Publication/Creation Date

1965

Creators/Contributors

National Research Council Of Canada (NRCC) (creator)

Description

If contemporary biometric technology is defined by its ability to collect information about a body’s biological functioning, and transmit this information to a central location for collection and analysis, then this telemetric system can be regarded as a pioneer in the field. Developed in the 1960s by scientists at the National Research Council of Canada, it was used to study a pigeon’s heart rate, wing movement, and breathing during flight. Pictured here is the telemetric “backpack” that collected information from three leads: one connected to the pigeon’s heart (internally), a second connected to a clip on the pigeon’s wing (not shown), and a third connected to a breathing mask over the pigeon’s beak (not shown). The backpack then transmitted this data wirelessly, via two radio carrier signals, which could be analyzed in real-time by researchers on the ground.

Made in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Related Body Part

Back, Head, Mouth, Heart

Augments

Breathing, Collecting, Discovering, Experimenting, Flying, Gathering, Investigating, Learning, Measuring, Monitoring, Recording, Researching, Sensing, Studying, Understanding

Technology Keywords

Telemetry, Radio Transmitter

Keywords

Birds, Research, History, Museum, Experiments

Source

https://ingeniumcanada.org/ingenium/collection-research/collection-item.php?id=1985.0563.001