Autonomous Wind-driven Devices for Acoustic and Visual Sensing

b02544f1-c136-4595-a4eb-17d0d19fdf82

Closed

ISCF
ISCF
ISCF
ISCF
ISCF

£262,385

Feb. 1, 2023

July 31, 2023

Oshen designs wind-driven, autonomous surface vessels for marine sensing. The autonomous control and use of wind power allow our devices to gather precise data that is significantly more cost-effective than existing solutions. Just 1.2m in length, our design resembles a miniature sailboat. The small size keeps the unit cost low and allows devices to be quickly deployed en-masse, providing a sensor network for continuous monitoring of marine biodiversity. This holistic technology helps solve the problem of data sparsity in a world that is becoming increasingly reliant on ocean data.

This project aims to investigate the feasibility of using these devices in coastal waters for two applications: acoustic surveying and visual dataset collection. The primary focus of the acoustic survey feasibility will be marine mammal detection and the primary focus of the visual dataset collection will be seabird detection and identification. There will be three overarching stages to the project: first, the physical hardware integration of the sensors into our existing devices, including the electronic systems integration (ensuring the sensors work and link back to bespoke AI software). The second stage is a small test, where one device is deployed in an area off the East coast: for example, Scarborough, where marine mammals such as harbour porpoises are common but marine traffic has a lower density. The final larger scale, longer duration test will be conducted with up to ten devices covering a broader area along the East coast. In this area lies the foraging range for breeding seabirds from Flamborough Head & Bempton Cliffs Special Protection Area (SPA), notably northern gannet _Morus bassanus_. Among marine mammals, harbour porpoise and minke whales are the populations most likely to be identified in this area. The data resulting from this test will be processed and used to validate the ability of the devices to identify marine life and to examine the feasibility of collecting visual datasets.