WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:03.280 --> 00:00:03.980 - Hello! 00:00:04.340 --> 00:00:08.480 My name is Hannah McDonald, and I work for the National Marine Sanctuary foundation 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.860 in support of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. 00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:15.380 We are live right now from Alpena, Michigan. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:21.180 Surrounding me we have the wonderful Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 00:00:21.860 --> 00:00:27.060 We are here today in partnership with a telepresence grant. 00:00:27.400 --> 00:00:32.180 Now this grant was awarded by NOAA to three institutions: 00:00:32.420 --> 00:00:39.700 the Global Foundation for Ocean Exploration, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Ocean Exploration Trust. 00:00:40.160 --> 00:00:46.480 Now this grant is given out to researchers who are doing research in sanctuaries. 00:00:46.940 --> 00:00:51.200 Now this is deep-sea exploration and Great Lakes mapping. 00:00:51.580 --> 00:00:53.380 Great Lakes behind us here. 00:00:53.800 --> 00:00:56.660 So to give you a little bit more of a sense of place, 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:04.140 We have Thunder Bay right off of the shore of Alpena, Michigan. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:12.660 So as you're seeing on screen right now, this is the city's marina and pier. 00:01:13.380 --> 00:01:18.480 In the summertime this place will be filled with boats, ... 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:25.980 And as we pan to back to the open water, 00:01:26.180 --> 00:01:33.400 You'll see a freighter and this little yellow guy, you'll learn about more in a minute. 00:01:33.860 --> 00:01:38.360 That's the ASV BEN, a part of the research project we have going on now. 00:01:39.520 --> 00:01:44.860 ASV BEN is currently going over boneyard shipwrecks. 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:50.360 Now these shipwrecks are shipwrecks that are also visited almost every day in the summer 00:01:50.360 --> 00:01:53.420 by Alpena Shipwreck Tour's glass-bottom boat. 00:01:53.800 --> 00:01:57.140 And so this is a really great way for you to get into your sanctuary 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:00.580 and see shipwrecks without having to get in the water. 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:05.900 To provide you a little bit more information on the expedition 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:09.500 that we have going on here at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 00:02:09.500 --> 00:02:13.340 I'm going to welcome Stephanie Gandulla, who is the research coordinator 00:02:13.340 --> 00:02:19.420 who can tell us a little bit more about why we're here, who we're with, and what's going on out in Thunder Bay. 00:02:19.620 --> 00:02:20.680 - In windy Thunder Bay! 00:02:20.680 --> 00:02:21.180 - Windy! 00:02:21.180 --> 00:02:23.220 - As you can tell it's quite windy here today. 00:02:23.700 --> 00:02:25.340 They don't call it Thunder Bay for nothing. 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:28.360 It's definitely known for terrible storms and terrible wind, 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:33.480 but it's not keeping BEN, which stands for Bathymetric Explorer and Navigator, 00:02:33.480 --> 00:02:36.280 the ASV out there, it's not keeping BEN at the dock. 00:02:36.380 --> 00:02:40.460 And we're very glad for that because our goal here with this expedition is to 00:02:40.460 --> 00:02:44.180 map sanctuary bottom-land, so map the lake bottom. 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:47.880 Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary is 4,300 square miles, 00:02:47.880 --> 00:02:51.940 yet we've only mapped less than 20 percent of that, so we have a lot of work to do. 00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:56.820 And we get that work done by partnering with people and groups like the Ocean Exploration Trust. 00:02:56.820 --> 00:03:02.720 So, we're thrilled to have them here in Thunder Bay, starting launching their expedition season 00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:04.900 here in the Great Lakes in freshwater. 00:03:05.040 --> 00:03:08.420 The rest of their season they explore the world's ocean, which is amazing. 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:14.280 So we have the best in ocean explorers right here in the Great Lakes working off the shores of Alpena. 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:17.240 And like Hannah said, we're in the boneyard here. 00:03:17.240 --> 00:03:20.880 This area is known for many many shipwrecks a lot of abandonments, 00:03:21.040 --> 00:03:25.880 and when you take that glass-bottom boat, you can literally see these wrecks without getting wet. 00:03:26.100 --> 00:03:27.820 - Yeah, it's great! 00:03:28.140 --> 00:03:31.900 And so Ben right now is probably going over some of them 00:03:31.900 --> 00:03:38.160 collecting some great bathymetric maps of these shipwrecks that we see daily. 00:03:38.920 --> 00:03:39.620 - That's right, 00:03:39.620 --> 00:03:43.220 and you know just to remember it's not just about the shipwrecks. 00:03:43.220 --> 00:03:45.800 Of course these shipwrecks have fascinating stories, 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:52.960 and they really connect everyday people to the lives of people in history that don't often make it in the history books. 