To effectively control rodents, a thorough inspection to identify nesting places, food sources and dispersal routes of rodents is essential.  Although food sources and dispersal routes can be detected by the presence of rat signs, it is difficult to locate nesting places as these are usually hidden space not easily accessible sometimes (e.g. crevices within intertwined concrete structures).  Hence, to effectively track rodent activities and identify their nesting places are the key factors for effective control of rats in urban areas.  Rodent activities cover both outdoor and indoor environment.  Tracking rodent activities indoor are even more difficult as the furniture, paraphernalia, celling voids, etc. provided concealed harboraging places for them. 

We understand that there are various types of tracking devices being used for tracking activities of wildlife in outdoor areas.  However, the use of such technologies, e.g. Very High Frequency (VHF) and Global Positioning System (GPS), might not necessarily be feasible for tracking rodents in indoor environment. 

FEHD is looking for technologies that could help track activities of rodents in indoor environment, e.g. markets.  The technologies should fulfill the following criteria :

1. tags or collars used should be less than 5% of the body weight of common rodent species which is around 150g to 200g;
2. the device should be capable of being attached firmly to a rodent without affecting its daily activities which include running, jumping, climbing and passing through gaps of as small as 6mm;
3. signals emitted by the device should be capable of penetrating concrete wall or partition;
4. signals should be capable of being detected by handheld detector or locating the exact location (indicating direction and distance from the detector) of the rodent for a distance not less than 30m.