SBIR Phase I: Development of an automated, cost-effective bat activity and mortality monitoring system

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be to facilitate the use of wind energy. While wind turbines are a carbon-free energy source, they may impact the habitats of birds and bats; recently, bats have emerged as a critical focus for the wind industry since there are several threatened and endangered North American bat species whose territories overlap with existing and planned wind development sites. The current method of determining an onshore wind turbine’s impact on wildlife requires biologists to walk transects in cleared plots around the turbines looking for carcasses. This method is not only expensive, it also leads to uncertain impact estimates. For offshore wind turbines there is currently no method for determining impacts, which may hinder the ability to permit projects. This project will provide a tool for automatically assessing bat mortality around industrial wind turbines. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will use structured light imaging and advanced computer vision to detect bat mortality around utility-scale wind turbines. The concept is to mount near-infrared (NIR) cameras and illuminators to the turbine and continuously record images at night during bat activity. Image processing techniques will be used to identify bat activity along so-called "tracks" as two-dimensional flight paths. Projecting a known NIR source into the image field in a structured light imaging process generates a reference for depth calculations, allowing the measurement of the heading and range of a carcass. These measurements will enable the development of systems to prevent wildlife injuries in the future. During this Phase I project a prototype system will be built and tested at an operational wind turbine. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.