Technology « Ocean Acoustics Program

Posted by Anna

RAOS, or Real-Time Acoustic Observing System, is an exciting technology being used in a new project that has recently gotten off the ground in our Acoustics Group.

With RAOS, we can simultaneously record under ocean sounds in a data base and send near-real-time specific messages or small snippets of data to land. This is a big deal! The current goal is to deploy RAOS technology in the Juan de Fuca Strait (the water way between Washington State and Canada near the San Juan Islands) to report on the movement of Orcas in real time. With only short (approximately 15 minute) satellite delays, scientists could be alerted on land that orcas have been detected in the area, so that a ship could rush out for immediate further study. The data base that comes back to land later, can be analyzed for larger-scale patterns of movement and species detection.

Brad Hanson (NOAA) and Holger Klinck kicked it off, and Haru Matsumoto has been instrumental in overseeing all aspects of the current RAOS project, including cost, coordinating with our NOAA PMEL Seattle work associates, and overall project management.

Here is how Real-Time Acoustic Observing System technology works: an Ocean Bottom Hydrophone (OBH) (an under-ocean microphone system) is deployed at the bottom of the ocean.

**OBH recovered off the Oregon Coast after a 5 day test deployment for RAOS Juan de Fuca Strait project.**

A buoy floats above in the general vicinity of the OBH. The hydrophone records sounds under the ocean and retains the ongoing recording data, but when a certain pre-determined signal is detected during this recording, it sends a message to the buoy, which, in turn, sends that to scientists on land (with a short delay for satellite relay time). The buoy, in this case, is kind of like the middle-man between the actual recording and detecting going on in the OBH at the bottom of the ocean and the scientists in the lab on land.

**RAOS buoy off the Oregon Coast for a 5 day test before Juan de Fuca Srait deployment.**

Alex Turpin took the lead on software engineering for this latest use of RAOS. Haru, Alex, and Chris Jones from Embedded Ocean Systems (EOS) in Seattle, collaborated on the engineering. Chris developed the WISPR board (circuit board)

and programmed it, and Alex customized it for this particular project to detect orcas.

The exciting thing about the WISPR (Wideband Intelligent Sound Processor & Recorder) board, is that we can change the detection algorithm (that programming that is geared to detect a certain particular sound) on the fly from afar. Theoretically, you could leave the RAOS out and have it sending you real-time signals to land if it detects orcas, and then change your project and have it send real-time signals to land if it detects blue whales or earthquakes instead – all without having to retrieve the instruments (a costly endeavor) and haul them back to the lab for changing of the programming.
Any time you have a large project in mind that requires a new technology, you must test test test. First, Alex tested it in the lab. Then he tested it off a dock. And the latest test, which took place under about 60 meters of ocean off the Oregon coast, was the biggie.

**Alex Turpin & Joe Haxel recovering the OBH for the RAOS test off the Oregon coast.**

**Alex Turpin helps recover the RAOS buoy after a 5 day test off the Oregon Coast.**

Dr. Joe Haxel, Assistant Professor — Joe Haxel

Joe Haxel helped with the mooring in the latest round of testing, using his logistics and ocean engineering expertise. On Sept. 19th, the OBH was recovered after a 5 day test deployment. So far, the data looks clean. (Personal note: I found that using an automatic detector to try to capture orca calls on a data set (not associated with the current RAOS project) was a bit frustrating if your hydrophone is anywhere near a buoy with a chain. Chain jingle was remarkably similar to orca whistle, according to the detection parameters). Before the recovery of the equipment after the 5 day test off the Oregon Coast, our scientists sent out orca sounds from the recovery ship to see if the hydrophone would detect it as orca, and send that signal to land via the buoy. This was done at 4 different distances from the equipment by stopping the ship and lowering a speaker into the ocean to play orca sounds using a high-frequency pre-amplifier to make sure all parts of the orca signal were present. Results are currently being reviewed in the lab.

**Sounds were sent out by computer from the ship before recovery of RAOS technology to determine if detections and recordings would be picked up by the test deployment.**

Work is now under way in our Acoustics group for further collaboration with Chris of EOS in Seattle to refine the WISPR board programming in a way that allows it to send a small snippet of a spectrogram to land when the detection of the orca is registered at the OBH. In this way, scientists back in the lab could verify that the signal sent to them was, indeed, an orca and not a false detection (for instance, just a buoy chain), by viewing the actual signal’s spectrogram and/or listening to it with programs here in the office.

