Low Cost Whale Detection and Monitoring with Optics

Current ASW testing is often limited by the presence of marine mammals on ASW test ranges. The solicitation suggests the development of a radar system and associated algorithms to detect breaching whales in various sea states and generally assist in the Marine Species Mitigation (MSM) problem. The detection would then be handed off to an Electro Optical (EO) system for verification, classification, etc. The EO system, once queued must be able to reacquire the animal for verification and classification. This proposal suggests the employment of an EO system that would not only be used as a verification/classification system but would also be used to detect non breaching submerged marine mammals in low sea states as well as breaching animals in high sea states. The system will provide GPS locations and high resolution still images of all whales detected.