Australia

Automated detection of small vessel traffic in Torres Strait

Since 2016 we have been engaged by Blue Planet Marine, to help design a network of hydrophones (the SoundTrap recorder) aimed at detecting and tracking small vessels in the Torres Strait (that don’t have AIS capabilities). There are a number of advantages to this project, including the development of automated vessel noise detectors that could be used to form a network of sensors tracking small vessels from bordering countries. Such a system could be used as a biosecurity tool.

The project has resulted in 1000s of vessel movements being tracked over the 12 hydrophones that record continuously for 2-month deployments. PAMScan’s vessel detector and cross-correlation algorithm allows for the thousands of hours of recordings from the 12 SoundTraps being processed within a short time period. The software is calibrated by running a vessel through the network at controlled speeds and directions, for comparison with the computer’s output after the SoundTraps have been retrieved. Detection of Small Vessel Traffic project.

Underwater noise measurements of percussive pile-driving during the Eden wharf extension, New South Wales

In 2018 we were engaged by Blue Planet Marine to provide advice on the underwater noise measurement methodology and undertook the data analysis of the percussive pile-driving used during the Eden wharf extension. 12 SoundTraps were deployed, set to record continuously at 96 kHz sampling rates. Data were analysed in PAMScan with the impulse signal detector module and automatically provided the required noise metrics for each pile strike as per the client’s consent conditions.