Products

PRODUCT

The Passive Aquatic Listener (PAL) developed by HORST is an autonomous passive underwater acoustic recorder designed for marine and environmental monitoring. PAL unit with state-of-the-art hardware and software, customized for different applications according to customers’ needs.

• monitoring of different physical processes:

1. Environmental: wind speed, precipitation (i.e., convective/stratiform,
drop size distribution)

2. Biological: marine mammal calls (i.e., whales, dolphins), shrimp, etc.

3. Man-made activities: ships and sonars, impulsive from seismic surveys,
pilling from wind farms and oil platforms, etc.
4. Geological: earthquakes, landslides, cold and/or warm seepage, etc.

• detection and quantification of sound sources;

– Training for system deployment in buoys and subsurface moorings.

– Manual and open-source software for client adjustment.

– Expert support and upgrades for specialized customer needs.

– 2-year warranty and maintenance support.

BENEFITS and REWARDS TO CUSTOMERS

Functional: A single sensor can accurately measure multiple environmental and biological parameters (frequency acoustic range 2 Hz–80 kHz with sensitivity of -165 dB rel. 1V/μPa @ 1 kHz).

Underwater: Less susceptible to vandalism and weather conditions, also in high operational depths up to 4000 m depending on housing materials.
Bearing the greatest advantage of large sea-surface acoustical operational coverage (e.g., > 4 km^2).

Flexible, Small, and Autonomous: Easy to deploy with local high data capacity storage (> 128 GB), can operate for a long period (more than a year) with no interruptions, and standardizes communication protocol for existing observing systems (i.e., plug’n’play). Its portability will also provide the capability for operation on various measuring platforms (e.g., Autonomous and/or remotely underwater vehicles, ARGO floats, drifters, etc.)

Low production cost: low-cost system components.

Smart: real-time processing algorithm using edge computing with AI analysis (tinyML) for detection, quantification, temporal sampling strategy selection, and optimized storage of data.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please contact us for a quote

Hydrophone & Power Specifications

• Hydrophone sensitivity (with pre-amp): -193 re 1V/μPa at 250 Hz (with differential pre-amp 0 dB) with operational depth @ 3500 meters; linear frequency response 1Hz to 65 kHz (+0.3/-3 dB); low power usage of 800 mW during sampling and 50 – 100 mW during sleep mode.
• An internal battery pack of 7.2V with 60 AH powers the filter/amplifier, the clock, and the processor.
• The instrument has continuously and low-duty cycle records at a maximum sampling rate of 192 kHz with 16-bit resolution and maximum dynamic range of 110 dB
• The hydrophone electronics is housed on fiberglass-composite pressure cases to support depths of 100-1000 m.

Real-time data transmission with SOFAR’s Smart Mooring and Spotter System

• From PAL, data and parameters are transmitted through the Smart Mooring to the Spotter, and from there to satellite and cellular communications platforms.
• Spotter Dashboard and API capabilities for real-time access and storage in the cloud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication Protocol PAL-Spotter: 15-minute window, only these parameters are transmitted: timeS, SPL2, SPL5, SPL8, SPL20, SPL30, P28, and P815, flag, where:

• timeS is sample time,
• flag is the acoustic classification flag code number,
• SPLx is the sound pressure level at x kHz corrected for absorption, and P28 and P815 are the spectral slopes between 2-8 kHz and 8-15 kHz.
• Classification Flag Codes are for:

1) loud close shipping, 2) loud distant shipping, 3) distant shipping in dead calm conditions, 4) very loud convective rain, 5) moderate/heavy rain, 6) light rain/drizzle, 7) high frequency clicking from whales, 8) light to moderate wind, 9) high wind.

Full acoustic noise is stored into an SD-Card of 128 GB Capacity

Bristlemouth technology

• Underwater Acoustic Sensor and Transmitter Network
• COMP-050

General description

An innovative underwater in-situ gamma-ray spectrometer, named KATERINA-II, is a detection system for autonomous radioactivity measurements in aquatic environments. The system provides gamma-ray spectra of natural and artificial radionuclides, either operating autonomously and saving the data in an internal memory or being installed on floating measuring systems for real-time applications. The system is calibrated with respect to energy, energy resolution, and marine efficiency for seawater masses and provides to the end-user quantitative results in absolute units (Bq/L or Bq/m³). The KATERINA II system is also calibrated with respect to energy, energy resolution, and marine efficiency for radioactivity measurement in sediment masses and informs the end-user automatically in absolute units (Bq/kg).

System Types

There are two available types for the system performance according to the depth of deployment: the first type is adequate for shallow/intermediate waters, and the second type is adequate for deeper water masses.

