STUDENT: Charles Edward White, II

TITLE: DYNAMIC TRACKING OF FREE-SWIMMING WHALE GROUPS USING DIGITAL ACOUSTIC RECORDING TAGS

ABSTRACT:

Understanding the group behavior of free-swimming whales is critical to the management and conservation of many whale species. Moreover, understanding how whales navigate the ocean and exploit its resources could serve as a model for improving the communication and navigation systems of underwater robots and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

In this paper, methods are presented for dynamically tracking a special class of whales referred to as odontocetes, using digital acoustic recording tags (DTAGs). A trilateration model is presented for tracking groups of whales that include three or more tagged whales using time of flight data and results are given from applying this model to a novel data set of three simultaneously diving and cross-audible short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhyncus). A new model is subsequently proposed for tracking whale groups that include only two tagged whales using a generalization of multilateration and data captured by stereo DTAGs.