Once the latest collaboration is done on the WISPR board and RAOS system, and after testing this in the lab, the next step in the project will be deployment in the Juan de Fuca Strait. Good luck to all involved – Go, Team! We’ll keep you posted…

**Joe Haxel stands ready to help bring in the RAOS buoy after a 5 day test off the Oregon Coast.**

This post comes to us from Selene Fregosi, Graduate Research Assistant:

I feel like I experienced a miracle last week.

Possibly I am throwing around the word “miracle” because I’ve got Herb Brooks on my mind (thanks to my fellow grad student and FW intermural soccer coach Matt who is obsessed with that guy). Or perhaps that is actually what happened.

Let me set the stage. Will and Otis, our two Seagliders, were deployed off the coast of Newport, for what should have been a brief, straightforward test of their passive acoustic systems before they were shipped off to the Gulf of Mexico for a project there. Of course, that would not be as exciting of a story if it all went as planned.

I can’t remember how much I’ve talked about it before (I looked it up…try here and here), but basically, the way these gliders work is they go out and dive in the ocean, listen for marine mammals, and every time they surface they call in to a basestation, offload their location and some log files, and continue on their way. Well. Otis (SG608) did exactly that. It was his first flight with us and all went smoothly, from a piloting stand point. Will (SG607) on the other hand….well, he went rogue. And I don’t mean to the brewery.

Will stopped calling in after only 5 dives. Did I tell you this was my first “solo” piloting of the gliders? Yes, I was sort of freaking out.

But what happened the next few days is not important (I blacked it out so I can’t tell you because I don’t remember).

The point is….WE FOUND HIM!!!!!!!!!!

So (1) the miracle part: Let me explain the chances of finding Will. Best case scenario we were searching in about a 1 km radius of a point we THOUGHT the glider would be diving to. Worst case, it was floating at the surface and had drifted who-knows how many miles offshore. But lets complicate things. Glider at the surface, great, easier to spot. Glider continuously diving = glider down for 1 hour 40 mins, at the surface for 20 mins. So lets say we ARE in the right place. Well then it has to be the right time, and you better spot the thing during that 20 mins and get the boat over there before it goes back down for an hour and 40 mins and pops up somewhere else in that 1 km radius. Lets add in some wind waves (We are 35 nm offshore here) and some fog. And this is the image you are looking for:

(2) the waiting part. Will was missing for 4 and a half days. That doesn’t seem like that long. But when everytime your phone beeps that you get a text message and your heart jumps thinking maybe its the glider, that is a long 108 hours. But that is a lot of what we had to do. This was exacerbated for me because I had to stay on land during the search trips. I had to be at my computer in case we heard from the glider and I could give updates on GPS locations or timing. This was a new experience for me. I’m not real good at sitting still and waiting.

(3) the teamwork part. To me, the greatest outcome of the whole thing. There is NO way we could have found Will without all hands on deck, without awesome grad students and scientists who went out to look (Laurie, Niki, Erin, Theresa, Curtis, Alex, Haru, Matt, Dave), Anatoli and Steve for answering my piloting questions, a chartered fishing boat (ok…we paid them, Sara thanks for coordinating), TWO trips out, the people at iridium for putting up with my incessant phone calls, the dolphins that swam by the boat and provided moral support, Sharon and Holger for telling me not to freak out…I could go on. (and I’m SO SORRY if I am forgetting someone)

Andy Lau, Applied Mathemetician / Programmer — **Andy Lau**

This post comes to us from Andy Lau, Applied Mathematician and Programmer:

My job is to develop computer programs for processing the acoustics data. Programs range from 1 time use only to repeatedly used programs. One of the long-running programs is the SEAS. It stands for Seismic Environmental Acoustic Software. It has been used since 1994 and it will be turning 20 years old on June 24th this year!

Seldom has a computer program been used for that long a period of time. The reason for its longevity is the interactive nature of the SEAS program. It allows users to see the data continuously in either a time-series and/or spectrum format; see Figure 1.

**Figure 1: SEAS program showing data in time-series and spectrum formats.**

Also, the SEAS has 2 important options: it allows users to locate the seismic or biologic event origins and search for the event arrivals, which is a reverse process of triangulation; see Figure 2.

