SBIR-STTR Award

Field Data Services (FDS) proposes a technical feasibility study of newly available solid state LiDAR sensor chips for detecting migrating anadromous fish in small spawning streams. The LiDAR chip, first introduced in October 2020, uses an invisible infrared laser to measure time-of-flight distances to nearby objects with millimeter accuracy. This tiny computer chip is breakthrough technology that could enable low-cost detection of salmonids as they move over shallow riffles in small and currently unmonitored spawning streams. FDS will build an automated test system for acquiring statistically valid data that characterizes the LiDAR’s ability to detect salmonids as they move across a controlled flow tank. The experiments will be designed to define the range of streamflow, depth, weather, lighting and moving target characteristics that can be reliably detected by an array of LiDAR chips. These tests will determine the commercial feasibility of a small, portable and easily-deployed device that can be placed above shallow streams for counting migrating salmonids. The LiDAR sensor chips will be incorporated into an existing field-proven digital platform that includes an AI-enabled smart camera and long-distance wireless link. Such a device would enable small organizations and citizen scientists to fill data gaps for numerous salmonid spawning streams.

Maintaining healthy populations of salmon and trout (salmonids) has significant biological, cultural, and economic benefits. Significant data gaps exist for sources of mortality in juvenile and adult salmonids in small streams. These gaps can create discrepancies between main stem escapement counts and estimates of population health. Field Data Services, LLC is developing novel camera trap technology that leverages newly available solid state LiDAR sensor chips for detecting anadromous fish in small streams. This LiDAR chip, introduced in October 2020, uses an infrared laser to measure distances to objects with millimeter accuracy. This breakthrough technology could enable low-cost detection of adult salmonids as they move over shallow riffles, or juveniles underwater. LiDAR chips have been incorporated into an existing field-proven digital platform that includes an AI-enabled smart camera and long-distance wireless link. Our devices are small (2 lbs), portable, and able to be installed without stream channel alterations. This enables deployments across numerous remote and unmonitored streams, or alongside existing survey methods. Following the extensive Phase I laboratory testing, Phase II will add field deployment and data collection. On-board AI will interpret detections and produce tabular data ready for analysis of population health, or to validate restoration of barriers and culverts.