00:03:53.140 --> 00:03:58.080 But there's los of other amazing scientific information out there that we're looking to gather. 00:03:58.720 --> 00:04:05.120 Information about what the habitat is like for fish and what the habitat might be like for invasive species. 00:04:05.660 --> 00:04:11.400 What the geology is like, so lots of interested parties in the mapping data that we're collecting out there. 00:04:11.400 --> 00:04:16.960 - Right, and Thunder Bay is known for really interesting geologic features, the submerged sinkholes. 00:04:16.960 --> 00:04:18.300 - That's right, that's right. 00:04:18.300 --> 00:04:20.160 The sinkholes are fascinating. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:24.460 People come, biologists, geologists come from all over the world to study these sinkholes. 00:04:24.460 --> 00:04:26.400 We have one just north of Middle Island. 00:04:26.400 --> 00:04:32.560 So outside of Thunder Bay, out in the open lake there is the Middle Island sinkhole about 75 feet deep. 00:04:32.640 --> 00:04:36.940 And microbial mats thrive at the bottom of this sinkhole. 00:04:37.220 --> 00:04:43.860 And they are, biologists believe that these microbial mats, these critters if you will, 00:04:44.020 --> 00:04:49.100 are very similar to the first organisms that oxygenated the planet. 00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:53.140 So, really important studies going on here at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 00:04:53.140 --> 00:04:55.260 - Gives us a great look at the past, too. 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:55.800 - For sure. 00:04:55.980 --> 00:04:59.880 - Alright, so what do you say we head to the control van? 00:04:59.880 --> 00:05:01.560 - I think it's a great idea. 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:03.540 - Let's head on down there. 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:07.400 Wave to BEN, BEN's out there still, still mapping. 00:05:07.760 --> 00:05:08.520 - Bye BEN! 00:05:09.200 --> 00:05:11.860 We'll take you to BEN's data in just a minute. 00:05:13.020 --> 00:05:20.540 - So what's super cool about this project in particular is that as you can see, it's autonomous. 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.060 ASV stands for autonomous surface vessel. 00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:25.920 No humans are out there on BEN, 00:05:26.260 --> 00:05:28.720 but they are in this van up here. 00:05:31.140 --> 00:05:32.380 - Yeah, that's great. 00:05:33.860 --> 00:05:40.880 And then to give you a little bit of a size comparison, he's 13 feet long, 00:05:41.220 --> 00:05:45.820 and he fits inside of this control van as well. 00:05:45.820 --> 00:05:47.380 - Drove it all the way out from New Hampshire. 00:05:47.380 --> 00:05:47.880 - Right. 00:05:47.880 --> 00:05:52.740 - University of New Hampshire, awesome oceanographic department there 00:05:52.760 --> 00:05:56.040 that is lending their amazing technology to this project. 00:06:02.280 --> 00:06:04.280 - Come on, let's see who's in the van! 00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:13.000 - Alright, so before we head in the van there's one other person I'd like to introduce you to. 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.380 And that is the moderator, Samantha. 00:06:16.360 --> 00:06:19.620 She will be moderating the facebook comments today. 00:06:19.620 --> 00:06:25.740 So, in the comments section, if you type any question that you're really interested in asking this team, 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:28.900 She will do her best to make sure that get's answered. 00:06:29.280 --> 00:06:33.800 We'll also try to populate the comment feed with any resources that we're mentioning as well. 00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:38.740 So, if you're interested in additional information that we're not able to show or share right now, 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:41.000 it'll be located in the comments below. 00:06:41.540 --> 00:06:43.040 Alright, what do you say? 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:44.040 - Let's see who's inside. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:50.500 - Hey, who's that knocking on my door? 00:06:50.500 --> 00:06:51.580 (laughs) 00:06:51.580 --> 00:06:52.460 Come on in! 00:06:52.460 --> 00:06:56.680 - If it isn't the expedition lead himself, Lindsay Gee. 00:06:57.520 --> 00:07:04.260 - Hi, Lindsay Gee, the expedition lead for this expedition and from the Ocean Exploration Trust. 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:08.240 We're just, this is actually the first expedition of the year for OET, 00:07:08.780 --> 00:07:13.580 but there is another expedition that just started today, is the first for Nautilus this year. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:17.460 This is Nautilus Live if anybody wants to follow that one as well. 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:19.900 It's on Nautilus life.org. 00:07:19.900 --> 00:07:26.880 And they're heading out to Osbourne Bank in the Channel Islands with Dr. Ballard today. 00:07:26.880 --> 00:07:32.400 And they're diving, you'll be able to see the ROV down on Osborne Bank over the next couple of days. 00:07:33.100 --> 00:07:35.780 This expedition, I guess you've talked about it outside, 00:07:36.200 --> 00:07:42.140 for OET it's kind of a return to when Dr. Ballard was up here when he had the Institute for Exploration. 