**Figure 2: SEAS program showing locating function.**

Because of these features, users can examine data quickly (as soon as the data has been downloaded from the hydrophones). The SEAS program has other tools that allow users to study the data in detail, making it helpful for a variety of different applications; see Figure 3.

Figure 3: SEAS program showing some of the other tools for used sudying data in detail. — **Figure 3: SEAS program showing some of the other tools used for studying data in detail.**

Over the years, the SEAS program has been updated many times to meet the needs of users. Many visiting researchers have found the SEAS program so helpful, that they have requested the program to take with them. Currently, the SEAS program has been used by others outside of our group in the USA, France, South Korea and England.

I am happy to see the SEAS program has been beneficial and relevant for so many users for all these years. Now I need to keep up the work required to maintain and improve the SEAS program so that it can continue to serve. For how long? Well, only time will tell…

This post comes to us from Faculty Research Assistant and Engineering Technician, Alex Turpin:

As a faculty research assistant, I help Dr. Haru Matsumoto in the research and development of autonomous hydrophone systems. These systems vary from underwater vehicles like Kongsberg’s Seaglider, which uses a novel method of propulsion, allowing it to operate (and record ocean sounds, in our case) long term with little energy use, all the way to stationary platforms. A lot of my work entails testing electrical and mechanical components of these systems in the lab to make sure they work flawlessly in the field.
Most recently I’ve been refurbishing our Seaglider (SG607) “Will” after our most recent deployment off the coast of Washington. Refurbishment includes, among other tasks: downloading the data Will gathered, changing batteries, checking and confirming electrical connections, replacing worn parts, and ballasting for future deployments. The acoustic data retrieved from Will from this deployment included typical electrical line noise we always try to eliminate, as well as some other strange noise whose source wasn’t quite as obvious. And this is one of the parts of my job that I truly love: a problem that isn’t easily figured out and requires thorough investigation to fully solve. Will and Otis (SG608) have another deployment coming up next month in the Gulf of Mexico for one of Dr. David Mellinger’s projects; he’s involved in a group collaboration, which will try to answer the question, “Did whale and dolphin populations in the northern Gulf of Mexico change after the Deepwater Horizon spill?” See LADC:GEMM’s website for more information.

**Internal electrical components of a Seaglider**

This post comes to us from Dr. Haru Matsumoto:

With the help of two engineers (Alex Turpin and Matt Fowler), as a Principle Investigator (PI) or Co-PI of the projects, I manage the development of multiple projects and report progress to respective funding agencies including NOAA, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and the Navy.

Developing autonomous hydrophone systems requires experience in electrical circuit design, programming, and acoustic modeling. Currently five engineering projects are under way. Take RAOS, as an example, which is a Killer Whale monitoring system funded by NOAA. I design the circuit boards, develop software, run extensive lab and field work, and collect data. When it is completed, it will be monitoring the Killer Whale calls off the Washington coast and sending the data to shore via satellite. It is scheduled to be deployed this summer off Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington. I also write proposals requesting funding, present the results and write papers based on the data we have collected.

Dr. Matsumoto off the Washington Coast for the Seaglider QUEphone Survey April 2015 — **Dr. Matsumoto off the Washington Coast for the Seaglider & QUEphone Survey April 2015**

3-D Printer "printing" a piece of plastic — **3-D Printer “printing” a piece of plastic**

The following information was made available by Matt Fowler (check our People Page):

The Acoustics Program, a joint NOAA/OSU cooperative research group is now printing their own hydrophone pieces. A grant from CIMRS, thanks to Dr. Michael Banks, director of OSU’s Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies (CIMRS) provided the department with the Ultimaker 2, a 3-D printer.

The Acoustics Group is now manufacturing internal components for 20 new hydrophones currently under construction at HMSC. The 3-D printer takes a drawing from a CAD program and prints the drawing using melted plastic. As the print head moves in the X and Y dimensions, the print platform slowly lowers allowing the printing of one .2mm layer at a time.

Use of this technology allows engineers to quickly and inexpensively fabricate prototypes to test and incorporate new components for the various instrument platforms currently being developed. With this technology, an engineer’s designs are only constrained by the materials the printer can use, and their imagination.