Cameras at the German Antarctic receiving centre not only monitor the radio telescope – which is used to collect data from satellites and stars – but also keep an eye on the local penguin community.
Four Mobotix M12 cameras and one M10 camera are used to transmit images across the station’s LAN and then via satellite onto the Internet. The cameras work without heating or ventilation and consume only three to four watts of electricity, says the company, and with decentralised processing and storage reduce the required bandwidth to a minimum.
The camera monitoring the radio telescope has to operate in temperatures down to -30 degrees C, as well as wind speeds of up to 250km/h. Two cameras monitor the area around the station and two additional cameras film the penguins who regularly come to visit.
“Since the cameras were installed, we have been able to maintain first class eye contact with the radio telescope and thus monitor its position continuously,” said computer scientist Reiner Wojdziak, who spends several months in Antarctica each year. “We are absolutely satisfied with this solution.”
In addition to those at the research station, three more cameras are installed at the Alfred-Wegener Institute’s Neumayer III facility, which is used to study meteorology, geophysics, atmospheric chemistry, infrasound and marine acoustics.
