News and Events

May 2010

Beta release version 1.9.01

Major changes related to rationalizing channel numbering.

Also simpler installation for Macs via DMG image and new tar.gz file for Linux.

January 2010

Beta release version 1.8.00

The new beta release runs significantly faster than previous versions and has enabled sucessful bench tests of a porpoise detection system analysing four channels of data sampled at 500kHz per channel.

Other new features include left/right ambiguity resolution for the click and whistle detectors.

October 2009

New Core and Beta releases version 1.6.00

The new core release includes all stable features of previous Beta releases including support for National Instruments data acquisition cards, depth sensor readout and video range tracking. Click here for a full list of modules

August 2009

National Instruments support

Beta release 1.5.01 includes support for data acquisition from one or multiple National Instruments data acquisition devices. See the online help for more information

February 2009

Core release 1.3.00

Core release 1.3.00 contains updated help files and a number of bug fixes from the November 2008 field trial as well as new detector modules and faster graphics.

Beta Release 1.3.02

Beta release 1.3.02 contains all the features of Core release 1.3.00 as well as the following new modules:

• Hydrophone Depth Readout
• Seismic Veto Module
• angle Measurement (for reading shaft angles of binocular stands)
• Video Range tracking module
• Fixed Landmarks modules (displays fixed points on the map)

November 2008

Industry Field Trial

PAMGUARD was tested during a wide azimuth seismic survey in the Gulf of Mexico.

October 2008

Release 1.1.01

New Core and Beta releases are available for download on the sourceforge web site.

These releases are now in the form of a Windows type installer and exe file making it much easier for the average user to setup and configure PAMGUARD on their machine

August 2008

PAMGUARD moves to St Andrews

The PAMGUARD project is now being managed from the Sea Mammal Research Unit at the University of St Andrews. The SMRU team includes Doug Gillespie, a developer of PAM systems since the late 1990’s and Clint Blight, expert in data visualisations systems.

April 2008

USB GPS on PAMGUARD

In the PAMGUARD, you can use USB GPS to collect NMEA data. After you connect your usb GPS into you computer and installed the driver, the usb port which connected the GPS is simulated to a serial port in you system, which the pamguard system can find it automaticly. When you running the pamguard you select Serial GPS and select the serial port which is simulated from the usb port. But the GPS will make you mouse go crazy, the fellowing link gives you an introduction about how to fix this problem:

March 2008

ASIO channel selection on PAMGUARD

In the PAMGUARD, you can select Multiple Channels for ASIO Sound Card.

Februry 2008

PAMGUARD On Microsoft Vista Professional

PAMGUARD is tested on Microsoft Vista.

August 2007

PAMGUARD new release

PAMGUARD 0.5b is released on 31st August.

August 2007

PAMGUARD/CODA sea trials

The CODA (Cetacean Offshore Distribution and Abundance) July 2007 survey has provided a unique opportunity for testing Pamguard software. High quality visual observation data were collected using dedicated and experienced sightings teams equipped with the latest video ranging technology to accurately localise animals at the surface. Pamguard has been tested in realistic at-sea situations for de-bugging and useability assessment and analysis of the collected acoustic and visual data will provide information on the detection efficiency and localisation accuracy of PAMGUARD.

February 2007

PAMGUARD to convene Conference and Workshops on Passive Acoustic Monitoring

PAMGUARD is convening this conference on passive acoustics for monitoring marine mammals at sea and will be introducing, demonstrating and providing hands on experience with PAMGUARD. Dates are 28th and 29th March 2007 at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh UK. A one day conference on 28th will be followed by a day of focused workshops and hands on training sessions. To find out more, click on the Conference2007 menu item.

December 2006

Pamguard Release :0.4 beta 29/12/06

The PamGuard Team are pleased to anounce the latest release of the PamGuard application. Significant enhancements include:

A model manager and profiler, whereby users can add/remove modules as required.

Modules now include configurable click and whistle detectors and Ishmael-type detectors and localisers.

Information from above modules can be displayed on configurable user displays which support real time scrolling spectrograms and radar displays.

Detection and localisation information can be optionally displayed on the map display.

Map enhancements include improved scrolling whereby the user can click and drag to pan the area.

PamGuard can now interface with MySQL database servers and users can easily select which information is logged. (This replaces the previous “flat-file” logging feature)

A simulation module allows virtual vocalising animals to be placed on the map to assist in training and development.

Extensive online user help has been added to PamGuard Application

August 2006

Pamguard Release :0.03b 18/08/06

Release :0.03b 18/08/06. - This release is the first version to have been used in a real 'at sea' environment. Two element data acquired through standard PC audio cards, providing sperm whale click detection and dolphin whistle detection. Installation and user guides are now in development and will appear here soon.

August 2006

Delaware II trial

On July 31, 2006 the Pamguard project was part of a research cruise aboard the NOAA vessel Delaware II. The scientific staff also included a visual team of marine mammologists. The 155-foot vessel set out from Woods Hole on a 4-day round trip. During the cruise, experiments were conducted with a multi-element array with pingers deployed on two buoys (with GPS units and depth sensors also attached) in order to test detection and localization algorithms.

Click on the "cruises" menu item for more...

June 2006

RRS Charles Darwin cruise report available

Following the successful Charles Darwin cruise, a report is now available which details the activities undertaken by the PamGuard team.

March/April 2006

PAMGUARD trials onboard research vessel RRS Charles Darwin

Extensive PAMGUARD trials are now underway onboard the National Oceanography Centre's research vessel, Charles Darwin. This cruise runs from March 15th through to mid April and provides a valuable opportunity to test the new software and develop new code in a realistic seismic survey environment.

December 20, 2005

New PAMGUARD Version 0.02a Released.

A significant new version PAMGUARD has just been released on the sourceforge site.
You can now find a map view, configurable spectrograms, GPS functionality, user and event logging, as well as click and whistle detection.
There's a lot of work still to do and more excellent feedback from users would be much appreciated.

November 16-18, 2005

2nd International Workshop on Detection and Localization of Marine Mammals using Passive Acoustics, Monaco

The PAMGUARD team will be submitting a paper for this workshop to highlight the benefits of the PAMGUARD approach, and generate enthusiasm for active membership of the PAMGUARD community.

September 20-24, 2005

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea(ICES) 2005 Annual Science Conference

The 2005 Annual Science Conference will be held in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK. PAMGUARD are publishing a flyer to be included in the delegates' pack, to promote awareness of the project.

August 18, 2005

PAMGUARD web site re-launched

First Pamguard code release available on SourceForge

This release contains a Sperm Whale click detector and localisation module, and results are displayed in a simple text based GUI. Please visit 'Downloads'.

July 13, 2005

"PAMSIM" PAM simulation software released on SourceForge

Version 1 of this Matlab graphical simulator is now available. PAMSIM allows the user to simulate received vocalisations for a configurable towed hydrophone array, where the recording vessel/source course can be set. The output is stereo audio which allows localisation algorithms to be bench tested.