Space-time and hybrid algorithms for the passive acoustic localisation of sperm whales and vessels

In the frame of the European Sea-floor Observatory Network (ESONET) and in preparation of the Demonstration Mission Listening to the Deep-Ocean Environment (LIDO) algorithms for the automated real-time detection, classification and localisation of cetaceans have been developed.Such Passive Acoustic Monitoring techniques have the potential to play a key role in cetaceans’ conservation for they allow a non-invasive study of their behaviour, a better knowledge of their population dynamics, and a better understanding of their dynamic relationship with their environment. This paper investigates the development of efficient and accurate techniques to be used as the basis of a localisation module for an automated real-time Passive Acoustic Monitoring system.An opportunity to assess the capabilities of the developed localisation modules was given by recordings collected with a bottom-mounted (around 2080 m depth) tetrahedral compact hydrophone array located offshore the port of Catania (Sicily) during the NEMO-ONDE campaign in the years 2005-2006 by INFN and CIBRA [2]. A well-known class of methods for acoustic source localisation is based on time differences of arrival (TDOA). Its capabilities have shown to be useful even in adverse situations (i.e., few sensors, high noise levels and/or poor calibration). A second class of methods, the space-time methods, originated in underwater applications such as sonar but reached its most significant achievements over the last 20 years in digital communications with recent progress in the treatment of broadband signals. These developments are here revisited under the scope of the localisation and tracking of cetacean vocalisations.Various broadband space-time methods were implemented and allowed to map the sound radiated during the detected clicks and to consequently localise both sperm whales and vessels. Hybrid methods were also developed which improved the robustness of space-time methods to noise and reverberation and reduced processing time. In most cases, the small variance obtained for these estimates lessened the necessity of additional statistical clustering. Even though not independently confirmed by sightings, the tracks derived in the proposed frame can be considered to be consistent with the known movements of sperm whales and vessels.     

Three-dimensional passive acoustic tracking of sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in ray-refracting environments

A wide-aperture towed passive acoustic array is used to obtain ranges and depths of acoustically active sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico in June 2004, by extending a technique previously reported [Thode, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 116, 245-253 (2004)] to explicitly account for ray-refraction effects arising from a depth-dependent sound speed profile. Under this expanded approach, three quantities are measured from an impulsive sound: the time difference between direct-path arrivals on a forward and rear subarray, the time difference between the direct and surface-reflected paths on the rear subarray, and the acoustic bearing measured on the rear subarray. These quantities, combined with independent measurements of hydrophone depths and cable inclination, are converted into range-depth position fixes by implementing an efficient numerical procedure that uses a ray-tracing code to account for ray-refraction effects caused by depth-dependent sound speed profiles. Analytic expressions that assume a constant waterborne sound speed are also derived. Foraging depths of various sperm whales over 10 days in June, 2004 are estimated using the numerical technique.     

Long distance passive localization of vocalizing sei whales using an acoustic normal mode approach

During a 2 day period in mid-September 2006, more than 200, unconfirmed but identifiable, sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) calls were collected as incidental data during a multidisciplinary oceanography and acoustics experiment on the shelf off New Jersey. Using a combined vertical and horizontal acoustic receiving array, sei whale movements were tracked over long distances (up to tens of kilometers) using a normal mode back propagation technique. This approach uses low-frequency, broadband passive sei whale call receptions from a single-station, two-dimensional hydrophone array to perform long distance localization and tracking by exploiting the dispersive nature of propagating normal modes in a shallow water environment. The back propagation approach is examined for accuracy and application to tracking the sei whale vocalizations identified in the vertical and horizontal array signals. This passive whale tracking, combined with the intensive oceanography measurements performed during the experiment, was also used to examine sei whale movements in relation to oceanographic features observed in this region.     