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:45.340 And he was up here early 2000, 2001, 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:49.220 and they had the ROV inside scan mapped a number of areas, 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:54.220 found some wrecks and was really the beginnings of some of the work done. 00:07:54.240 --> 00:07:57.160 So, we're kind of going full circle and starting again up here which is really exciting. 00:07:57.380 --> 00:07:59.359 - It's great to have you return as well. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:02.780 - Yeah, we're happy to be here and collaborate with everybody else around here. 00:08:02.780 --> 00:08:07.680 So with obviously working with the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. 00:08:08.460 --> 00:08:12.820 The team we're gonna meet here from the Center for Coastal Ocean Mapping at UNH. 00:08:13.780 --> 00:08:21.580 Co-survey, working for the in-cost folks from NOAA, so it's a it's a really exciting expedition for us 00:08:21.580 --> 00:08:24.020 and to be able to collaborate with so many people. 00:08:24.260 --> 00:08:25.760 - Awesome! Thank you! 00:08:25.760 --> 00:08:27.540 So, do you want me introduce you to Val and the team. 00:08:27.540 --> 00:08:29.240 - Yeah, that would be great, yeah. 00:08:29.240 --> 00:08:35.340 So, Val Schmidt from the CCOM, Center for Coastal Ocean Mapping division New Hampshire. 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:37.120 He's the ASV team lead, 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:40.600 and he'll take you through what they're doing here with ASV BEN. 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:43.640 - Alright, my name is Val Schmitt. 00:08:43.640 --> 00:08:46.380 I'm at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping. 00:08:46.380 --> 00:08:50.300 And if you look there in the camera out in the distance you can see BEN out there 00:08:50.300 --> 00:08:53.500 plowing through the water and mapping the seafloor. 00:08:53.500 --> 00:09:02.380 So BEN is four meter long vehicle, weighs about a ton, has an endurance of about 16 hours. 00:09:02.760 --> 00:09:05.680 It's pushed along with the diesel engine and a jet drive in the back, 00:09:05.680 --> 00:09:09.860 and it has a super fancy navigation system so that we can know exactly where the boat is all the time. 00:09:10.180 --> 00:09:14.500 And another fancy sonar system on the bottom for mapping the ocean floor. 00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:16.740 And Coral will tell you all about that. 00:09:17.660 --> 00:09:21.180 Andy is sitting in front he's a research engineer at our lab. 00:09:21.180 --> 00:09:23.900 He's sitting in front of our main control station for BEN. 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:29.540 You can see the the red bend on the map up there are the radar returns from the boat, 00:09:29.780 --> 00:09:34.780 and if he scrolls out a little bit you can see the city of Alpena on the on the chart there. 00:09:35.100 --> 00:09:39.120 and BEN going back and forth is the green dot there in the middle. 00:09:39.420 --> 00:09:41.300 We have a forward-looking camera on the boat 00:09:41.300 --> 00:09:44.320 and a whole slew of data streams that come in that tell us things about 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:47.420 the health of the boat, what the fuel levels are on the boat, 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:50.320 the temperature is the rpm of the engine, all those kinds of things. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:56.240 And then over here, Roland Arsenal is also a research engineer in our lab, 00:09:56.320 --> 00:10:02.280 is sitting in front of our our own autonomous mission planner, the CCOM autonomous mission planner. 00:10:02.380 --> 00:10:06.860 This is a lot of hard work on Roland's part to put all this together, 00:10:06.860 --> 00:10:12.740 to plan out missions for our robotic boat that are specifically tailored to mapping the ocean floor. 00:10:13.160 --> 00:10:16.960 And then on the upper left over here we have a camera display. 00:10:18.220 --> 00:10:22.800 These are three cameras that are mounted on the boat, the one looking forward one looking to starboard and another one to port. 00:10:22.800 --> 00:10:25.320 We have two AFT cameras, two that we have off at the moment. 00:10:28.820 --> 00:10:31.100 Port and starboard aren't ok, it is a boat. 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:32.880 (laughs) 00:10:32.880 --> 00:10:35.440 - Not everyone knows what port and starboard is. 00:10:36.400 --> 00:10:39.420 And then, we have another display here that Coral's sitting in front of, 00:10:39.420 --> 00:10:41.460 and that's the sonar display. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.900 So our primary mission is seafloor mapping, 00:10:43.900 --> 00:10:49.340 whether it's for habitat, or natural resources kinds of things, or underwater archaeology, 00:10:49.640 --> 00:10:57.900 or seafloor geology, or hydrography, making maps of the seafloor for safety of navigation for nautical charts. 00:10:58.260 --> 00:11:00.840 So, we put all of this together, 00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:02.940 and BEN goes out and does all the hard work, 00:11:02.940 --> 00:11:07.320 and we sit here and eat tea and drink cookies, or eat cookies and drink tea. 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:15.740 And, and, and when the weather is foul out there, we can stay in here and be nice and dry and and watch all of this happen. 