November 2019 - Wireless acoustic sensor node operating in the North Sea

This device uses the modem transducer for passive acoustic sensing and is capable of detecting the presence of a surface vessels via the acoustic signature of the propeller(s). Once detected, the device switches to modem operation and information about the detection is sent acoustically back to the ANGY gateway buoy for display and further analysis onshore. The device was deployed at a distance of 1km from ANGY with a simple alkaline battery pack and is expected to continue operating for several months. The figure shows the AIS trace (red) of a passing vessel and the blue portion of the trace shows the region where the vessel was detected with data received by the gateway. For small vessels the maximum detection range appears to be about 1.5 km from the sensor. The future plan is to create a larger network of such sensors spaced by the communication range of the modems (>2km) and utilising multi-hop routing protocols developed within the project.

Last modified: Wed, 27 Nov 2019 16:06:40 GMT