海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的节点配置方法

为了提高海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的定位精度,提出一种基于自适应遗传算法的节点配置方法。首先,基于到达时间TOA (Time of Arrival)定位算法推导出均匀物理场与海洋声场中定位误差的CRLB (Cramer Rao Lower Bound)。之后,利用BELLHOP模型对海洋声场进行建模,获得任意位置处目标声源与节点接收信号相关的传递函数并对等效声速进行计算.以目标声源在观测区域内服从均匀分布为例,将定位误差的平均CRLB最小为优化准则,采用自适应遗传算法对节点进行优化配置。结果表明,该方法能够有效降低海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的定位误差,并给出定位误差随节点个数增加呈非线性递减的变化趋势,可为工程应用提供理论指导。     

海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的节点配置方法

为了提高海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的定位精度,提出一种基于自适应遗传算法的节点配置方法。首先,基于到达时间TOA(Time of Arrival)定位算法推导出均匀物理场与海洋声场中定位误差的CRLB(Cramer Rao Lower Bound)。之后,利用BELLHOP模型对海洋声场进行建模,获得任意位置处目标声源与节点接收信号相关的传递函数并对等效声速进行计算.以目标声源在观测区域内服从均匀分布为例,将定位误差的平均CRLB最小为优化准则,采用自适应遗传算法对节点进行优化配置。结果表明,该方法能够有效降低海洋声场中分布式无源定位系统的定位误差,并给出定位误差随节点个数增加呈非线性递减的变化趋势,可为工程应用提供理论指导。     

Standard source method in passive acoustic thermal tomography

Potentialities of passive acoustic thermal tomography in reconstructing the 2D temperature distribution in a human body are studied. Special attention is given to the estimation of the maximal temperature value. A method for its exact reconstruction is proposed. The method uses the assumption that the temperature distribution is formed by a local heat source and is based on the selection of the parameters of such a source by the minimization of the residual of the measured and hypothetical values of the acoustic brightness temperature. The accuracy of the determination of the maximal in-depth temperature by different methods is analyzed by numerical simulation. It is demonstrated that the proposed method provides a higher accuracy than Tikhonov’s methods of global and local regularization, especially with a heat source at great depth. The proposed method is shown to cause no systematic error in the reconstruction of temperature peaks at great depth. The possibility of reconstructing a two-peak temperature distribution by the proposed method is demonstrated.     

Active control of passive acoustic fields: passive synthetic aperture/Doppler beamforming with data from an autonomous vehicle

The maneuverability of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with hull-mounted arrays provides the opportunity to actively modify received acoustic fields to optimize extraction of information. This paper uses ocean acoustic data collected by an AUV-mounted two-dimensional hydrophone array, with overall dimension one-tenth wavelength at 200-500 Hz, to demonstrate aspects of this control through vehicle motion. Source localization is performed using Doppler shifts measured at a set of receiver velocities by both single elements and a physical array. Results show that a source in the presence of a 10-dB higher-level interferer having exactly the same frequency content (as measured by a stationary receiver) is properly localized and that white-noise-constrained adaptive beamforming applied to the physical aperture data in combination with Doppler beamforming provides greater spatial resolution than physical-aperture-alone beamforming and significantly lower sidelobes than single element Doppler beamforming. A new broadband beamformer that adjusts for variations in vehicle velocity on a sample by sample basis is demonstrated with data collected during a high-acceleration maneuver. The importance of including the cost of energy expenditure in determining optimal vehicle motion is demonstrated through simulation, further illustrating how the vehicle characteristics are an integral part of the signal/array processing structure.     

水声无源材料插入损失虚拟聚焦测量方法

提出了一种适合在有限尺寸水池中测量水声材料插入损失的方法,称为\     

二级Kalman滤波的被动声定位后置处理方法

阵列定位的计算结果中往往存在大量的野值,需要用后置处理方法从结果中选取真实目标信息。本文提出了一种基于Kalman滤波的二级后置处理方法,建立了相应的滤波模型,并对主要参数进行讨论选取,同时给出了外场实验结果。结果表明此方法后置处理效果明显,并可以满足系统实时性的要求。     

Behavioral responses of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) to full-scale ATOC signals

