Ireland's territorial waters are among Europe's largest, yet monitoring this vast maritime expanse for unauthorized vessels, environmental threats, and infrastructure protection remains an enormous challenge with current surveillance technologies.

Professor Marco Ruffini and Dr. John Kennedy from Trinity College Dublin have developed Sea-Scan, a revolutionary system that transforms existing undersea telecommunications cables into comprehensive acoustic monitoring networks. Using distributed acoustic sensing and AI, their technology can detect and classify vessels across hundreds of kilometers of ocean using just one land-based device.

THINGS WE SPOKE ABOUT

● Transforming existing fiber optic cables into underwater sensor networks
● AI detection of "dark vessels" that disable identification beacons
● Unique acoustic signatures for different vessel classifications
● Marine ecosystem monitoring and shipping noise impact assessment
● Real-time infrastructure protection from accidental damage
● Cost-effective surveillance across Ireland's vast territorial waters


GUEST DETAILS

Professor Marco Ruffini is Associate Professor and Fellow of Trinity College Dublin and Principal Investigator of both the CONNECT Telecommunications Research Centre and the IPIC Photonics Integration Centre. He specializes in optical network architecture at the Department of Computer Science and Statistics, focusing on converged metro/access network architecture, long-reach passive optical networks, and inter-data center connectivity. His expertise spans over two decades in optical communications and fiber sensing technologies.

Dr. John Kennedy is Associate Professor in Vibrations, Acoustics and Dynamics at Trinity College Dublin. His current research centers on the use of advanced additive manufacturing techniques to design and fabricate novel acoustic metamaterials for environmental noise control. His research focuses on acoustics, noise control, aeroacoustics, additive manufacturing, and metamaterials, making him uniquely positioned to interpret underwater acoustic signals.

MORE INFORMATION

You can learn more about the Sea-Scan project and other cutting-edge research at Trinity College Dublin's ADAPT Centre here: www.adaptcentre.ie/

Adapt Radio is produced by DustPod.io for the ADAPT Centre

QUOTES

Having this many sensors in this environment helps us monitor activity that's happening in our waters. - John Kennedy

Just by placing one device at one end of the fiber, I had a microphone every meter, so I can get a different sound every meter for all the 100 kilometers just with one device at one end. - Marco Ruffini

This technology gives you a kind of unparalleled resolution of sensors underwater. It allows you to investigate questions that you know are very important for various different reasons. - John Kennedy

You won't believe how often fiber gets cut due to digging... you could detect the noise of the vehicle that's trying to dig, and you could contact them, maybe 10 to 15 minutes in advance. - Marco Ruffini

One of the exciting things about working in acoustics is that it sort of touches all aspects of human activity and also our daily lives." - John Kennedy


KEYWORDS

#distributedacousticsensing #marinesurveillance #fiberoptics #underwateracoustics #AImonitoring

Ver todos los episodios