Innovasea, a global leader in technologically advanced aquatic solutions for aquaculture and fish tracking, introduced NexTrak, a breakthrough acoustic telemetry system that improves performance in the water now while providing the technological foundation for the fish tracking of tomorrow.

NexTrak uses digital technology and advanced coding schemes to improve coverage, extend range and provide researchers with deeper, more accurate data.

“Put simply, NexTrak is a giant leap forward because it does everything better than previous acoustic telemetry systems,” said Mark Jollymore, president of Innovasea. “Whether it’s generating more robust and accurate data sets or enabling the study of new habitats for the first time, NexTrak represents the future for aquatic animal researchers.”

Preliminary testing shows NexTrak receivers have a range that’s 39 percent greater than the current VR2 receivers, which will lead to a vast increase in the number of valid detections in the field.

The new system also delivers:

• Less interference and fewer tag collisions
• Signal strength data to better show the proximity of fish to receivers
• Higher quality data and enhanced post-processing capabilities

NexTrak makes aquatic animal tracking easier by making deployment, maintenance, and data retrieval more efficient. And the range improvement and better coverage mean less equipment to purchase up front, lowering the total cost of ownership and making acoustic telemetry more accessible.

NexTrak: A New Era for Aquatic Animal Research. (Video credit: Innovasea)

The first NexTrak receivers will be available for order later this year. They will be part of a larger NexTrak ecosystem that includes new receivers, transmitters and enhanced cloud-based tools that will provide researchers with a richer, more complete picture of animal behavior.

“Over the course of the next decade, NexTrak is going to open up exciting new means and methods of aquatic animal research and ultimately enable researchers and the public at large to better understand the world around us,” said Jollymore.