Loud (195 dB re 1 microPa at 1 m) 75-Hz signals were broadcast with an ATOC projector to measure ocean temperature. Respiratory and movement behaviors of humpback whales off North Kauai, Hawaii, were examined for potential changes in response to these transmissions and to vessels. Few vessel effects were observed, but there were fewer vessels operating during this study than in previous years. No overt responses to ATOC were observed for received levels of 98-109 dB re 1 microPa. An analysis of covariance, using the no-sound behavioral rate as a covariate to control for interpod variation, found that the distance and time between successive surfacings of humpbacks increased slightly with an increase in estimated received ATOC sound level. These responses are very similar to those observed in response to scaled-amplitude playbacks of ATOC signals [Frankel and Clark, Can. J. Zool. 76, 521-535 (1998)]. These similar results were obtained with different sound projectors, in different years and locations, and at different ranges creating a different sound field. The repeatability of the findings for these two different studies indicates that these effects, while small, are robust. This suggests that at least for the ATOC signal, the received sound level is a good predictor of response.     

A tool for real-time acoustic species identification of delphinid whistles

The ability to identify delphinid vocalizations to species in real-time would be an asset during shipboard surveys. An automated system, Real-time Odontocete Call Classification Algorithm (ROCCA), is being developed to allow real-time acoustic species identification in the field. This Matlab-based tool automatically extracts ten variables (beginning, end, minimum and maximum frequencies, duration, slope of the beginning and end sweep, number of inflection points, number of steps, and presence/absence of harmonics) from whistles selected from a real-time scrolling spectrograph (ISHMAEL). It uses classification and regression tree analysis (CART) and discriminant function analysis (DFA) to identify whistles to species. Schools are classified based on running tallies of individual whistle classifications. Overall, 46% of schools were correctly classified for seven species and one genus (Tursiops truncatus, Stenella attenuata, S. longirostris, S. coeruleoalba, Steno bredanensis, Delphinus species, Pseudorca crassidens, and Globicephala macrorhynchus), with correct classification as high as 80% for some species. If classification success can be increased, this tool will provide a method for identifying schools that are difficult to approach and observe, will allow species distribution data to be collected when visual efforts are compromised, and will reduce the time necessary for post-cruise data analysis.     

采用被动声监测方法识别波弗特海区域海洋水声环境

为了研究北冰洋冰下水声环境的噪声特性,对2016年中国第七次北极科考期间在波弗特海进行的声学观测实验获取的数据集,采用时间统计分析和频域谱分析方法进行了处理,讨论了处理结果与同时期获取的海洋、大气之间的联系。针对冰下噪声长期监测和北冰洋水声环境特性的准实时观测,确定了描述冰下水声环境特性的参数组,给出了处理方法和流程,用于基于被动声监测的水声环境识别,指导研究设计和硬件选择。回传的实测结果可以与已发表的结论进行比较,从而确切描述和理解北冰洋水声环境的变化。     

Sounds, source levels, and associated behavior of humpback whales, southeast Alaska

Humpback whales in Southeast Alaskan waters produced five categories of sounds: moans, grunts, pulse trains, blowhole-associated sounds, and surface impacts. Frequencies (Hz) of moans and grunts were 20-1900. Major energy in low-frequency pulse trains was in a band of 25-80 Hz with pulse duration of 300-400 ms. Blowhole-associated sounds, recorded as transiting whales encountered one another, were of two types: shrieks, 555-2000 Hz, and trumpetlike horn blasts with fundamental at 414 Hz (median). Pulses and spread spectrum noise were associated with gas bubble formation and explosive bursts, respectively, in connection with spiral feeding maneuvers. Surface impacts resulted from fluke or flipper slaps in sequences of 3-21 sounds. Source levels ranged from 162 (low-frequency pulse trains) to 192 dB (surface impacts), re: 1 microPa, 1 m. Songs, commonly heard on winter breeding grounds, were absent from our recordings. Feeding and perhaps certain other whale activities can be monitored based on sound production.     