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:17.480 But it takes a lot of work to get here, 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:21.240 and so we've been like really thankful that we've had all the support, support 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:26.780 from the National Marine Sanctuary and everyone to make it all happen, it's been terrific. 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:30.160 - And that's a great time, we have a question from someone watching on Facebook 00:11:30.160 --> 00:11:35.220 asking: Why is it important to map sanctuary waters and who manages all the data once we receive it? 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:36.700 That's a good question. 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:39.880 Lindsey you want that question, or maybe Stephanie? 00:11:43.560 --> 00:11:44.900 - Hello again, Facebook world! 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:52.780 So, like I said in the beginning we have only mapped less than 20 percent of sanctuary waters here in the Great Lakes. 00:11:53.240 --> 00:11:57.720 And, Lindsay, less than how many, what is left to map of the ocean? 00:11:57.780 --> 00:11:59.600 We still are only a small percentage. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.680 - Over 90 percent still to map in the ocean. 00:12:01.680 --> 00:12:02.220 - Over 90 percent! 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:03.640 - So you're doing well in the lake here. 00:12:03.640 --> 00:12:04.640 - That's right! 00:12:04.640 --> 00:12:06.220 We're ahead of the ocean for sure! 00:12:06.400 --> 00:12:13.600 But there are so many people interested in the data that we can gain from scientifically mapping the Great Lakes 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.040 and really understanding what's at the bottom of the lake. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.940 We have biologists that are interested in the data for the sinkholes that we talked about, 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:21.980 geologists that are interested in it. 00:12:22.180 --> 00:12:27.260 There's over 150 species of fish that use these Great Lakes and live in the Great Lakes. 00:12:27.260 --> 00:12:31.820 So, I could go on and on for hours of all the different data that we collect 00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:34.580 and how we can use it and all the different people that could be interested in it. 00:12:34.900 --> 00:12:38.860 And of course, it's also very important because we want to know where the rest of those shipwrecks are. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:41.280 We know that there are 99 shipwrecks. 00:12:41.280 --> 00:12:43.520 We've identified 99 within sanctuary boundaries. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.580 We expect that there's at least that many more out there to find. 00:12:48.920 --> 00:12:49.420 - Awesome! 00:12:49.420 --> 00:12:53.580 And this is also a good time to mention that we have people tuning in from all across the Great Lakes region. 00:12:53.760 --> 00:12:58.700 Lake Huron, Lake Erie, all over Michigan, as well as internationally, Mexico, Romania. 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:00.860 So let us know in the comments where you're tuning in from. 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:04.380 We love to be able to share this experience in expedition with you all around the world. 00:13:04.740 --> 00:13:10.060 - Great, yeah so I think thank you Val for the great ASV overview. 00:13:10.140 --> 00:13:14.680 Coral would you like to talk to us a little bit about the data that the ASV collects 00:13:14.680 --> 00:13:16.880 and describe that a little bit more. 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:22.940 - Okay, there isn't much to say more than what was already said. 00:13:22.940 --> 00:13:25.020 - I didn't say anything about the sonar. 00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:36.700 - Okay, so the sonar that we have at the bottom of the boat is called a, is a concert system called a 2040 P. 00:13:37.320 --> 00:13:42.720 It sends sounds waves to the bottom of the floor of the sea, 00:13:42.920 --> 00:13:48.900 and we measure the time that it takes the sound wave to travel all the way to the sea floor and back. 00:13:49.140 --> 00:13:54.360 And by knowing what the sound speed is throughout the water column, 00:13:54.560 --> 00:14:00.140 we can calculate what is the distance that that wave traveled 00:14:00.140 --> 00:14:04.640 and that distance corresponds to the depth that we want to measure. 00:14:05.660 --> 00:14:16.820 So here, the color map that we can see here, those are those corresponds to the to the depths we can see here, 00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:19.120 the number here on the depths of meters. 00:14:20.720 --> 00:14:22.740 With every ping that we send, 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:31.300 we actually send like 800 different sounds that reach reach the sea bottom, 00:14:31.300 --> 00:14:35.700 and they, and right now we are really shallow at five meters, 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:43.660 so the beams was and the swath width is about 26 meters. 00:14:44.520 --> 00:14:46.580 And this is what we see here, 00:14:46.580 --> 00:14:52.420 so this is why we have this width because we're sending like so many beams throughout the water column. 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:56.040 The gray thing that we see at the bottom, 00:14:56.120 --> 00:15:03.080 that actually the intensity of the reflection of the sound wave that we that bounces back from the seafloor. 