Seatrec + Naval Postgraduate School Achieve Historic First by Collecting Acoustic Data in Real-Time with Underwater Drones
Seatrec + Naval Postgraduate School Achieve Historic First by Collecting Acoustic Data in Real-Time with Underwater Drones
Hydrophone-equipped underwater drones powered by the ocean’s temperature differences deployed off the coast of Hawaii to provide persistent monitoring of natural and man-made soundscape
VISTA, Calif. – WEBWIRE – Wednesday, January 29, 2025. Seatrec and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) today announced the first-ever collection of acoustic data in real-time by underwater drones, also known as autonomous profiling floats, completely powered by the energy harvested from the temperature differences in the ocean. The data capture was made off the coast of Kona, Hawaii, by the Persistent Smart Acoustic Profiler (PSAP) Voyager. Seatrec designed and built the first PSAP Voyager with the unprecedented ability to create its own electricity to power the robust onboard computing capabilities needed to process the large data recorded by a passive acoustic hydrophone used to detect sounds underwater.
The new PSAP Voyager’s ability to generate power leapfrogs previous generations of autonomous profiling floats that are limited by battery power and enables acoustic data to be collected in real-time anywhere in the world’s oceans nearly indefinitely.
“Sound is used to “see” underwater and is vital to understanding the ocean and monitoring the movement of natural and man-made objects,” explains Yi Chao, Ph.D., Seatrec’s CEO and Founder. “Previously hydrophones required power from expensive underwater cables from shore or ships but our PSAP Voyager untethers hydrophones and provides nearly unlimited persistent monitoring of the ocean in an extremely economical way.”
Traditional hydrophones are positioned at depth, often within the SOFAR (SOund Fixing And Ranging) channel, where the sound speed is minimal. Sound is trapped within this SOFAR channel by refraction and can travel over great distances. Hydrophones can be lowered into the SOFAR channel from a ship, which is expensive to operate – often starting at $50,000 per day. They can also be placed on the seafloor and powered by fiber optic cables connected to a shore station on land, but there are only a handful of places with this infrastructure.
Naval forces have an inherent operational reason to be quiet at sea, and the research into ocean noise provides additional insight for the Navy and Marine Corps in planning for future underway operations.
“Passive acoustic listening has many operational and research applications in the Navy,” says John Joseph, the principal investigator and faculty associate for research at the Naval Postgraduate School. “The autonomy and long endurance of Seatrec’s PSAP Voyager provides an unprecedented opportunity to collect acoustic data in real-time for very long periods in remote areas without the expense and logistical tail of ship support.”
Seatrec counts the US Navy’s Office of Naval Research among its early backers and in 2022 launched a precursor to the PSAP - Voyager project in partnership with the Naval Postgraduate School to integrate hydrophones into autonomous, ocean-going robots. The research and development effort was supported by the Consortium for Robotics and Unmanned Systems Education and Research (CRUSER) at NPS, which is funded by the Office of Naval Research to provide a collaborative environment for the advancement of educational and research endeavors across the Navy and Marine Corps.
In 2023, Seatrec was selected for the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) Propel Hawai’i Accelerator. The program is a partnership between the NSIN and Decisive Point in collaboration with the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet—the world’s largest fleet command encompassing 100 million square miles. Seatrec was selected from a competitive field of over 200 early-stage companies to join an elite cohort of enterprises developing cutting-edge technologies to help the modernization needs of the US Navy and the broader DoD community.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures energy harvesting systems that generate electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences in ocean waters. This renewable energy can be used to power deep water oceanographic research equipment such as floats, gliders, and autonomous underwater vehicles, resulting in the most scalable, cost-effective deep ocean data collection possible. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at www.seatrec.com and @seatrecinc.
About the Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is a defense-focused graduate university offering master’s and doctoral degrees in fields of study core to Naval-unique needs, the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD civilians and international partners. For information, visit: nps.edu.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Marta.Bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 415.816.1665
Seatrec Wins Power at Sea Prize for Bold Plan to Map World’s Marine Resources Using Ocean’s Own Power
Seatrec Wins Power at Sea Prize for Bold Plan to Map World’s Marine Resources Using Ocean’s Own Power
Sustainably-powered autonomous float equipped with an active acoustic echosounder will map upper ocean pelagic habitats to address the critical knowledge gap in marine living resource distribution on a planetary scale
VISTA, Calif. – WEBWIRE – Thursday, December 19, 2024. Seatrec, a renewable energy company that harvests energy from temperature differences in the environment, was named one of 20 winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Powering the Blue Economy™: Power at Sea Prize. This recognition comes with a $10,000 award for the company’s groundbreaking concept: mapping the world’s marine resources using a subsea robot equipped with a side-looking echosounder and powered by the ocean’s thermal energy.
“Long-endurance data collection in remote areas of the ocean has always been restricted because batteries are insufficient and ships are too expensive to power high-end sensors like echosounders,” explains Yi Chao, Ph.D., Seatrec’s founder and CEO. “Our technology unlocks the ocean’s temperature differences to power those sensors, and the Power at Sea Prize helps fuel our vision of sustainable exploration to better understand our blue planet.”
Seatrec’s goal of developing a thermally-powered profiling float equipped with echosounder sensors will provide an innovative and critical path to map upper ocean pelagic habitats by measuring zooplankton, which plays a vital role in aquatic ecosystems and the planet’s overall health.
This echosounder float will profile as deep as 1,000 meters and surface every six hours, capturing diurnal variations at key times (sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight). During ascent, the side-looking echosounder will map zooplankton and mesopelagic organisms smaller than 10 cm at various distances from the float. When sufficient thermal gradients exist, the energy harvesting system will convert temperature differences into electricity. Upon surfacing, the float will report its position and transmit data via satellite. Initial deployment is proposed for Monterey Bay, leveraging the area’s existing sustained observing system to validate this novel zooplankton measurement modality.
The Power at Sea Prize, one of DOE’s competitive programs, recognizes innovative marine energy concepts that could feasibly power blue economy applications, such as ocean-observing devices, aquaculture installations, and storm tracking systems. Twenty teams across the United States were awarded in this first CONCEPT Phase, competing for a total prize pool of $200,000.
Matthew Grosso, WPTO Director, praised the winners: “The CONCEPT Phase winners delivered the out-of-the-box ideas we were looking for as we work to harness the potential of marine energy for offshore applications. We look forward to seeing their progress in the prize’s next phase.”
Seatrec will advance to the DEVELOP Phase of the competition, where teams will refine their technologies with support from industry mentors, networking opportunities, and targeted training. Final winners will share a $1.5 million prize pool to further develop their innovations.
This recognition reinforces Seatrec’s commitment to driving sustainable innovation in ocean technology. With this award, the company continues its mission to contribute to a thriving blue economy while addressing critical challenges in ocean exploration and resource management.
For more information about Seatrec’s award-winning technology and ongoing initiatives, visit www.seatrec.com.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures energy harvesting systems that generate electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences in ocean waters. This renewable energy can be used to power deep water oceanographic research equipment such as floats, gliders, and autonomous underwater vehicles, resulting in the most scalable, cost-effective deep ocean data collection possible. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at www.seatrec.com and @seatrecinc.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-165
