Development of Acoustic Telemetry and Autonomous Sensing Technologies to Support the Design and Operations of Environmentally Friendly Renewable Energy Systems

To design and operate renewable energy systems such as wind, solar, hydropower, and ocean power, for minimum ecological impact and maximum power generation, it is critical to understand the interactions between the energy systems and the aquatic/terrestrial animals.  We have developed several acoustic telemetry and autonomous sensing technologies to study the nature of the physical conditions to which animals are exposed when they encounter the energy systems and to identify the locations within the structures and operations where conditions are severe enough to injure or kill them. One example is an acoustic transmitter recently developed to study juvenile American Shad. It weighs 0.05 g, only ¼ that of commercially available technologies. Another example is the Lab-on-a-Fish, the world’s first biotelemetry transmitter that combines edge computing with real-time wireless sensing of in vivo physiology (electrocardiogram and electromyogram), behavior (activity level and tail beat frequency), ambient environment (temperature, pressure, and magnetic field), and location. It has a miniaturized form (mass: 2.4 g; dimensions: 5.5 mm × 6.5 mm × 37 mm) for studying small animals. Several of the technologies have been widely adopted by researchers nationally and internationally and have found commercial success. These efforts are part of my research vision to develop next-generation sensors that not only have high system performance but also are lightweight, small, and soft. These systems can be applied in all types of structures and could use humans or animals as sensing platforms to allow in situ and real-time detection and diagnosis of environmental conditions and risks, and human activities.