00:15:03.080 --> 00:15:09.640 So, that can tell us what is the type of the seafloor is. 00:15:10.240 --> 00:15:16.880 If it's soft sediment, hard rock bottom, and so on. 00:15:18.920 --> 00:15:19.860 - Thank you! 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:23.220 We had another question come in about ASV BEN 00:15:23.560 --> 00:15:27.320 and the types of instruments that it has onboard for data collection. 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:32.200 Now does it collect any data on wind speed, water temperature, anything like that? 00:15:33.160 --> 00:15:37.640 - There is a water temperature sensor and a speed thru water sensor. 00:15:38.100 --> 00:15:40.520 It does not have a weather sensor, 00:15:40.520 --> 00:15:44.700 but we have one sitting in the box over there that we're gonna put on there one of these days. 00:15:45.160 --> 00:15:46.600 So that's on the list. 00:15:47.400 --> 00:15:53.480 It most of the sensor suite above the water is really geared towards safe navigation. 00:15:53.480 --> 00:15:57.078 So, it's things like the cameras and the radars, there's a LIDAR on board. 00:15:57.320 --> 00:16:02.080 There's a floor camera which measures temperature in the water, 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.220 which could be useful when it's foggy out. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:08.660 There's, what else, what am I missing, anything else KG? 00:16:11.640 --> 00:16:21.640 - We have radar, we have AS system that receives messages from other vessels; 00:16:21.640 --> 00:16:25.540 Where they are, what is their speed, what's their name. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:27.080 - Coral you could talk 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:27.580 - What is their intention. 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:31.640 - You could talk briefly about the "yolo" project that you're working on. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:37.700 - Okay, so I am a PhD student in the Center for Coastal Ocean Mapping, 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:45.820 and my for my research I am working on the sensing and the perception of ASV BEN. 00:16:46.660 --> 00:16:49.560 Right now, Ben can travel and follow path lines, 00:16:49.560 --> 00:16:54.760 but if there is something on its path, like along its way, 00:16:54.760 --> 00:17:00.840 then right now it doesn't have any capability of understand what is going on around it. 00:17:01.420 --> 00:17:05.380 So this is why it requires us, the operators, to supervise it so closely. 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:12.780 And, what I'm aiming to do is provide BEN that kind of situational awareness 00:17:12.780 --> 00:17:14.940 so it will understand what's going on around it. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:20.840 As part of this effort, I am working on doing sensor fusion. 00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:25.300 That is take data from the camera that we have on board. 00:17:26.620 --> 00:17:32.920 We have also a LIDAR system that laser sensor that measures distance to object. 00:17:33.180 --> 00:17:37.480 We also have radar, that you can see the red spot over there, 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:44.260 that also measures distance and range and bearing two objects. 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:49.480 And the, and the data that that comes from the AIS and put it all together. 00:17:51.020 --> 00:17:56.540 One of the things that we wanna know is what exactly those objects are 00:17:56.720 --> 00:18:02.840 because the way that the boat needs to respond and behave is different for different objects. 00:18:02.840 --> 00:18:07.740 So, if you have like green buoy or red buoy, you would maneuver differently. 00:18:08.300 --> 00:18:14.900 If you have a sailboat or a big container ship, you would respond, BEN would have to respond differently as well. 00:18:17.080 --> 00:18:24.100 So for that, I'm using an object detection algorithm 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:30.600 that is based on what is called "yolo," you only look once. 00:18:31.040 --> 00:18:34.000 (laughs) 00:18:36.280 --> 00:18:40.240 It's basically a neural network that that you train on 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:46.780 on a predetermined list of classes or labels. 00:18:48.320 --> 00:18:51.080 And then, and then like once BEN is out there 00:18:51.080 --> 00:18:57.100 and he takes one of those classes, one of those objects that it was trained on it can identify them. 00:18:57.280 --> 00:19:00.460 So, we have something like that running on BEN right now. 00:19:01.040 --> 00:19:05.780 Now, we don't have we don't stream back the detection boxes, 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:08.320 but I do have it like running here. 00:19:08.560 --> 00:19:11.740 So, right now we don't have any objects on its way, 00:19:11.740 --> 00:19:13.160 so we don't see anything, 00:19:13.160 --> 00:19:14.820 but it is running. 00:19:14.820 --> 00:19:18.120 And once we see them, we will see there is a boat 00:19:18.180 --> 00:19:22.340 and the percentage of the probability that it is a boat. 00:19:22.460 --> 00:19:28.640 So, like 90 percent it's a boat, or a person or a car, or something like that. 00:19:29.020 --> 00:19:31.680 - So, did you notice that BEN became more autonomous while you're doing this 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:37.560 because we got to the end of line and you automatically change lines without you having to do anything. 