Using Arbimon Companion to deploy a Song Meter

Prerequisites

Before you start, please check you:

  • have one or more Song Meter Micro devices,
  • downloaded Companion app to your Android phone and logged in with your account,
  • downloaded Uploader to your computer (Windows or Mac) and logged in,
  • created a project in Arbimon where the Song Meter device will be deployed.

Overview

The purpose of Arbimon's integration with Wildlife Acoustics' Song Meter is to manage the deployment of multiple devices. When you use RFCx's Companion app to deploy a Song Meter and RFCx's Uploader to upload the audio from the SD card, you get the following benefits:

  • uploaded audio files are automatically matched to deployment sites in Arbimon
  • locations are stored automatically and photos taken during deployment and shown in Arbimon sites
  • GPS tracks to the deployment site are available for retrieving devices

This article is a walkthrough of the deployment steps and how to upload of the audio.

Deployment Steps

Ensure you have followed the "Quick Start" instructions in the User Guide for Song Meter Micro to setup your device using the Configurator app (the user manual is available in other languages).

Step 1: Open the deploy checklist

Open the Arbimon Companion app and you will see the map of currently deployed devices. Make sure you have selected the project (at the top of the screen) where you'd like to deploy the Song Meter device.

Press on the round green "+" at the bottom of the screen, and select "Song Meter".

You will see the Song Meter Setup Checklist

Step 2: Set deployment site

From the Checklist, select "Set deployment site".

Press "Next" to set the deployment site and return to the checklist.

Step 3: Synchronize with Song Meter

The app will walk you through a series of steps to sync the app with the Song Meter device. Make sure the Song Meter was configured and given a recording schedule with Song Meter Configurator app before trying to sync. 

Note: Before you synchronize your device, make sure your phone bluetooth is on. Then turn on your Song Meter. When the device is on, the Recording and SD Card LED lights will be on and Bluetooth LED light will be off.

There are 4 steps for syncing with your Song Meter

  1. Check that your Song Meter device is on and press Next.

  2. Connect with your Song Meter device. At this step, your phone's bluetooth has to be turned on. Select the device and click Yes to continue.

  3. Sync the Song Meter device with Arbimon Companion app. You will have to press and hold the bluetooth button on Song Meter device until the LED light is blinking. Then press Sync to the last step of sycning

    Note: If your Song Meter bluetooth is not detected, the Sync button will be disable

  4. Confirm the device name and press Yes to finish the synchronization

After the synchronize process is completed, you can add some photos with your deployment by selecting Take photos

Step 4: Take photos and complete deployment

You can (optionally) add photos to your deployment, that will be displayed in Arbimon for reference. Select "Take Photos" of your Song Meter and surrounding area.

You can add up to 10 photos following the guideline.

The final step is to press the "DEPLOY" button at the bottom of the Checklist. Your deployment is now complete. 

If you do not have an internet connection then the deployment is stored on your phone until a connection becomes available, when it will sync automatically. You can check the status of deployment syncing from the top right of the Map screen

When you click on the top right of the Map screen, it will show unsynced or failed deployments

In case that the syncing process is taking too long after you have an internet connection, you can also manually press SYNC NOW from the unsynced works screen.

Uploading Audio

On retrieval of the device, take the SD card out and copy the audio files to your computer. Then use the Arbimon Uploader to upload the files to Arbimon. (Note: you can upload files directly from the SD card, but you will need to leave it connected for the entire duration of the upload process.)

Open the Uploader, and press on the button to "Import files". Choose your folder or SD card, and press "Import".

If your Song Meter was deployed with the Arbimon Companion then the Arbimon Uploader will detect your project and site. Confirm this by pressing "Import".

The files will be prepared for review on the right hand side of the Uploader. Press "Start upload" to add them to the upload queue.

Song Meter files are typically in wav format. The Arbimon Uploader compresses the files to Flac (lossless format) and preserves the Song Meter meta data, before uploading to the platform.