Sonar for Environmental Monitoring : Understanding the Functionality of Active Acoustics as a Method for Monitoring Marine Renewable Energy Devices

Active acoustics monitoring (AAM) systems can play an important role in the inspection and survey of the subsea environment around marine renewable energy devices, especially in murky and deep waters. Alternative methods comprising a multifunctional platform based on multibeam (MBS) and Dualbeam (DBS) sonar systems are being developed. The aim is to monitor the environmental impacts during installation, operation and maintenance of wave energy converters, marine current turbines, subsea substations and other offshore renewable energy technologies. At this initial phase, one of the specific objective is to understand the functionality of AAM systems. Field tests were done using the MBS and DBS systems. A platform is being tested at the Lysekil Wave Power Project test site and at the Söderfors Marine Current Project test site. Preliminary results show that the MBS produces better acoustic images when the platform is steady, and when in slow-moving waters such as in harbours and shallow rivers. At near field, the MBS is able to track targets < 20 cm such as fish swimming close to hard structures. The DBS can detect isolated targets at far field. Target dimensions estimated using the sonar match the real dimensions of the same´targets.