00:19:38.180 --> 00:19:38.680 That's amazing! 00:19:38.700 --> 00:19:41.780 - This is why it's so good to have a team that backs you up, right? 00:19:41.960 --> 00:19:43.280 (laughs) 00:19:43.460 --> 00:19:46.820 - So KG's our new autonomy module that we added here. 00:19:46.820 --> 00:19:47.820 - The backseat driver. 00:19:47.820 --> 00:19:48.660 - The backseat driver. 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:50.140 (laughs) 00:19:50.140 --> 00:19:52.140 - We troll and roll, by the way. 00:19:52.140 --> 00:19:54.140 It's a roll-in program KG. 00:19:54.140 --> 00:19:55.740 (laughs) 00:19:55.800 --> 00:19:57.800 - I was there before his invention. 00:19:57.800 --> 00:20:00.180 - So, I'm the lead software engineer with BEN, 00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:04.940 and I'm gonna talk a bit about some of the nerdy, well we've been talking about nerdy bits for quite a while now, 00:20:04.940 --> 00:20:07.640 but some of the more components. 00:20:08.260 --> 00:20:10.200 So we added a couple of computers in there. 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:14.920 One's a Windows computer that runs the software for the sonar because it only runs under Windows, 00:20:15.260 --> 00:20:19.220 and then we also have a Linux machine that runs the robotic operating system, 00:20:19.220 --> 00:20:22.900 which is ROS, and that's what we were using for our framework. 00:20:23.140 --> 00:20:30.660 So you'll see a lot of the windows here are here to send commands to that ROS system to tell it what to do. 00:20:30.660 --> 00:20:32.800 So I'm not sure if you've noticed, 00:20:32.800 --> 00:20:37.500 we've got this nice little boring lawnmower pattern going over charted wrecks. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.020 Which is basically what we're trying to do, is to map the wrecks. 00:20:42.280 --> 00:20:45.420 So, this is all software that was written at the center, 00:20:45.660 --> 00:20:48.080 and it's something that we're tweaking all the time like 00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:50.720 I was just trying to debug something about 20 minutes ago, 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.640 so the timing of this was good. 00:20:52.740 --> 00:20:55.220 We got it fixed and now everything's running smoothly. 00:20:56.540 --> 00:20:59.100 So if anybody's got any question about the software, 00:20:59.100 --> 00:21:00.620 just shoot them over to me. 00:21:00.860 --> 00:21:04.900 - And I just wrote a function that should send 00:21:07.660 --> 00:21:13.860 point of approach to other vessels that we received, that we received through the AIS system. 00:21:15.060 --> 00:21:18.240 The only thing that is missing is that I need to send it to 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:22.120 that buoy over there so we could actually see it. 00:21:23.940 --> 00:21:26.040 -Yeah, it's a work in progress and it's almost there. 00:21:26.040 --> 00:21:26.800 - [Lindsay] It's 90 percent done. 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:27.960 - [Hannah] Very cool. 00:21:28.480 --> 00:21:31.210 So if you're just now tuning in or have tuned in a few minutes ago, 00:21:31.210 --> 00:21:35.940 we are in the control van at Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary 00:21:36.260 --> 00:21:41.980 with Ocean Exploration Trust, the University of New Hampshire Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, 00:21:41.980 --> 00:21:44.460 and Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary staff. 00:21:44.820 --> 00:21:50.560 So, we are collecting, right now, data live with ASV Ben, 00:21:50.580 --> 00:21:53.840 but I want to see what it looks like processed. 00:21:53.840 --> 00:21:58.300 So I'm going to turn it back over to Lindsay to check out some processed bathymetry data. 00:21:58.300 --> 00:21:58.980 - Well thanks Hannah, 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:03.980 and it's not fully processed, so let me warn you it's like, you'll see some of the problems we have. 00:22:04.020 --> 00:22:06.840 So this is just a preliminary model of some of the data, 00:22:06.840 --> 00:22:09.360 so you'll see, let me just cruise out here. 00:22:09.620 --> 00:22:15.100 And so this is the work we've been doing up in the shipping channels area, north of Rogers City. 00:22:15.100 --> 00:22:16.740 And so there's a bunch of different. 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:21.060 So this was a first line out and back we did some tests on the first day 00:22:21.060 --> 00:22:25.260 to see how far the telemetry system for ASV BEN went out, 00:22:25.260 --> 00:22:29.800 and it was about, from Rogers City out to the end was about 23, 24 kilometers. 00:22:30.120 --> 00:22:34.280 And then we started mapping in out to the east, northeast of Rogers City. 00:22:34.420 --> 00:22:38.679 This area here is what BEN's been mapping and you can see. 00:22:39.220 --> 00:22:44.820 So, straight away you get this picture of the seabed that is a fantastic model of all of the details, 00:22:45.160 --> 00:22:49.720 something that someone's never seen before, never mapped fully in this area. 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:54.400 You also see what happens when on the outer beams of the soft, of the sonar 00:22:54.620 --> 00:22:56.359 as we get some flyers out there, 00:22:56.360 --> 00:22:58.480 and we haven't fully cleaned this this data. 00:22:58.660 --> 00:23:00.680 One of the other areas we've mapped is, 00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:07.660 this is where the storm that's been supporting the ASV has also been mapping. 