Validation

The system has been designed for aquatic applications. During its development phase, it has been tested and deployed in the Mediterranean, the Black and Caspian Seas, as well as in East Middle Eastern countries. In the last 10 years, the system was also deployed in Asian countries. As concerns the inter-calibration exercises, they have been performed using laboratory instrumentation, ensuring the reliability and quality of the results.

Flexibility

The KATERINA II system has small dimensions (41.5 cm x 10 cm), allowing easy application in the field and transportation. It is packed in a typical suitcase along with all necessary auxiliary instrumentation (cables, USB, application platform, and the battery pack), and it can be easily manipulated in the field.

Deployment Options

The KATERINA-II system can be installed on floating measuring systems (buoys) for continuous operation in the environment, and the data can be either transmitted in real-time mode to any operational center or saved in an internal memory. The detection system provided data for every specific time lag (user-adjusted). Alternatively, the detection system operates autonomously in the seabed and/or in the seawater column (without user surveillance), supplied by an underwater battery pack using a special lander and an acoustic releaser.

 Applications

Monitoring radioactivity levels for radioprotection/radioecology, especially near industrial coastal zones (nuclear power plants, nuclear waste processing plants, and oil and mineral industries).

Monitoring natural radioactivity (uranium, thorium, radium, radon/thoron, potassium) in key geophysical applications (submarine faults, submarine groundwater springs, offshore freshened groundwater, submarine volcanoes, cold seeps, gas hydrates).

Detecting gamma-ray emitters in sediment for rapid determination of radioactivity and/or seabed characterization (sediment dynamics).

Monitoring radon daughters for rainwater study and CO₂ storage activity

Monitoring gamma-ray emitters (energy exploration, oil identification, Mineral exploration of uranium, thorium, rare earth minerals)

Advanced Training

Advanced training courses can be organized concerning the utilization of the in-situ detection system (familiarization with system modules and functions, maintenance, and technical aspects for real-time acquisition and autonomous deployments) and the analysis of the acquired gamma-ray spectra (including the identification method).

Please contact us for a quote for KATERINA II System

AREA 1: Artificial Hazards: Environmental Protection and Radioecology

Set up of appropriate underwater gamma-ray spectrometers and corresponding methodology for alarm and surveillance purposes in aquatic and seabed environments, applying monitoring tools in areas where nuclear reactor plants, oil exploitation plants, desalination plants, and other industry are in operation in the coastal zones. This task will enhance the capability of national responsible agencies to efficiently manage environmental crises (e.g., due to a nuclear incidence). The KATERINA II system as a smart sensor and cost-effective sensor provides a) reliable in-situ gamma-ray spectra within a large interval of operating depths; b) continuous monitoring (time series of data); c) activity concentrations rapidly and remotely using automated algorithms. Thus, expensive ship sampling cruises and time-consuming laboratory treatment and analysis are avoided.

 

AREA 2: Natural Hazards: Submarine Faults, Volcanoes, Cold Seeps, Gas Hydrates

Continuous real-time monitoring of gas emanation in correlation with other geophysical/geochemical seismic data over submarine faults and volcanic areas for systematic study and establishment of reliable earthquake precursors. An option is to serve as a continuous monitoring underwater detector of radon (a natural radioactive gas that is not chemically reactive), which is considered a significant geophysical tracer. For instance, in the field of earthquake studies, emanation anomalies of radon gas have been observed prior, during, and after many seismic events. Although existing networks provide long-term monitoring of radon levels above terrestrial active faults, the majority of them are submarine, and still there is no appropriate instrumentation for radon monitoring purposes in deep waters. The integration of the KATERINA II sensor into fixed marine station observatories and networks provides long-term information to support geophysical studies.

 

AREA 3: Mapping of Radioactivity Levels—Sediment and Seawater

2.1 Sediment Dynamics in the coastal Zone: Costal Resilience

The Katerina II detection system also operates as a geo-referenced scanning system for seawater and sediment mapping. The KATERINA II detection system is employed to measure the natural and artificial gamma radiation at the beach sands as well as in the nearshore line in the sediment/seabed. The gamma-ray surveys are performed by integrating/mounting the spectrometer on mobile platforms (e.g., backpack, trolley, drone), enabling the mobile method to provide the gamma-ray spectra for each time lag combined with coordinates.

2.2. Water scarcity: submarine springs and Offshore Freshened Groundwater

A similar application is also performed integrating the KATERINA II system in robotic vehicles (such as AUVs, ROVs, gliders, marine drones) or any other mobile unit to map the radioactivity levels in seawater. The maps may be used for several needs to identify hot spots in terms of artificial radioactivity due to an incidence or to identify and localize submarine groundwater discharges, offshore freshened water sources, or submarine springs in the marine environment combining potassium with radon measurements.