Improvements to Passive Acoustic Tracking Methods for Marine Mammal Monitoring

• Main Author: Nosal, Eva-Marie
• Other Authors: University of Hawaii Honolulu United States
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: CETACEANS; ACOUSTIC TRACKING; HYDROPHONES; Marine mammals; Passive acoustic monitoring; Localization; Multiple source; Sparse array; whales; BIOACOUSTICS; Marine Mammal Monitoring
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD1009144; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD1009144

This project investigated and implement several methods to improve the accuracy, efficiency, and applicability of model based passive acoustic methods to track marine mammals. Methods were developed and tested that: 1) Invert for soundspeed profiles, hydrophone position and hydrophone timing offset in addition to animal position. 2) Use improve maximization schemes in model-based tracking. 3) Use received sound pressure levels in addition to arrival times for tracking. This project also developed methods to simultaneously track multiple animals in cases where it is difficult/impossible to separate and associate calls from individual animals.