Data from: Novel, continuous monitoring of fine-scale movement using fixed-position radiotelemetry arrays and random forest location fingerprinting

1. Radio-tag signals from fixed-position antennas are most often used to
indicate presence/absence of individuals, or to estimate individual
activity levels from signal strength variation within an antenna’s
detection zone. The potential of such systems to provide more precise
information on tag location and movement has not been explored in great
detail in an ecological setting. 2. By reversing the roles that
transmitters and receivers play in localization methods common to the
telecommunications industry, we present a new telemetric tool for
accurately estimating the location of tagged individuals from received
signal strength values. The methods used to characterize the study area in
terms of received signal strength are described, as is the random forest
model used for localization. The resulting method is then validated using
test data before being applied to true data collected from tagged
individuals in the study site. 3. Application of the localization method
to test data withheld from the learning dataset indicated a low average
error over the entire study area (< 1m) while application of the
localization method to real data produced highly probable results
consistent with field observations. 4. This telemetric approach provided
detailed movement data for tagged fish along a single axis (a migratory
path) and is particularly useful for monitoring passage along migratory
routes. The new methods applied in this study can also be expanded to
include multiple axes (x, y, z) and multiple environments (aquatic and
terrestrial) for remotely monitoring wildlife movement.

1. 固定位置天线接收的无线电标记（radio tag）信号，通常用于指示个体是否存在，或是通过天线探测区域内的信号强度变化来估算个体的活动水平。这类系统可为标记个体的位置与移动提供更精准的信息，但其潜力在生态场景中尚未得到充分细致的探索。
2. 本研究颠覆了电信行业通用定位方法中发射机与接收机的角色定位，提出了一种全新的遥测工具，可通过接收的信号强度值精准估算标记个体的位置。本文阐述了基于接收信号强度表征研究区域的方法，以及用于定位的随机森林（random forest）模型。所得定位方法先通过测试数据进行验证，随后再应用于研究站点中从标记个体采集的真实数据。
3. 将定位方法应用于从训练数据集中预留的测试数据后，结果显示整个研究区域内的平均误差极低（<1米）；而将该方法应用于真实数据时，所得结果与野外观测高度吻合，可信度极高。
4. 该遥测方法可为沿单一路径（迁移路径）移动的标记鱼类提供详尽的移动数据，尤其适用于监测个体沿迁移路线的通行情况。本研究采用的新方法还可拓展至多轴（x、y、z轴）及多环境（水生与陆生）场景，用于远程监测野生动物的移动行为。