00:23:07.800 --> 00:23:12.980 And interestingly you see on the seabed a number of really interesting features, 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:16.520 like pockmarks, these these features. 00:23:16.540 --> 00:23:20.360 And so, there was a presentation last night by 00:23:20.760 --> 00:23:21.700 - [Stephanie] Steve Ruberg. 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:23.140 - [Lindsay] Steve Ruberg at the center. 00:23:23.320 --> 00:23:24.480 He was talking about sinkholes. 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:26.020 These just more look like pockmarks 00:23:26.020 --> 00:23:31.020 that may be related to some of the when the glaciers sort of dropped there, dropped down there 00:23:31.100 --> 00:23:32.200 and then the sea level rose. 00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:35.300 So, that's that and then they're all over the place. 00:23:35.300 --> 00:23:39.880 And if we go right out the end, you'll see the features are just throughout the area. 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:44.540 So this is something new that no one's really known the extent of how far they are, 00:23:44.800 --> 00:23:48.000 so it helps the geologists and others that are researching 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:51.200 kind of dive deeper into the formation of the lake. 00:23:51.280 --> 00:23:57.740 And then it's also used by the habitat folk to look at how, where fish aggregate, 00:23:57.840 --> 00:24:03.100 and how that might be available to be used to better manage the the sanctuary as a whole. 00:24:05.060 --> 00:24:06.000 - That's great! 00:24:06.300 --> 00:24:11.980 And I noticed up on the other monitor up here that Nautilus is in transit. 00:24:12.340 --> 00:24:15.264 So what's up with Nautilus for the rest of the season? 00:24:15.264 --> 00:24:17.620 Are you hitting up some more sanctuaries as well? 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:22.340 - We are, and actually this is the first of five sanctuaries this year we're heading up to. 00:24:22.500 --> 00:24:25.340 After this short cruise, they're diving out in the Channel Islands. 00:24:25.340 --> 00:24:30.100 We're then heading up to the Greater Farallones and also Cordell Bank. 00:24:30.560 --> 00:24:35.180 And we'll be doing some mapping there for about a week before, 00:24:35.260 --> 00:24:38.780 and this is in preparation for some ROV dives at the end of this year. 00:24:39.220 --> 00:24:42.300 So, we'll be back in October to dive in the sanctuaries up there. 00:24:42.620 --> 00:24:50.040 And then we're transiting out to the Pacific and down to the National Marine Sanctuary of Samoa. 00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:53.120 And for that one, ASV BEN is coming down again, 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:57.740 so we're taking them all the way out there to do some shallow high-res mapping out there. 00:24:57.840 --> 00:25:05.160 On the way down, we'll also be going out to a number of the US Pacific monuments out in the Pacific as well. 00:25:05.820 --> 00:25:06.880 Yeah, it's a busy year. 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:07.860 - Busy year, yeah. 00:25:07.860 --> 00:25:08.980 Yeah it's fun and lots of sanctuaries, 00:25:08.980 --> 00:25:11.220 so Thunder Bay is the first of five. 00:25:11.340 --> 00:25:12.780 So we're really excited about that. 00:25:13.100 --> 00:25:16.860 - [Hannah] And viewers online will be able to check this out at Nautiluslive.com. 00:25:17.060 --> 00:25:19.360 - They will, and so through the whole season from now on 00:25:20.500 --> 00:25:21.560 - .org, sorry. 00:25:21.560 --> 00:25:22.460 - .org, yeah. 00:25:22.580 --> 00:25:28.660 So from now on on the season, you'll be able to follow us 24 hours a day from on Nautiluslive.org. 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:32.560 And you'll see the updates to the expedition, you can read about the people that are involved 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:34.560 and see what we're doing out there. 00:25:34.700 --> 00:25:35.200 - Great. 00:25:35.540 --> 00:25:37.020 Thank you so much Lindsay! 00:25:37.260 --> 00:25:43.440 We are going to depart from the control van, get one last look at the city's marina with Stephanie 00:25:43.500 --> 00:25:49.000 to touch base on what the next steps for Thunder Bay are with this expedition. 00:25:49.600 --> 00:25:50.100 - Alright. 00:25:50.100 --> 00:25:50.600 - Okay 00:25:50.620 --> 00:25:51.240 - Let's go. 00:25:58.340 --> 00:25:59.320 Alright. 00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:01.600 - It's nice and warm in than the control van, though. 00:26:01.600 --> 00:26:02.100 - I know. 00:26:02.100 --> 00:26:06.140 I know, but it's much prettier out here. 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:07.500 - Very true, very true. 00:26:07.760 --> 00:26:15.480 - So, what's next for the expedition and what is the rest of today looking like? 00:26:15.820 --> 00:26:17.320 - Well, last week was amazing. 00:26:17.420 --> 00:26:19.920 We had calm seas, beautiful sunny weather, 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:21.320 so we got a lot of mapping done. 00:26:21.620 --> 00:26:26.700 And we mobilized from off Presque Isle county down here to Alpena 00:26:26.700 --> 00:26:31.640 because we're gearing up for the Great Lakes Annual MATE ROV competition. 00:26:31.700 --> 00:26:34.120 So, ROV stands for remotely operated vehicle. 