Vitech Innovative Research and Consulting

Vitech provides contract research and software system development services to scientific communities and industries in, but not limited to, areas such as underwater and fisheries acoustics, digital signal and image processing, statistical data analysis, and scientific computing. We assist our customers with their research and technology development by providing advice and technical support. We work closely with our customers to develop strategies and plans, and also execute the plans for them if requested. Our mission is to help them accomplish their mission in the most cost-effective way. For more information, please contact Vitech at vitech@apexlink.ca

The following are some projects Vitech has completed or is currently working on:

• Fish Species Composition Estimation of Migrating Salmon

 
The hydro-acoustics program operated by the Pacific Salmon Commission provides estimates of the daily passage of salmon at a site located near Mission B.C. The knowledge of species composition is critical in the estimation of sockeye and pink abundance for the Fraser River Salmon Fisheries Management. This knowledge has historically been derived from test fishing data, and may be subject to significant bias. Recent applications of the high-resolution sonar system (DIDSON) at Mission and upstream locations have provided a unique opportunity to examine this challenging problem.Vitech was funded by the Pacific Salmon Commission to conduct a feasibility study of deriving species composition estimation from DIDSON imaging sonar data. The project has been accomplished and the result shows considerable promise (Email us for a copy of the report).
 
• Hydroacoustic Monitoring of Migrating Salmon in the Marine Area

 
The Institute of Ocean Sciences, Department of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada, deployed an intermediate range sonar system at at Chatham Point in southern Johnstone Strait of British Columbia, to monitor returning salmon with a goal to estimate the abundance of salmon passing through the area. The system can continuously collect acoustic data during the salmon season. Vitech was contracted to conduct numerical analysis of the acoustic environment in the observation area, and develop tracking algorithms and software, allowing automatic analysis of large database and estimation of fish abundance. The first phase of the project has been completed.
 
• Software Development for Tracking and Flux Estimation of Migrating Salmon using Split-beam Sonar

 
The Pacific Salmon Commission has been using split-beam sonar systems at a site located near Mission B.C, to provide estimates of the daily passage of salmon. This is a continuous program with the need to handle a large amount of data each day in the season. Vitech was contracted to develop a software system that allows users to visualize and analyze split-beam sonar data to derive an estimate of daily passage of salmon. The software system performs automatic tracking of sonar data and allows users to filter out unwanted tracks using a pattern recognition technique.The system has played a key role in the hydroacoustics program.
 
• Analysis of wave Kinematic Data at High Sea States
   
  Measurement of water velocity near the sea surface at high sea states is a very challenging task. The Institute of Ocean Sciences developed a bistatic multiple Doppler sonar system deployed on the seafloor looking upward to the sea surface. The Doppler system was deployed from October 1994 to January 1995 at the Tyra East platform complex in the Danish sector of the North Sea. Vitech's participation in this project included analysis of the Doppler sonar data to derive 3D water velocity, and comparison of the results with wave kinematics models. The results have been published (see Farmer, D. M., L. Ding, D. Booth, and M. Lohmann, 2002: Wave Kinematics at High Sea States. J. Atm. Oceanic Tech.).
   
• Anaysis of Video Observations of Fish
   
  Although the split-beam sonar has proved useful in monitoring and estimating fish passage, there are a few inherent limitations. For example, when two fish are at the same range relative to the transducer, they may not be separated even though they are wide apart at two different angles. A question therefore arises how the presence of one fish would interfere with the detection of the other fish. In the presence of dense fish, not only will detection of individual fish be severely limited by the existing hardware, but also tracking algorithms may break down and an estimate of fish number based on fish tracks may be biased. It appears that the only way to determine the limits of a split-beam system is through independent observations. In an effort to quantify biases potentially introduced by the split-beam system, the Pacific Biological Station, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, conducted a field experiment at Thompson River, Spences Brigdge, British Columbia, in which video observations were made simultaneously with split-beam sonar observations. Vitech was contracted to analyze the video data, by transforming fish positions at two video cameras to 3D positions, and compare the 3D trajectories with the corresponding acoustic data.
   
• Laboratory Measurement of Bistatic Scattering of Fish
   
  The Institute of Ocean Sciences, Department of Fisheries and Oceans of Canada, was interested in exploring acoustic scintillation techniques for use in riverine environments to monitor migrating salmon. Knoweledge of bistatic scattering characteristics of fish is critical to assessment of the technology. Vitech was contracted to conduct a laboratory experiment at the National Research Institute of Fisheries Engineering of Japan, to measure bistatic target strength of individual fish. The results have published (see Ding etc, 1998: Laboratory Measurements of Forward and Bistatic Scattering of Fish at Multiple Frequencies. J. Acoust. Soc. Am.).

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