QUELL

Envisioning Labs

QUELL

Protecting marine life through quiet, non-invasive high-precision depth finder and water column assessment technology

Vancouver, BC, Canada

CAN

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

Anthropogenic noise pollution is rapidly degrading marine ecosystems, creating profound impacts on marine life and coastal communities. Sonar emissions from ships interfere with cetaceans, disrupting their ability to communicate, navigate, hunt, and mate. At the top of the food chain, whales are critical to the health of all marine biodiversity and ocean carbon drawdown; yet, 7 out of the 13 great whale species are endangered or vulnerable. At the same time, climate change is accelerating the rate of ocean temperature rise, acidification, and habitat destruction in coastal areas where humans heavily rely on ocean resources. According to the UN, over 3 billion people depend on marine resources for their livelihoods, making these changes not only a biodiversity crisis but an economic and social one as well. The hydrography industry faces a gap in nearshore bathymetry, where sonar isn’t always the most cost-effective solution. Nearshore human and boating activities, built structures and significant changes in sound propagation cause sonar interference. Globally, the UN supports initiatives like Seabed 2030, which aims to map the seafloor to study ecosystems, climate, and resource management. However, current research tools are inadequate, especially in nearshore areas, where climate change is accelerating the need for comprehensive data.

Our technology is a ship-mounted lidar scanner used to measure a range of conditions in the underwater environment, and in particular the depth of the seafloor. It consists of a miniaturized blue/green pulsed laser (pointing downward) coupled with a linear array of detectors that are orthogonal to the direction of motion of the boat, allowing us to sweep the seafloor, currently at a width of four pixels but eventually we plan on 16 and then 64 (creating an 8 meter swath). The detectors are designed to collect what is called the full waveform return, meaning information on the entire water column as well as the depth of the seafloor itself, including, potentially, information on fish and particulate matter suspended in the water. Full waveform signal analysis is currently state-of-the-art in laser-based systems. Our technology is designed to achieve resolutions in depth of ten to fifteen centimeters and spatial resolutions of commensurate size also. This is a capability significantly higher than that offered by other systems today, whether these be sonar or airborne lidar. Furthermore, our system operates in nearshore environments that pose problems for sonar.

QUELL serves first and foremost marine life. Anthropogenic noise pollution interrupts the behaviour of whales and other cetaceans, including communication, navigation, feeding, and mating, which can lead to increased stress, habitat displacement, illness and strandings, affecting marine organisms’ health through the food chain. By helping reduce noise pollution in the marine environment, we can protect and improve underwater ocean biodiversity. Moreover, we aim to support coastal communities by improving the real-time, high-resolution data of the ocean landscape. With accuracy near to the centimetre, QUELL is designed to provide highly accurate spatial coverage of the seafloor and watercolumn analysis, helping hydrographers, researchers, and climate scientists to improve their understanding of nearshore coastal environments. In hydrography, existing data capture and validation solutions can result in significant data gaps, which translate into real-life safety limitations, whether its marking natural hazards accurately or selecting the precise location for marine development activities. By equipping hydrographers, conservationists and regulators with actionable data insights, QUELL empowers data-driven decision making in the marine environment to help mitigate human impact and support whale and cetacean health. Healthier marine environments will support whale populations, sustain marine ecosystems, and preserve the cultural and economic well-being of coastal communities.