R.S. Aqua Limited Public Funding

Using scientific developments pioneered in the UK, we will develop a disruptive method of listening underwater that will revolutionise how we monitor and police the UK's territorial waters. In partnership with the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) at the University of Southampton, we are developing new machine learning (ML) techniques which make possible detailed monitoring of human, animal and environmental activity in the remote ocean in real time. We are also developing a disruptive method of connecting ocean sensors to new low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and 5G, facilitating a broadband internet of things (IOT) at sea. RS Aqua has an international reputation as a leading provider of underwater noise recording technology and oceanographic monitoring systems, and ISVR has leading international expertise in the application of ML to underwater noise analysis. The project will develop of a new generation of RS Aqua underwater noise recorders which can internally process large acoustic datasets in situ and send broadband information to the end users via a smartphone web application. Alongside this, a postdoctoral role at ISVR will use new underwater datasets (recorded by RS Aqua) to develop new _self-learning_ ML processes which will run on the underwater recorders. The end goal is to develop an instrument that can be moored underwater, anywhere in the world, and quickly learn to identify environmentally harmful activities that are out of the ordinary. It will send broadband information about that activity to a web app, so stakeholders and managers can take decisions in real time. This technology has the potential to revolutionise how offshore energy, government agencies, NGOs, and the defence sector monitor and manage the UK ocean environment.