The social vocalization repertoire of east Australian migrating humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)

Although the songs of humpback whales have been extensively studied, other vocalizations and percussive sounds, referred to as "social sounds," have received little attention. This study presents the social vocalization repertoire of migrating east Australian humpback whales from a sample of 660 sounds recorded from 61 groups of varying composition, over three years. The social vocalization repertoire of humpback whales was much larger than previously described with a total of 34 separate call types classified aurally and by spectrographic analysis as well as statistically. Of these, 21 call types were the same as units of the song current at the time of recording but used individually instead of as part of the song sequence, while the other 13 calls were stable over the three years of the study and were not part of the song. This study provides a catalog of sounds that can be used as a basis for future studies. It is an essential first step in determining the function, contextual use and cultural transmission of humpback social vocalizations.     

Laboratory investigation of a passive acoustic method for measurement of underwater gas seep ebullition

Passive acoustic techniques are of interest as a low-power means of quantifying underwater point-source gas ebullition. Toward the development of systems for logging natural seep activity, laboratory experiments were performed that exploited the bubble's Minnaert natural frequency for the measurement of gas flow from a model seep. Results show agreement among acoustic, optical, and gas trap ebullition measurements over the range of emission rates from 0 to 10 bubbles per second. A mathematical model is proposed to account for the real gas behavior of bubbles which cannot be approximated as ideal, such as methane at marine depths exceeding 30 m.     

A passive acoustic monitoring method applied to observation and group size estimation of finless porpoises

The present study aimed at determining the detection capabilities of an acoustic observation system to recognize porpoises under local riverine conditions and compare the results with sighting observations. Arrays of three to five acoustic data loggers were stationed across the main channel of the Tian-e-zhou Oxbow of China's Yangtze River at intervals of 100-150 m to record sonar signals of free-ranging finless porpoises (Neophocaena phocaenoides). Acoustic observations, concurrent with visual observations, were conducted at two occasions on 20-22 October 2003 and 17-19 October 2004. During a total of 42 h of observation, 316 finless porpoises were sighted and 7041 sonar signals were recorded by loggers. The acoustic data loggers recorded ultrasonic signals of porpoises clearly, and detected the presence of porpoises with a correct detection level of 77.6% and a false alarm level of 5.8% within an effective distance of 150 m. Results indicated that the stationed passive acoustic observation method was effective in detecting the presence of porpoises and showed potential in estimating the group size. A positive linear correlation between the number of recorded signals and the group size of sighted porpoises was indicated, although it is faced with some uncertainty and requires further investigation.     

Improved passive acoustic band-limited energy detection for cetaceans

Acoustic detection of cetaceans is challenged by the variability of calls and the presence of variable background noise. One detection method is to start with frequency band-limited signal and noise estimates, and apply a likelihood ratio test (LRT). These detectors suffer from false alarms when broadband signals overlap the band of interest, triggering detection. Some detectors only consider previous samples, causing further false alarms. The authors propose a method of reducing false alarms by defining a guard band that is not expected to contain energy from the species of interest. A second LRT is performed by testing the ratio of the signal estimate in the signal band with the signal estimate of the guard band. This method is shown to reduce false alarms with a small reduction in detection performance. A detection method is also presented that can be optimized for high processing efficiency, while improving false-alarm rejection from signals that are longer in duration than the signal of interest. Performance is demonstrated on real cetacean recordings and ocean noise. The detection algorithm is implemented in PAMGUARD, an open source Java application designed for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) of cetaceans.     

水下蛙人被动探测测向实验研究

为了对携带开式呼吸器的水下蛙人进行被动探测,本文采用四个水听器组成的十字阵在浅海水域对水下开式蛙人进行了被动探测、测向实验。结果表明:蛙人辐射噪声具有周期性特征,其周期与蛙人的呼吸频率有关;另外,蛙人呼吸辐射噪声具有显著频带,并且其频带与蛙人携带的呼吸器有关。根据蛙人辐射噪声的显著频带和周期性特征,设计信号处理算法实现了对蛙人的被动声学探测识别。使用互相关方法处理一对水听器的接收信号,可以确定蛙人的方位,但是根据理论分析会出现一个假方位。对比十字阵中两对水听器的测向结果可确定蛙人的准确方位。