I-Corps: Commercialization of a Passive Aquatic Listener (PAL) Sensorfor Underwater Sound Classification

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Underwater ambient sound contains quantifiable information about the sound source. In the frequency band from 500 Hz to 50 kHz, dominant geophysical sources of underwater sound include the sound of breaking waves and rainfall. Other sound sources in the marine environment include geophysical sources such as earthquakes and volcanoes, biological sources such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, fish and crustaceans, and anthropogenic noises such as shipping, industrial noise and sonar. Stakeholders benefitting from monitoring the background sound would include oil/gas companies, off-shore energy production companies, government institutions performing environmental monitoring and impact assessment studies, private marine instrumentation companies and marine science and technology institutions. This I-Corps team has developed a low-duty cycle passive aquatic listener (PAL) sensor to monitor the background sound field in marine environments. This sensor can also detect acoustic events such as rain storms, passing ships and marine animals. The PAL sensor is used to process and classify underwater sound from both natural and man-mad events in real-time. This technology is needed for three main reasons: monitoring off-shore activities for environmental impact analysis, enabling the creation of underwater sound budgets for detecting potential noise pollution in marine protected areas, and classifying underwater sources for meteorological, biological and defense applications. The PAL sensor is a combined software and hardware system. Underwater sound is captured using hydrophones (underwater microphones) and then multiple algorithms are run on the captured sound to determine the type of sound source and quantify the source if its rain or wind. Sampling techniques to capture the underwater sound in a continuous long-term manner are also used inside the PAL sensor. The PAL sensor is used to process and classify underwater sound from both natural and man-mad events in real-time. Potential sources of sound that can be detected are marine life, weather events, cracking of undersea ice, off-shore drilling operations and ships. This technology is needed for three main reasons: (1) monitoring off-shore activities for environmental impact analysis, (2) enabling the creation of underwater sound budgets for detecting potential noise pollution in marine protected areas, and (3) classifying underwater sources for meteorological, biological and defense applications. A wide range of stakeholders would benefit from this technology such as oil/gas companies, off-shore energy production companies, government institutions performing environmental monitoring and impact assessment studies, private marine instrumentation companies and marine science and technology institutions.The PAL sensor is a combined software and hardware system. Underwater sound is captured using hydrophones (underwater microphones) and then multiple algorithms are run on the captured sound to determine the type of sound source and quantify the source if its rain or wind. Sampling techniques to capture the underwater sound in a continuous long-term manner are also used inside the PAL sensor.