JASCO Applied Sciences and Open Ocean Robotics (OOR) are pleased to announce the successful initial service trial of JASCO’s OceanObserver system onboard OOR’s Data Xplorer USV, for Innovative Solutions Canada’s ‘Real-time Marine Monitoring Service Via Uncrewed Surface Vessel’ program.

The Data Xplorer USV was deployed with OceanObserver passive acoustic sensor and high-resolution camera system in the first service trial in November 2021, near Victoria, B.C. During the 3-day trial, JASCO and OOR successfully demonstrated the service and showcased sensor to web-portal delivery, acoustic marine mammal detections, and camera imagery to DRDC.

The USV was fitted with a towed array and JASCO’s OceanObserver^TM Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) system, capable of on-board, in-situ signal processing by PAMlab INT, the integrated version of JASCO’s PAMlab software suite. OceanObserver successfully detected marine mammal sounds while deployed off the Coast of British Columbia and sent them for verification and validation by acoustic analysts in Halifax, N.S. PortListen was used to deliver detection and contextual information to the analysis team.

“Stakeholders and decision-makers who mitigate harm to marine mammals can now be enabled by real-time, actionable information wherever they are located ashore, in a truly cost-effective manner. Determining if that harm could have been avoided after an incident has occurred, simply isn’t good enough for these precious, threatened, and endangered animals. Scientists located in Dartmouth, N.S. were able to verify real-time detections made aboard the USV near Victoria, B.C,” said John Moloney, JASCO’s Engineering and Business Development Manager.

PortListen is JASCO’s web-portal information system for enabling stakeholders to visualize, navigate, and share underwater sound detections and measurements. PortListen is a secure and scalable infrastructure with user accounts, protection of client owned information and fully featured data access control mechanisms.

The project plans to demonstrate the utility of directional PAM sensors deployed from the Data Xplorer USV in trials scheduled for Q1 2022 near Nanoose, British Columbia.

Julie Angus, Open Ocean Robotics CEO, said “We’re excited to showcase how JASCO and OOR’s innovative technologies can be combined to offer a safe, affordable, and sustainable way of protecting marine mammals. This has the potential to transform how oceans are monitored in Canada and around the world, and we’re proud to be a part of this much needed solution.”