Underwater Surveillance of Marine Mammals and Their Environments
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Bath
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Autonomous Surveillance of Marine Mammal Populations in South Africa
Marine mammal activity and behaviour is greatly affected by human activity and environmental changes. It is therefore important for their conservation that they are observed and monitored, ideally across a large span of both time and area. Underwater passive acoustic sensors, possibly aided by above-water visual or thermal sensors, are intended to be used for this purpose. The aim is to develop a system whereby a body of water can be monitored and acoustic sources corresponding to marine mammal vocalisations and anthropogenic activity from within this area can be automatically mapped and tracked. The proposed methodology involves the use of two arrays of hydrophones, deployed statically in a body of water. The data from these will be processed with advanced beamforming techniques for a novel, persistent, wide-area solution, with the potential for increased robustness through data fusion with other sensors.
Marine mammal activity and behaviour is greatly affected by human activity and environmental changes. It is therefore important for their conservation that they are observed and monitored, ideally across a large span of both time and area. Underwater passive acoustic sensors, possibly aided by above-water visual or thermal sensors, are intended to be used for this purpose. The aim is to develop a system whereby a body of water can be monitored and acoustic sources corresponding to marine mammal vocalisations and anthropogenic activity from within this area can be automatically mapped and tracked. The proposed methodology involves the use of two arrays of hydrophones, deployed statically in a body of water. The data from these will be processed with advanced beamforming techniques for a novel, persistent, wide-area solution, with the potential for increased robustness through data fusion with other sensors.
People |
ORCID iD |
Alan Hunter (Primary Supervisor) | |
Alfred Anthony Treloar (Student) |
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
EP/N509589/1 | 01/10/2016 | 30/09/2021 | |||
1826505 | Studentship | EP/N509589/1 | 09/01/2017 | 03/01/2021 | Alfred Anthony Treloar |
Description | Collaboration with Seiche Ltd. and Autonaut |
Organisation | Seiche |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | As part of my project I have been investigating and developing the capabilities of some sensors and hardware that they make. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have provided me with experimental trial data and sensors with which to carry out my own experiments. They have also funded travel to some international conferences where I have presented work on these datasets. |
Impact | The datasets provided have enabled me to complete work that has been presented at multiple international conferences and is currently being written into a journal paper. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | 4th Workshop on Military Applications for Underwater Glider Technology (WMAUGT) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | I presented the work I had been carrying out in a 20 minute presentation, followed by 5 minutes of questions and discussion. In attendance were industry members and researchers from CMRE and various other companies and research groups. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.cmre.nato.int/4th-wmaugt-home-menu |
Description | Centre for Innovative Ultrasound Solutions (CIUS) April Conference 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presented a 10 minute long presentation to 8 separate small groups of people from academia and industry, followed by a couple of minutes of questions. Good interaction and interesting discussion. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | The 8th International Workshop on Detection, Classification, Localization, and Density Estimation of marine mammals using passive acoustics in Paris (DCLDE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Gave a 15 minute oral presentation of my work to an audience of researchers and industry, followed by 5-10 minutes of questions. Interesting discussion from marine biologists as well as engineers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://sabiod.univ-tln.fr/DCLDE/ |
Description | UK Acoustics Network Underwater Acoustics PhD Symposium 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presented my work at a conference held at the University of Bath |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://acoustics.ac.uk/events/underwater-acoustics-phd-symposium-coming-soon/ |
Description | Underwater Acoustics Conference and Exhibition 2019 (UACE) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presented my work at an international conference in Crete and made some good contacts who have since helped a lot with my research. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.uaconferences.org/ |