Platform for Long-lasting Observation of Marine Ecosystems
Ref. PLEC2021-007525/AEI/10.13039/501100011033
About Plome
What is PLOME project?
PLOME proposes a spatially adaptive, non-invasive, modular platform of independent and wirelessly connected benthic stations and AUVs to intelligently observe, monitor and map marine ecosystems over long-lasting periods with real-time supervision. The project brings together elements that can be effectively developed with current technology, to provide a solution to the problem of marine observation that is technologically and economically realistic in the following decade.
The platform as a whole will acquire biological, geochemical and oceanographic data from a diverse set of sensors, including acoustic and optic cameras. Some information will be processed in real-time, with advanced data analysis and deep learning techniques. Metadata information will be spread over the platform and transmitted in real-time to the surface where a USV connects the platform to the shore using aerial communications. Unattended operation will also be possible with innovative pop-up buoys that will be recorded with relevant data and will be freely released to the surface to send the information. Complex ecological indicators will be computed from the collected data, by applying advanced computer vision techniques to classify, count and size individuals in video images and to generate multimodal maps of the seabed. These indicators will be processed in an automated data treatment pipeline to enable a multiparametric analysis and derive cause-effect relationships between biological variables and the habitat conditioning.