APPLICATION NOTE STUDIES OF FISH AND ZOOPLANKTON WITH A FULL SPECTRUM ACOUSTIC SYSTEM CUSTOMER APPLICATION • Studies of fish, zooplankton, and turbulence using broadband acousitcs SOLUTION • EdgeTech Full Spectrum Chirp Processing Acoustic System EQUIPMENT • Underwater Equipment: Modified EdgeTech SB-0512i Towfish operating at 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz Fish research is an important endeavor for the scientific community and for commercial industries. The tools to “view” or study fish in their normal habitat are limited. Studying fish using traditional acoustic technology available in a device such as an echosounder has notable limitations. The limited acoustic bands often present data to the users that can be interpreted, or misinterpreted, in a number of different ways. The acoustic sound that bounces off a fish to provide an image is often distorted by a number of factors including: fish size, fish orientation and density of fish in an area. In addition the picture can be clouded by other environmental parameters such as microorganisms, water temperature variations and underwater movements or flows. Modified EdgeTech 2200 operating at 150 kHz to 600 kHz • Shipboard Equipment: EdgeTech processor running software for aquistion and display Top image from a narrow band acoustic system. Bottom image, showing sh, from the EdgeTech broadband system. In the fisheries community many important decisions are made based on the data received and analyzed from shipboard acoustic devices (or even more cumbersome means of physically netting and diving). The value of being able to truly study the fish and other organisms and extract the real data from the noise is extremely important. The need for better research tools and the underlying studies led researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to develop a “better fish finder”. In fact, this new technology could be likened to the equivalent of replacing the scientist’s small AA-flashlight used in a dark lab with that of a stadium spotlight, accompanied by a magnifying glass to study the fine details. Tim Stanton, Andone Lavery and the team at WHOI selected the EdgeTech Full Spectrum Sonar System as their technology platform and went to work with the EdgeTech engineers to implement modifications to suit their application. The result was a broadband technology that provides the fishery and oceanographic researchers a complete and clear picture of the underwater creatures that may be swimming in the once murky and dark waters below. For more information please visit EdgeTech.com [email protected] | USA 1.508.291.0057

APPLICATION NOTE STUDIES OF FISH AND ZOOPLANKTON WITH A FULL SPECTRUM ACOUSTIC SYSTEM Solution WHOI researchers, working with EdgeTech engineers, came up with an approach that would allow the standard EdgeTech Full Spectrum Sonar System to perform over a wider acoustic band than any other system in operation. The modifications increased the bandwidth of the unit so it could operate from 1.5 kHz to 100 kHz. Coupled with the hardware modification was the implementation of sophisticated algorithms that provided the necessary analysis of the broadband acoustic signals that reflected, bounced and...