Passive and active acoustics using an autonomous wave glider

Abstract

The recently developed wave glider has the potential to be an effective unmanned platform for acoustic applications. We present the results of a variety of experiments that quantify this potential. The radiated self‐noise of the autonomous platform is evaluated using an integrated passive acoustic recorder during a set of field trials off the coast of Hawaii. We present the radiated noise spectra from these trials to illustrate the dependence on hydrophone location and sea state. Using the same instrumentation, we demonstrate the ability of a modified wave glider to detect marine mammals using passive acoustic monitoring techniques. We also evaluate the performance of the wave glider operating as an active acoustic gateway, highlighting the potential of this platform to serve as a navigation reference and communications relay for scientific, industrial, and military subsea assets. To demonstrate the potential of the wave glider platform to support acoustic navigation, we assess the performance of time‐of‐flight range estimation and seafloor transponder localization. These tests were performed using commercial off‐the‐shelf acoustic positioning hardware integrated with the wave glider to illustrate that the low self‐noise of the wave glider makes it possible to achieve acoustic positioning performance similar to previously reported results. Finally, we show that the glider can operate as a station‐keeping surface communications gateway and provide recommendations for its use. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Crowdsourcing Modern and Historical Data Identifies Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) Habitat Offshore of South-Western Australia

“…New autonomous technologies such as ocean gliders and wave gliders may be the next step in providing a platform for passive acoustic monitoring of sperm whales as they operate over large distances for days at a time in any sea condition and have the potential to transmit data via satellite (Moore et al, 2007;Dassatti et al, 2011;Bingham et al, 2012). In light of current technology, understanding of sperm whale bioacoustics, and their habitat preferences, there is ample support for undertaking long-term passive acoustic studies to monitor the population within the EEZ waters in the Perth and Albany canyons in order to inform future marine management and policy decisions.…”

A Review of the 2014 Gulf of Mexico Wave Glider® Field Program

“…Examples include monitoring algal blooms (Frolov et al, 2011), environmental satellite ground truthing (Villareal & Wilson, 2014), active and passive acoustics (Bingham et al, 2012;Meyer-Gutbrod et al, 2012), marine mammal monitoring (Cheyne et al, 2011(Cheyne et al, , 2013(Cheyne et al, , 2014Wiggins et al, 2010), carbon cycle studies (Willcox et al, 2009), geodesy (Chadwell, 2013;Ericksen et al, 2013;Penna et al, 2013), marine magnetics (Poedjono et al, 2014), hydrocarbon mapping (Vuorenkoski et al, 2013), and marine surveillance (Maguer et al, 2013). Examples include monitoring algal blooms (Frolov et al, 2011), environmental satellite ground truthing (Villareal & Wilson, 2014), active and passive acoustics (Bingham et al, 2012;Meyer-Gutbrod et al, 2012), marine mammal monitoring (Cheyne et al, 2011(Cheyne et al, , 2013(Cheyne et al, , 2014Wiggins et al, 2010), carbon cycle studies (Willcox et al, 2009), geodesy (Chadwell, 2013;Ericksen et al, 2013;Penna et al, 2013), marine magnetics (Poedjono et al, 2014), hydrocarbon mapping (Vuorenkoski et al, 2013), and marine surveillance (Maguer et al, 2013).…”

Offshore towed hydrophone linear array: principle, application, and data acquisition results

“…With the development of sensor technology and wireless communication technology, WNSN are no longer just in the secondary status nowadays. As another type of wireless sensing tool, autonomous wave glider was reported in [3], which is used for long-term working to conduct acoustic exploration. The power of glider is generated autonomously by waves.…”