Ecology acoustic monitoring duty cycle calculator

Calculate recording coverage fraction and recording duration with your own figures.

Your numbers

Use the units shown. Results update as you change valid inputs.

Use recording coverage fraction and recording duration to compare changes to your inputs. The method and limits below explain the scope.

Examples

Examples

Try the starting example

Monitoring days
7
Cycle duration (minutes)
10
Record duration per cycle (minutes)
2
Audio sample rate (Hz)
48000
Bytes per sample across channels
2
Measured recorder power while recording (W)
1
Available storage (GB decimal)
16
Available recording energy (Wh)
40
Recording coverage fraction
0.2
Recording duration (hours)
33.6
Audio storage (GB decimal)
11.61216
Recording energy (Wh)
33.6
Resource headroom
[4.38784,6.4]

Try another scenario

Monitoring days
7.700000000000001
Cycle duration (minutes)
10
Record duration per cycle (minutes)
2
Audio sample rate (Hz)
48000
Bytes per sample across channels
2
Measured recorder power while recording (W)
1
Available storage (GB decimal)
16
Available recording energy (Wh)
40
Recording coverage fraction
0.2
Recording duration (hours)
36.96
Audio storage (GB decimal)
12.773376
Recording energy (Wh)
36.96
Resource headroom
[3.226624,3.04]
Calculation method

Calculation method

Recording coverage fraction

Recording duration/cycle duration.

Recording duration (hours)

Days×24×duty fraction.

Audio storage (GB decimal)

Recording seconds×sample rate×bytes/1e9.

Recording energy (Wh)

Recording hours×power; standby energy excluded.

Resource headroom

Storage and energy margins against explicit recording-only model.

Symbols and units
a
Monitoring days
b
Cycle duration (minutes)
c
Record duration per cycle (minutes)
d
Audio sample rate (Hz)
e
Bytes per sample across channels
f
Measured recorder power while recording (W)
g
Available storage (GB decimal)
h
Available recording energy (Wh)

Use the units shown. A list keeps the order in which you enter its values. The symbol ^ means “raised to the power of”.

Assumptions & limits

Assumptions & limits

  • Recording windows, sample rates, battery-storage capacities. Returns Recording coverage and resource demand. All coefficients and observations are user supplied; results describe only the stated mathematical model. Quantities are deterministic calculations from supplied observations and assumptions; no external data is fetched. Supported limits: Finite inputs only; numeric fields bounded as labelled. Lists and JSON records are limited to 256 entries unless a stricter tool bound is stated. No automatic design approval, legal conclusion, treatment recommendation or safety certification. Monitoring days: minimum 1e-12, maximum 1000000000000.0. Cycle duration (minutes): minimum 1e-12, maximum 1000000000000.0. Record duration per cycle (minutes): minimum 0, maximum 1000000000000.0. Audio sample rate (Hz): minimum 1, maximum 384000. Bytes per sample across channels: minimum 1, maximum 32. Measured recorder power while recording (W): minimum 1e-12, maximum 1000000000000.0. Available storage (GB decimal): minimum 1e-12, maximum 1000000000000.0. Available recording energy (Wh): minimum 1e-12, maximum 1000000000000.0.
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