We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

Australia developing tech to save whales

University of Sydney researchers have joined forces with industry and the NSW Smart Sensing Network to give sight to marine oil and gas exploration vessels to help protect whale populations.

A collaboration between Earth Ocean and Space, ArborCarbon and University of Sydney scientists will assess the feasibility of an innovative system to automate real-time detection of whales onboard seismic survey ships.

The team has received $94,654 in the latest round of the federal government’s Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII) grants.

Seismic survey ships find oil and gas resources by firing air guns that release compressed air into the ocean. It has been long speculated that the loud noise created by these air guns may interfere with how whales communicate, potentially impacting whale migration patterns.

Associate Professor Eleanor Bruce from the University of Sydney Marine Studies Institute and School of Geosciences said currently the detection of whales at sea relies on trained onboard observers who are only able to survey during daylight hours.

She stated that the accurate detection of whales at night and under poor visibility is a key issue that is lacking a viable solution. “Improving round-the-clock detection rates will minimise potential harm to whales from vessel sound and potential collision,” she stated.

The researchers believe the BRII funding provides an opportunity to demonstrate the feasibility of translating this leading-edge research on thermal sensing, whale behaviour, machine learning and robotic engineering into tangible solutions for improving whale detection at sea.

“Whales can be detected if they are on the surface of the water, most commonly by their large exhalations [blows],” Associate Professor Bruce said.

“These blows are warmer than the surrounding environment, so they are easily detectable with a thermal infrared camera.”

The adoption of smart sensing technologies specifically designed for operational marine environments enhances the accuracy of whale detection, location and identification during night time surveys.

NSSN Environment & AgTech Theme Leader Dr Tomonori Hu has also brought his thermal sensing expertise to this project.

“Tomonori Hu’s expertise in optical sensor technologies, optical pointing systems and the commercialisation of research will be an asset to our team,” Associate Professor Bruce said.

“This work is highly technical and the resolution and effectiveness of these sensors will ultimately impact on how successful our system will be for rapid automated detection of whales at sea.”

The feasibility study is currently in progress and field-testing has begun in Jervis Bay to capture thermal images of dolphins as whale season has not yet started.

The team has three months to complete and deliver the feasibility study to BRII. If successful, the team may receive up to $1 million to take the concept to the development and commercialisation stage.

The project team includes Associate Professor Eleanor Bruce, Dr Edwina Tanner, Professor Doug Cato, Associate Professor KC Wong, Dr Tomonori Hu, Dr Kevin Davies, Alex Jones and Scott Sheehan. The study was funded by the federal government’s Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII).

About the Business Research and Innovation Initiative

The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources government aims to encourage businesses to develop innovative solutions to government policy and service delivery problems, with a series of ‘challenges’ called the Business Research and Innovation Initiative (BRII).

The BRII includes the following stages:

  • The Department works with Australian government agencies and Innovation and Science Australiato nominate 5 real-life government policy and service delivery challenges.
  • Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are invited to submit proposals to address the challenges. SMEs with the most innovative ideas are granted up to $100,000 to do a feasibility study over 3 months to test their proposals.
  • The most successful ideas are eligible for a further grant of up to $1 million to develop a prototype or proof of concept.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend