A Glossary

This glossary provides definitions for key terms used throughout the WildlifeSystems documentation.

A.1 A

APT (Advanced Package Tool): The package management system used by Debian-based Linux distributions including Raspberry Pi OS. WildlifeSystems packages are distributed via the Wildlife Systems APT repository.

BME680: A 4-in-1 environmental sensor from Bosch that measures temperature, humidity, air pressure, and gas resistance (air quality). See Chapter 7.

Device: A physical hardware package that may contain one or more sensors. For example, a BME680 device contains temperature, humidity, pressure, and gas sensors.
DHT11/DHT22: Low-cost digital temperature and humidity sensors. The DHT22 offers higher accuracy than the DHT11.
DS18B20: A digital temperature sensor that communicates over the 1-Wire protocol. Reports errors as values of 85°C (communication error) or -127°C (disconnected/power-on reset).

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation): The primary data format used by WildlifeSystems for sensor readings. Each reading is stored as a JSON object containing sensor type, ID, value, unit, timestamp, and node ID.

Node: The fundamental unit of the WildlifeSystems platform. A node is typically a Raspberry Pi computer configured with sensors, microphones, and/or cameras to collect environmental data. See Chapter 2.
node_id: A unique identifier assigned to each WildlifeSystems node, used to track which device collected a particular sensor reading.

.out file: The standard file format for storing sensor data in WildlifeSystems. Each line contains a JSON array with one or more sensor readings.

sc-prototype: A bash function used by sensor scripts to obtain a template JSON string for sensor readings. See Chapter 6.
sensor: A component within a device that measures a single physical quantity (e.g., temperature, humidity). A single device may contain multiple sensors.
sensor-control: The abstraction layer package that provides a unified interface for reading sensor data across different sensor types.
sensor-data: A command-line tool for processing and analysing sensor data files. Supports transforming formats, filtering readings, calculating statistics, and more. See Chapter 9.
sensor-mon: An interactive ncurses-based terminal application for real-time monitoring of sensor readings. See Chapter 9.
sensor-plot: A terminal-based graphing tool for visualising historical sensor data. See Chapter 9.
sensor_id: A unique identifier for a specific sensor instance (e.g., 28-0123456789ab for a DS18B20 sensor).
sr (sensor read): The primary command for reading sensor data in real-time from connected devices. Usage: sr <device> [sensor].

timestamp: A Unix timestamp (seconds since 1 January 1970) recording when a sensor reading was taken.

1-Wire: A communication protocol that allows multiple devices to share a single data wire. Used by DS18B20 temperature sensors. Typically connected to GPIO 17 on WildlifeSystems nodes.