Configuring Your AudioMoth

Overview:

Before deploying your Audiomoth device, you need to configure your device so that it will record audio using your desired settings. This article will go over how this is done via the Configuration app. You can also check out Open Acoustic Devices configuration guide for further information. 

  • Note: Removing the batteries or SD cards will not affect your AudioMoth configuration settings.
  • Note: Your AudioMoth must have most recent firmware in order to properly configure and deploy the device. If you have not updated your firmware in a while, check out this article which explains how to download the most recent firmware.

Getting Started:

Before the AudioMoth can be configured, the AudioMoth Configuration App as well as the Audiomoth Time App and the Audiomoth Flash App needs to be downloaded to your computer from here. This program is for your computer, and is not a smartphone app.

Once downloaded, the app will have the following icon:

Before continuing with AudioMoth configuration, make sure that AudioMoth is connected to the battery pack and the microSD card is inserted into the device. The slot for the batteries is right next to the slot for the microphone. You will hear a 'click' when the batteries are fully connected. See how to connect the battery pack here and how to insert the SD card here.

Open the app and connect the AudioMoth device to your computer using a USB Micro B cable (not included with the kit). Make sure the AudioMoth is switched to the USB/OFF position. The green LED light on the device should be on and solid, as opposed to blinking when in other modes. 

Note: Learn more about the LED lights, see this article.

The top of the app displays the time, date, and time zone currently registered on the AudioMoth. The next box down gives information specific to your AudioMoth: Device ID, Firmware Description, Firmware Version, and Battery Voltage.

After connecting the AudioMoth device, the clock-date screen will turn from gray to black with a successful connection, and the time/date will be updated. If the time/date is not displaying your desired/correct time zone, select 'File' and 'Local Time.' If, after doing so, the device is still not displaying the correct time and date, download and use the AudioMoth Time App (instructions at bottom of page). 

Ensure the batteries have a voltage around 4.2 (under the app clock-date, it says "Battery"). If the voltage is lower, you should charge your batteries further prior to deployment. 

Make sure that the firmware is updated to the latest version. You can check here for further information.

Recording Settings

The Recording tab allows you to customize how your AudioMoth device will record. Increasing the Sample Rate increases the quality of the audio and the maximum frequency that can be recorded; but for most applications, higher frequencies aren't necessary. Keep in mind higher sample rates will take up more space in the SD card. 
It is recommended by the RFCx Science Team to choose a sample rate of 48 kHZ.

Gain changes how strong the audio signal is that is picked up by the AudioMoth.
It is recommended by the RFCx Science Team to choose the "Med" gain.

Enable sleep/record cyclic recording allows the AudioMoth to sleep for an amount of time and then record in a cycle. This means that when the AudioMoth is scheduled to be recording, it can further be customized to sleep and record at intervals to keep files smaller and save battery life. Setting Sleep and Recording durations will specify when you want the device to record and sleep. These are measured in seconds.

It is recommended by the RFCx Science Team to choose either 1 minute (60s) recording and 4 minutes (240s) sleeping, or 1 minute (60s) recording and 9 minutes (540s) sleeping for 1-2 weeks will do the work for most places if species are vocal active (i.e., breeding season). To increase the number of detected species we often recommend to have more sampling sites (cover more area) instead of more recording time per site

For example, if you'd like your AudioMoth to record 1 minute every 5 minutes, you will change these settings to Sleep duration: 240 and Recording duration: 60. See below: 

Make Sure to Always Enable: 

  • LED
  • Low-voltage cut-off
  • Battery level indication

Schedule 

The Schedule tab is how you will customize what hours of the day the AudioMoth is gathering audio. The times next to Start recording and End recording can be changed to the specific times that you want the AudioMoth on. To have several recording periods throughout the day, add each period individually. A recording period that is no longer desired can be removed by selecting the corresponding red bar or the period listed on the right side and then clicking the Remove selected period button. 

Note: You can add up to 4 recording schedules.

If you want to set up your AudioMoth to record all day, you will want to select the following as a recording period:

Below that, the dates which the AudioMoth will be recording can be customized by checking the box next to First recording date and Last recording date. Checking the box will turn the text black and then the date can be changed. At the bottom of the page, the number of files, size of files, and energy consumption is estimated. 

Filtering

The filter allows you to choose what frequencies are recorded. The amplitude threshold recording will save space on the SD card if parts of the recordings are expected to be quiet/unwanted. This allows the AudioMoth to only record loud noises (noises above the threshold) along with information about how long the quiet sections of the recording were. To read more about the advanced settings and how they work, check out this documentation on github published by Open Acoustic Devices.
Note: The RFCx Science Team recommends to not make any changes in this section. You will be able to filter your audios in the later stages of the analysis in Arbimon.


Advanced Settings

The Advanced Settings allow you to control what audio you want to be recorded. If you want each deployment of your device to be associated with its own unique deployment ID, you'll want to check on "Always require acoustic chime on switching to CUSTOM." This means that Arbimon will be able to differentiate between your deployments. If you do not check this, and you redeploy your device multiple times in the field (after retrieving it and clearing the SD card), it will be recognized in Arbimon as the same deployment. 

Once you have the desired settings for your AudioMoth device, select Configure AudioMoth. This will update the device with your desired settings. 

Now you are ready to pair the AudioMoth with the Companion App! Check out our next article to see how.