Improving the Navy's Passive Underwater Acoustic Monitoring of Marine Mammal Populations

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald L. D'Spain
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammal ◽  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Underwater Acoustic

scholarly journals Autonomous Deployment of Underwater Acoustic Monitoring Devices Using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: The Flying Hydrophone

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (21) ◽  
pp. 6064
Author(s):  
Daniel Babatunde ◽  
Simon Pomeroy ◽  
Paul Lepper ◽  
Ben Clark ◽  
Rebecca Walker
Keyword(s):  
Autonomous Navigation ◽  
Marine Mammals ◽  
Fourier Transforms ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Automatic Data ◽  
Underwater Acoustic ◽  
Planning And Control ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
And Control

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are increasingly becoming a popular tool in the observation and study of marine mammals. However, the potential capabilities of these vehicles regarding autonomous operations are not being fully exploited for passive underwater acoustic monitoring in marine mammal research. This article presents results from the development of a UAV system equipped with an underwater acoustic recorder aimed at assisting with the monitoring of harbour porpoises in Special Areas of Conservation in the United Kingdom. The UAV is capable of autonomous navigation, persistent landing, take-off and automatic data acquisition at specified waypoints. The system architecture that enables autonomous UAV flight including waypoint planning and control is described. A bespoke lightweight underwater acoustic recorder (named the PorpDAQ) capable of transmitting the results of fast Fourier transforms (FFT) applied to incoming signals from a hydrophone was also designed. The system’s operation is successfully validated with a combination of outdoor experiments and indoor simulations demonstrating different UAVs capable of autonomously navigating and landing at specific waypoints while recording data in an indoor tank. Results from the recorder suggest that lightweight, relatively low-cost systems can be used in place of heavier more expensive alternatives.

Glider-Based Passive Acoustic Monitoring in the Arctic

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (5) ◽  
pp. 40-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark F. Baumgartner ◽  
Kathleen M. Stafford ◽  
Peter Winsor ◽  
Hank Statscewich ◽  
David M. Fratantoni
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Marine Mammal ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Acoustic Monitoring ◽  
Bowhead Whale ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Mammal Species ◽  
Frequency Detection ◽  
Passive Acoustic ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPersistently poor weather in the Arctic makes traditional marine mammal research from aircraft and ships difficult, yet collecting information on marine mammal distribution and habitat utilization is vital for understanding the impact of climate change on Arctic ecosystems. Moreover, as industrial use of the Arctic increases with the expansion of the open-water summer season, there is an urgent need to monitor the effects of noise from oil and gas exploration and commercial shipping on marine mammals. During September 2013, we deployed a single Slocum glider equipped with a digital acoustic monitoring (DMON) instrument to record and process in situ low-frequency (<5 kHz) audio to characterize marine mammal occurrence and habitat as well as ambient noise in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska, USA. The DMON was programmed with the low-frequency detection and classification system (LFDCS) to autonomously detect and classify sounds of a variety of Arctic and sub-Arctic marine mammal species. The DMON/LFDCS reported regularly in near real time via Iridium satellite detailed detection data, summary classification information, and spectra of background noise. The spatial distributions of bowhead whale, bearded seal, and walrus call rates were correlated with surface salinity measured by the glider. Bowhead whale and walrus call rates were strongly associated with a warm and salty water mass of Bering Sea origin. With a passive acoustic capability that allows both archival recording and near real-time reporting, we envision ocean gliders will become a standard tool for marine mammal and ocean noise research and monitoring in the Arctic.

An underwater acoustic camera for marine mammal vocalization interaction studies

2015 ◽  
Vol 138 (3) ◽  
pp. 1905-1905
Author(s):  
Eduardo Vivas ◽  
Omar Bustamante ◽  
Sergio Beristain
Keyword(s):  
Marine Mammal ◽  
Underwater Acoustic ◽  
Interaction Studies
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