|
![TMCNet: Hydrophones Monitor Humpback Whales in British Columbia [Sea Technology]](http://images.tmcnet.com/siteart/invisible.gif)
Hydrophones Monitor Humpback Whales in British Columbia [Sea Technology]
(Sea Technology Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Pacific Wild, a nonprofit conservation organization, has deployed audio monitoring stations at four points along the British Columbia shoreline to capture live sounds of humpback whales in their natural marine environment.
The network uses Cetacean Research Technology (Seattle, Washington) C55 hydrophones and Barix AG (Zurich, Switzerland) lnstreamer IP audio devices. The lnstreamer encodes the sounds captured by the hydrophones, which are live streamed 24/7 over the Internet, available to the public at http://pacificwild.org/site/greatbear-live/hydrophones.
The audio system allows monitoring of changes in individual whale song and how sound is passed between whales. The data will enable the study of behavioral patterns of humpback whales and how surrounding activity, such as shipping, affects their behavior.
Pacific Wild's previous audio system recorded 8-bit audio at 8 kilohertz, which made it challenging to capture clear sound. After a network upgrade in August, signal integrity and compatibility improved, with the lnstreamer digitizing the hydrophone-captured audio into 16-bit MP3 for better sound quality.
The system captures both loud identification calls and soft chatter. It uses Tranzeo Wireless Technologies Inc. 802.11 microwave radios to deliver the live stream.
Pacific Wild expects to expand up to 1 2 sites over the next five years.
(c) 2012 Compass Publications, Inc.
[ Back To Technology News's Homepage ]
|
Internet Telephony Magazine
Click here to read latest issue
CUSTOMER 
Cloud Computing Magazine
Click here to read latest issue
M2M Evolution Magazine
Call Center/CRM
Info Tech 
IP Communications 
Mobile 
Green 
Satellite 
Robotics 
