PASSIVE ACOUSTIC SHIP DETECTION PERFORMANCE NEAR THE PORT OF SEPT-ÎLES, QUEBEC, CANADA

Abstract

An AMAR acoustic recorder was deployed near the Port of Sept-Îles, Quebec, Canada in the Fall of 2020 and collected one year of data. Vessels were detected using narrowband tonals. Sound pressure level (SPL) for each minute of data in the 40–315 Hz decidecade shipping band was then computed. These SPLs were then searched for the highest 1 min SPL which was identified as the CPA time for each acoustic contact. Interpolated vessel track data from the AIS were used to compute CPAs for vessels carrying an AIS transponder during the deployment period. A DEMON detector was implemented based on DEMON processing. Then, the AIS CPA was compared to the JASCO and DEMON CPA to calculate the number of true positive and false negative CPAs for each detector. The combination of the two detectors was used to improve JASCO’s vessel detector’s performance, and its results are discussed.