Marine Technology in Spain: a Challenge to Achieve High Quality Research in Marine Sciences

Marine Technology Workshop (Martech05), 17-18 November 2005, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 2 pages, 1 figurePeer Reviewe

Sigsensual: A Project to Develop an Ocean Bottom Seismometer Prototype and its Associated Signal Processing Software

Marine Technology Workshop (Martech05), 17-18 November 2005, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 2 pages, 2 figuresPeer Reviewe

Data acquisition system for volcano monitoring with real-time transmission, low cost and low power consumption

Postprint (published version

Marine Information over the Network

Marine Technology Workshop (Martech05), 17-18 November 2005, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 2 pages, 5 figuresPeer Reviewe

An impacting energy harvester through piezoelectric device for velocity water flow

Peer Reviewe

The S-Transform From a Wavelet Point of View

Abstract—The -transform is becoming popular for time-frequency analysis and data-adaptive filtering thanks to its simplicity. While this transform works well in the continuous domain, its discrete version may fail to achieve accurate results. This paper compares and contrasts this transform with the better known continuous wavelet transform, and defines a relation between both. This connection allows a better understanding of the -transform, and makes it possible to employ the wavelet reconstruction formula as a new inverse -transform and to propose several methods to solve some of the main limitations of the discrete -transform, such as its restriction to linear frequency sampling.This work was supported by the projects SigSensual ref. CTM2004-04510-C03-02 and NEAREST CE-037110. The work of M. Schimmel was supported through the Ramon y Cajal and the Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Nr. CSD2006-00041 program.Peer reviewe

DISPAR: A tool to model bottom trawl fishing gears

Marine Technology Workshop (Martech05), 17-18 November 2005, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona.-- 1 pageBottom trawl fishing is a relevant extractive economic activity. However, the limitation of resources and the impact on the environment demand for a more rational exploitation in order to render the activity sustainable and productive in a near future. To this purpose it is important to understand and to analyze the behaviour of fishinggears. DISPAR is a collaboration project betweenthe UPC-CTVG and the CSIC aimed to movetowards this direction. [...]Peer Reviewe

A New Laboratory Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) System for Behavioural Tracking of Marine Organisms

Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices are currently used to quantify several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.). The system consists of a network of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops’ grounds, such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by concurrently recording the animals’ behaviour with automated video imaging. During the two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark), measured using the RFID method. Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and ecological interest

Ocean Bottom Seismometer: Design and Test of a Measurement System for Marine Seismology

The Ocean Bottom Seismometer (OBS) is a key instrument for the geophysical study of sea sub-bottom layers. At present, more reliable autonomous instruments capable of recording underwater for long periods of time and therefore handling large data storage are needed. This paper presents a new Ocean Bottom Seismometer designed to be used in long duration seismic surveys. Power consumption and noise level of the acquisition system are the key points to optimize the autonomy and the data quality. To achieve our goals, a new low power data logger with high resolution and Signal–to-Noise Ratio (SNR) based on Compact Flash memory card is designed to enable continuous data acquisition. The equipment represents the achievement of joint work from different scientific and technological disciplines as electronics, mechanics, acoustics, communications, information technology, marine geophysics, etc. This easy to handle and sophisticated equipment allows the recording of useful controlled source and passive seismic data, as well as other time varying data, with multiple applications in marine environment research. We have been working on a series of prototypes for ten years to improve many of the aspects that make the equipment easy to handle and useful to work in deep-water areas. Ocean Bottom Seismometers (OBS) have received growing attention from the geoscience community during the last forty years. OBS sensors recording motion of the ocean floor hold key information in order to study offshore seismicity and to explore the Earth’s crust. In a seismic survey, a series of OBSs are placed on the seabed of the area under study, where they record either natural seismic activity or acoustic signals generated by compressed air-guns on the ocean surface. The resulting data sets are subsequently used to model both the earthquake locations and the crustal structure

The New Seafloor Observatory (OBSEA) for Remote and Long-Term Coastal Ecosystem Monitoring

A suitable sampling technology to identify species and to estimate population dynamics based on individual counts at different temporal levels in relation to habitat variations is increasingly important for fishery management and biodiversity studies. In the past two decades, as interest in exploring the oceans for valuable resources and in protecting these resources from overexploitation have grown, the number of cabled (permanent) submarine multiparametric platforms with video stations has increased. Prior to the development of seafloor observatories, the majority of autonomous stations were battery powered and stored data locally. The recently installed low-cost, multiparametric, expandable, cabled coastal Seafloor Observatory (OBSEA), located 4 km off of Vilanova i la Gertrú, Barcelona, at a depth of 20 m, is directly connected to a ground station by a telecommunication cable; thus, it is not affected by the limitations associated with previous observation technologies. OBSEA is part of the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatory (EMSO) infrastructure, and its activities are included among the Network of Excellence of the European Seas Observatory NETwork (ESONET). OBSEA enables remote, long-term, and continuous surveys of the local ecosystem by acquiring synchronous multiparametric habitat data and bio-data with the following sensors: Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) sensors for salinity, temperature, and pressure; Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) for current speed and direction, including a turbidity meter and a fluorometer (for the determination of chlorophyll concentration); a hydrophone; a seismometer; and finally, a video camera for automated image analysis in relation to species classification and tracking. Images can be monitored in real time, and all data can be stored for future studies. In this article, the various components of OBSEA are described, including its hardware (the sensors and the network of marine and land nodes), software (data acquisition, transmission, processing, and storage), and multiparametric measurement (habitat and bio-data time series) capabilities. A one-month multiparametric survey of habitat parameters was conducted during 2009 and 2010 to demonstrate these functions. An automated video image analysis protocol was also developed for fish counting in the water column, a method that can be used with cabled coastal observatories working with still images. Finally, bio-data time series were coupled with data from other oceanographic sensors to demonstrate the utility of OBSEA in studies of ecosystem dynamics