00:26:34.120 --> 00:26:38.420 We're getting ready to host the competition with students from all over Michigan 00:26:38.420 --> 00:26:41.220 who have been building their own BEN type vehicles. 00:26:41.860 --> 00:26:45.880 And they'll be demonstrating the missions in our marine technology testing tank. 00:26:45.880 --> 00:26:51.440 So if you can tune in tomorrow, Hannah will be going around talking to the teammates, looking at these ROV's. 00:26:51.700 --> 00:26:54.940 At the same time that BEN is down the river right by the competition, 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:57.120 right where it happens on the sanctuary campus, 00:26:57.120 --> 00:26:59.060 BEN will be surveying the Thunder Bay River. 00:26:59.060 --> 00:27:02.220 So it's gonna be a whole festival of marine technology tomorrow, 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:03.400 really excited about that. 00:27:03.560 --> 00:27:08.080 And then next week, we're going to be continuing our survey up off of Presque Isle county 00:27:08.080 --> 00:27:13.040 off of Rogers City area where many many shipwrecks are left to be found we hope. 00:27:13.420 --> 00:27:17.920 And also, we talked about the biology and geology that's waiting to be discovered 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.320 and understood at the bottom of the lake. 00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:23.840 Later on in the summer, we will be diving deep in some of these sinkholes 00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:29.600 and gathering data for other visiting scientists and continuing to monitor and follow 00:27:29.600 --> 00:27:32.940 what Nautilus is doing throughout the season at the other sanctuary sites. 00:27:33.180 --> 00:27:37.900 - So as a research coordinator you get to partake in mapping expeditions and you also get to dive. 00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:39.500 - I also get to dive, that's right. 00:27:39.500 --> 00:27:41.720 We have a great dive team here in the sanctuary, 00:27:42.020 --> 00:27:46.340 and a lot of our diving probably our biggest dive operation is maintaining 00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.740 the shipwreck mooring buoys on the shipwreck sites, 00:27:49.740 --> 00:27:55.080 so we really encourage folks to visit these sites responsibly and sustainably. 00:27:55.080 --> 00:27:57.080 - That's what sanctuaries are for, right, to let people know. 00:27:57.100 --> 00:27:58.080 - That's exactly what they're for. 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:01.880 - And it makes it much easier to find them if there's a big buoy sitting there. 00:28:02.060 --> 00:28:05.880 And you can tie up to it, and you don't have to drop anchor, potentially damage the wreck. 00:28:06.100 --> 00:28:08.920 So, that's a lot of our work, is putting those mooring buoys out there 00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:11.580 and then also supporting other science that comes in. 00:28:11.580 --> 00:28:13.540 And also documenting these shipwrecks, 00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:19.000 so whatever we find our dive team and partnership dive teams are gonna help 00:28:19.180 --> 00:28:23.460 document these amazing natural and cultural resources at the bottom of Lake Huron. 00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:28.360 - [Samantha] And can you go over again one more time how to follow the expedition and the events tomorrow. 00:28:28.540 --> 00:28:30.860 It was really windy, so I want to make sure everyone can hear it. 00:28:30.860 --> 00:28:31.360 - Ok! 00:28:31.380 --> 00:28:32.560 - I can touch base on that. 00:28:32.560 --> 00:28:37.340 So tomorrow we're going to be going live from Thunder Bay's facebook page. 00:28:37.340 --> 00:28:42.200 So that's going to be NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Facebook page, 00:28:42.260 --> 00:28:46.960 and you'll be able to tune in live to check out a lot of the ROV competition, 00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:52.980 see BEN again up close with the Thunder Bay River this time instead of Lake Huron, 00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:55.440 but all exciting ways to connect live. 00:28:57.540 --> 00:28:58.120 - Great 00:28:58.660 --> 00:29:04.800 Alright, well next steps for this telepresence enabled research grant 00:29:04.820 --> 00:29:10.820 is that you will be able to partake in interactions like this throughout the entire 2019 summer, 00:29:11.020 --> 00:29:14.667 but this week in particular we're going to be coming to you live again 00:29:14.667 --> 00:29:19.860 from the end of an expedition day on Tuesday the 14th. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.380 Anytime between 4:30 and 6:30, 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:27.560 we're going to be wrapping up showing RV storm, the research vessel for Thunder Bay, 00:29:27.560 --> 00:29:29.820 and BEN coming in from Rogers City. 00:29:30.040 --> 00:29:35.000 And then on Thursday as well, we'll be coming into the control van again 00:29:35.080 --> 00:29:39.140 getting a follow-up on how the research has been going throughout the week, 00:29:39.260 --> 00:29:43.180 and that will be at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. 00:29:43.500 --> 00:29:45.960 That will be coming live from this Facebook page again. 00:29:46.280 --> 00:29:49.400 So I hope that you can tune in at either of those times, 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:51.480 and thank you for joining!