Left Arrow buttons will allow you to scroll more quickly through the spectrogram.
Page 22: Frequency Reference Line
Spectrogram Display as you scroll back. This is because the silent spaces between echolocations are stored efficiently; thus the amount of the buffer shown on the display is dependent on the percentage of silent space on the display. Frequency Reference Line A frequency reference line is available to aid in determining the exact frequency of a bat echolocation.
Page 23 Spectrogram Display The simulated screenshots below show the same bat echolocations in different modes of operation. The first is shown with the default zoom level, the next with Y zoom and finally with Y zoom and full X zoom. Copyright © 2011-2013 Echo Meter EM3 User Manual...
Page 24 Spectrogram Display In all three screenshots, you can see the frequency reference line and in the last two you can also see the triangular het frequency indicator. All of the above screenshots show the display with the EM3+ set to a sample rate of 256kHz.
Page 25: Recording
Recording Recording Active Recording To begin a recording, press the Record button. This starts a recording in WAC, WAV or WAV/ZC mode depending on the format selected in the settings menu. Once the recording has started, the elapsed time of the recording will be shown on the top line of the display as mm:ss RECORD.
Page 26: Stopping And Restarting
DD is the day, hh is the hour, mm is the minute, and ss is the second. In WAC mode, Echo Meter maintains the proper time so that when the triggers are viewed in Song Scope, Wildlife Acoustics' licensed analysis software, the appropriate space is shown between triggers.
Page 27: Tags And Voice Notes
Recording Tags and Voice Notes The Echo Meter has the ability to "tag" a recording to aid in organization of your files. The Letter buttons are used to tag the individual triggers. This allows you to efficiently sort tagged recordings during analysis. If in WAC mode, pressing a Letter button will save that information in the WAC file such that when the WAC is converted to WAV or ZC files with "split trigger"...
Page 28 Recording start time, disable the monitoring output, turn off the display backlight, and start a recording in the selected mode (WAC, WAV or WAV/ZC). It will continue to make back-to-back recordings until the specified end time is reached. While recording, the user can interrupt and stop recording or initiate monitoring, but the Echo Meter will still power off at the specified end time unless the scheduled recording setting is disabled in the Settings menu.
Page 29: Batteries And Charging
Batteries and Charging Batteries and Charging The EM3+ includes four high capacity rechargeable NiMH AA batteries. These batteries allow up to 12 hours of operating time. Charging The integrated charger allows the batteries to be charged by simply attaching the included charger to the power port on the left side of the EM3+ and plugging the adapter into the wall.
Page 30: Monitoring Battery Life
Batteries and Charging or damage to the batteries or the EM3+, batteries could become extremely hot resulting in risk of fire, property damage, injury or death. WARNING: Batteries may become hot to the touch while charging. Monitoring Battery Life The top line of the display battery icon shows the battery level in four increments.
Page 31: Flash Cards
For longer scheduled recordings, SDHC cards are available up to 32GB and any Class 4 or higher rated SDHC is a suitable choice. Although the Wildlife Acoustics SM2BAT+ is a better model for long term or complex, passive recordings, the EM3+ unit will accept capacities up to 128GB available in SDXC type cards.
Page 33: Managing The Recordings
You will also want to download and install the latest version of Wildlife Acoustics’ Kaleidoscope post-processing software from the “Downloads” section of Wildlife Acoustics’ website at www.wildlifeacoustics.com. The free version of this software can convert from WAC, WAV, and Zero Crossing formats to WAV and Zero Crossing formats while filtering out unwanted signals.
Page 35: Optional Gps Antenna
Optional GPS Antenna Optional GPS Antenna An optional GPS antenna is available to log the GPS location of recordings and to sync the clock to the GPS time base with a less than 1 ms error. Using the GPS Antenna The GPS antenna plugs into the port on the right side of the EM3+ and attaches to the back of the device with the supplied fastening “dots”.
Page 36: Viewing The Gps Data
Optional GPS Antenna Viewing the GPS Data GPS data is logged once per second. If the recordings are in WAC mode and converted to WAV in Kaleidoscope, you can choose to generate a KML file, which can be opened directly in Google Earth as well as many other applications that can display KML.
Page 37: Specifications
Specifications Specifications • Dimensions: • 5.7 in (14.5 cm) long • 3.6 in (9.1 cm) wide • 1.25 in (3.2 cm) high • Weight:12 oz (0.34 kg) with included batteries • Operating Temperature Range: -4ºF to +185ºF (-20ºC to +85ºC) •...
Page 39: Warranty
Warranty Wildlife Acoustics Inc. Limited Warranty HARDWARE: Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. ("WAI") warrants to the original end user ("Customer") that new WAI branded products will be free from defects in workmanship and materials, under normal use, for one (1) year from the original purchase date.
Page 40 Warranty OBTAINING WARRANTY SERVICE: Customer should refer to WAI's website at www.wildlifeacoustics.com/support for information on obtaining warranty service authorization. Methods for obtaining warranty service may vary depending on whether purchases were made from an authorized provider of WAI products, or from WAI directly. All requests for warranty service authorization must be made within the applicable warranty period.
Page 41 Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is hereby excluded in its entirety from application to this Limited Warranty. Wildlife Acoustics, Inc., 970 Sudbury Road, Concord, MA 01742-4939, United States of America, (888) 733-0200, www.wildlifeacoustics.com Copyright © 2011-2013 Echo Meter EM3 User Manual...
Page 43: Declaration Of Conformity (En 45014)
Declaration of Conformity (EN 45014) Declaration of Conformity (EN 45014) • Manufacturer: Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. 970 Sudbury Road Concord, MA 01742-4939 United States of America • Declares that the following product: Product Name: Echo Meter Product Model Numbers: EM3+ Product Type:...
Page 44 This product was tested in a typical configuration. Note that there may be some undesirable recording quality when subjected to electromagnetic interference with the optional GPS attached.. Ian Agranat, President Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. November 1, 2011 Echo Meter EM3 User Manual Copyright © 2011-2013...
Page 46 Wildlife Acoustics, Inc. 970 Sudbury Road Concord, MA 01742-4939 USA www.wildlifeacoustics.com +1-978-369-5225 ©2013 Wildlife Acoustics, Inc.

Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter EM3+ User Manual

Quick Links

Need help?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter EM3+

Summary of Contents for Wildlife Acoustics Echo Meter EM3+

Table of Contents