US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency pays attention to 'shrimp' for underwater radar development

by budak

The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on a project called the Sustainable Aquatic Sensor (PALS) Program , which uses biology to enhance maritime surveillance. In this PALS system, in addition to fishes such as 'Ha' and 'Suzuki' that live in the sea, 'shrimp' works for defense.

Five Teams of Researchers Will Help DARPA Detect Undersea Activity by Analyzing Behaviors of Marine Organisms
https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2019-02-15

DARPA's Newest Drone Submarine Detection Device: Snapping Shrimp-D-brief
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/20019/03/22/pals-program-underwater-soundscape-darpa-drones-shrimp/

The PALS system works in two stages. First of all, when an intruder is in the environment where he / she spends, it senses its presence and responds with a signal or behavior specific to that organism. And the reaction is observed, recorded and interpreted by a detection system and delivered to remote places. This “combination of marine life and detection system” makes marine life a self-replicating and self-sustaining sensor. Marine life sensors have a long life span and adapt to environmental and natural changes, and the range of surveillance functions can be expanded significantly.

The PALS research team is divided into five groups, each of which is 'Recording and analysis of sound,' 'Detection of biological signals from microorganisms,' 'Recording and analysis of generation cues of Goliath Grouper (Golias grouper),' 'Detection of underwater cars We are conducting research using snapping shrimp (small-sized shrimp) and 'investigating the fish community and behavior of black sea bass affected by underwater vehicles'.

Alison Raffiere, a scientist at the defense company Raytheon BBN Technologies , who studies using shrimp as a natural sonar, said that “the advantage of using shrimp to detect the sound compared to conventional sonar is that shrimp is a reef. It is ubiquitous and there is no need to install a large number of sound emitting devices. The sound produced by shrimps is quite large at 190 decibels at close range, and it is easy to pick up the sound for analysis. ' It explains.

In addition to the natural shrimp-based sonars at Raytheon BBN Technologies, research is also being conducted to monitor what Raffiere calls 'biological soundscapes.' 'Biological soundscape' is a collection of sounds that all animals are making in water, and if you can check the change in soundscape as the vehicle passes through the water, you can also find something that the radar can not find Being able to

The PALS program is considered to be a four-year research program since it was announced in February 2018, and is expected to contribute not only to defense applications but to the biology and scientific community as a whole.