PAMGUARD Plug-in Modules

NMEA data collection

Serial port or server

Strings of NMEA data

Any

Acquire NMEA data for use by other modules.

Core

GPS Processing

NMEA data

GPS locations

0-1

Identified GPS data and unpacks NMEA strings

Core

AIS Processing

NMEA data

Ship locations

0-1

Unpacks AIS data

Core

Airgun display

GPS or AIS Data

Graphic overlay for map

Any

Displays the locations of airguns and mitigation zones referenced to either the PAMGUARD vessel or some other vessel broadcasting Its position over AIS.

Core

Map

GPS and all detectors

Map graphics panel
map comments

Any

Displays vessel location and data from other modules.

Core

ODBC database

Multiple modules

Database

0-1

Stores data from multiple modules in a Microsoft Access or MySQL database

Core

User Input

User comments

0-1

Time stamps and stores any comment entered by the user

Core

Depth Readout

Analogue depth sensors

Depth data

0-1

Depth data are displayed on screen, used in real time to update hydrophone locations and sent to the database.

Core

Aural Listening Form

Things heard by the operator

Any

Time stamps and stores lists of things heard by an operator monitoring hydrophones aurally.

Core

User Display Panel

Displays

Any

Provides a container for spectrogram and radar like displays. Data from detectors can be overlaid on top of these displays.

Core

Sound Acquisition

Sound cards, audio files and other acquisition devices.

Packed chunks of raw audio data

Any

Controls a data acquisition device and passes it's data on to other modules

Core

Sound Output

Audio data

Output to the system sound card

Any

Outputs audio data through a sound card so it can be listened to on headphones

Core

FFT (Spectrogram) Engine

Audio data

FFT Data

Any

Computes spectrograms (Fourier transforms of multiple overlapping chunks of audio data).

Core

IIRF Filters

Audio data

Audio data

Any

Filters audio data using either Butterworth of Chebyshev filter.

Core

Decimator

Audio data

Audio data

Any

Filters and reduces the sample data of audio data

Core

Sound Recorder

Audio data

Wav of Aif files

Any

Writes audio data to file. Recording may be initiated by the operator or triggered by a detector or make regular recordings according to some set cycle.

Core

Signal Amplifier

Audio data

Audio data

Any

Amplifies audio data by some scaling factor (can invert data if required)

Core

Patch Panel

Audio data

Audio data

Any

Mixes data between multiple channels, changes channel ordering, etc.

Beta

Spectrogram smoothing kernel

FFT Data

FFT Data

Any

Smoothes a spectrogram by convolving it with a Gaussian smoothing kernel.

Core

Seismic Veto

FFT and raw data

FFT and raw data

Any

Detects very loud sounds using an in band energy detector and replaces these with randomly generated coloured noise based on recent measurements of the local noise field.

Core

Click Detector

Audio Data

Detected Clicks

Any

Searches for transient sounds, attempts to assign species, measure bearings to source, group into click trains, etc.

Core

Whistle Detector

FFT Data

Detected Whistles

Any

Searches for tonal noises. Measures bearings and locations of source.

Core

Whistle and Moan Detector

FFT Data

Whistle and Moan Contours

Any

Searches for tonal noises. Measures bearings and locations of source. Replaces older Whistle Detector

Beta

Whistle Classifier

Detected Whistles

Species probabilities

Any

Analyses multiple whistle contours and uses a discriminant analysis function to assign to species.

Beta

Ishmael Energy Sum

FFT Data

Detected sounds

Any

Detects sounds with energy in a specific frequency band

Core

Ishmael Spectrogram Correlation

FFT Data

Detected sounds

Any

Detects sounds matching a user defined 'shape' on a spectrogram

Core

Ishmael Matched Filtering

Audio Data

Detected Sounds

Any

Detects sounds using a user defined matched filter.

Core

Ishmael Locator

FFT Data / User input

Located sounds

Any

Locates sounds extracted either from areas marked out on a spectrogram display or using output from a detector

Core

Likelihood Detector

Audio Data

Detected Sounds

Any

An implementation of a likelihood ratio test. Suitable for detecting both short duration Odontocete clicks (Sperm, Beaked, etc.) and moderate duration Mysticete calls (Humpback, Bowhead, etc.)

Core

3D Locator

Detected Clicks

Located sounds

Any

Locates sounds detected by the click detector using surface echo's to obtain slant angles and generate a 3-D location.

Core

Angle Measurement

Fluxgate World shaft encoder

Shaft angles

Any

Reads angles from a Fluxgate World shaft angle encode. (Can be used to read angle of binocular stands).

Beta

Video Range

Captured video images

Ranges to Sightings

Any

Calculates ranges based on angles measured from video, observer height and earth radius.

Core

Fixed Landmarks

Manual input

Fixed points on map

Any

Place object symbols on the PAMGUARD map.

Beta