{"id":7216,"date":"2020-01-28T15:48:37","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T15:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/?p=7216"},"modified":"2022-03-17T18:02:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T18:02:32","slug":"rockhopper-unit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/rockhopper-unit\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockhopper \u2013 Marine Passive Acoustic Recording Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"intro\">Following the footprints of its predecessor, Rockhopper acoustic recording units were developed to enable scientists to study any acoustically active marine species of interest. Due to its origin at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the recording instrument was named after one of our favorite marine birds &#8211; the Rockhopper Penguin. Rockhopper&#8217;s predecessor, MARUs (Marine Autonomous Recording Units), had been in operation for almost two decades. MARUs were designed to record baleen whale species that are known to use low frequency acoustic signals. Thus, MARUs were designed for recording at low sampling rates, which provided an advantage in energy budget and data storage capacity for long duration continuous data collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" data-id=\"7257\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-1280x960.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7257 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-1280x960.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-720x540.png 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-2048x1536.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-1920x1440.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry1-480x360.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/960;\" \/><figcaption>A Rockhopper unit being assembled by Chris Tessaglia-Hymes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" data-id=\"7256\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-1280x960.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7256 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-1280x960.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-720x540.png 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-2048x1536.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-1920x1440.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_Glry2-480x360.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/960;\" \/><figcaption>Every unit is assembled with ultimate care. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"838\" data-id=\"7275\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-1280x838.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7275 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-1280x838.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-720x471.jpg 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-768x503.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-1536x1006.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-2048x1341.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-1920x1257.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/IMG_6819-1-scaled-e1591116638160-480x314.jpg 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/838;\" \/><figcaption>CCB engineers assemble and test Rockhopper units at the Lab. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"835\" data-id=\"7259\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-1280x835.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7259 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-1280x835.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-720x470.png 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-768x501.png 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-1536x1002.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-2048x1336.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-1920x1252.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/En-route-to-deployment-site-e1591117319288-480x313.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/835;\" \/><figcaption>En route to a research site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright has-lightgray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong>Specifications: dimension, weight, sampling rate, recording duration, deployment depths, etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Height, Width, Depth: 31&#8243; x 21&#8243; x 21&#8243; (78.74 cm x 53.34 cm x 53.34 cm)<\/li><li>Instrument Weight: 91 pounds (41.27 kilogram)<\/li><li>Typical Anchor Weight: 135 pounds (61.24 kilogram)<\/li><li>Maximum Sampling Rate: 394 kHz<\/li><li>Audio Bit Depth: 24 bits<\/li><li>Internal Storage Capacity: 8 Terabyte<\/li><li>Maximum Recording Duration: 200 Days, Continuous Recording at 197 kHz<\/li><li>Maximum Deployment Depth: 11482.94 feet (3,500 meters)<\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"intro\">Two major improvement needs guided the development of the Rockhopper platform. The first desired improvement was to increase the capability of the unit to record at a significantly higher sampling rate compared to the MARU platform. Aquatic organisms are known to produce acoustic signals within a wide frequency range. The limits of the sampling rate of a recording instrument restricts which vocalizations can be recorded with a particular device. To capture the higher frequency elements of marine soundscape, a recording unit needs to be equipped with instruments capable of recording at a high sampling rate. The Rockhopper can sample at 394 kHz (4X higher than the MARUs), allowing the units to record sounds of most marine species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"intro\">The second desired improvement was audio quality. Rockhopper was made to achieve a very low noise floor, particularly at frequencies below 10 kHz. Noise floor is associated with the self-noise generated by the instruments inside the unit. A low noise floor allows more accurate representation of ambient noise or species signal information without the influence of the noise generated by the unit. A low noise floor allows the units to record better quality animal signals, anthropogenic (man-made) noise, and other ambient noise present in the environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-3 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-2 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" data-id=\"7261\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-1280x960.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7261 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-1280x960.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-720x540.png 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-2048x1536.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-1920x1440.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RKHP_deployment_Chain-480x360.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/960;\" \/><figcaption>A Rockhopper unit connected to a release mechanism and an anchor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1280\" height=\"960\" data-id=\"7262\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-1280x960.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7262 lazyload\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-1280x960.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-720x540.png 720w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-1536x1152.png 1536w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-2048x1536.png 2048w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-1920x1440.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Rockhopper_In-the-water-480x360.png 480w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 1280px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 1280\/960;\" \/><figcaption>Ease of deployment and retrieval is one of the major strengths of the Rockhopper platform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"intro\">A Yang Center team deployed the first Rockhopper unit in the Gulf of Mexico in May 2018. Subsequently, more Rockhopper units were deployed in the Gulf of Mexico for research purposes. Form factor is a major advantage of Rockhopper units compared to other commercially available marine recording units. The units are small enough to be deployed by a single individual using a small vessel, which provides flexibility in field operation, cost savings, and efficiency in deployment\/recovery process. If you are interested in these units or have additional questions, please <a href=\"mailto:bioacoustics@cornell.edu\">contact us<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following the footprints of its predecessor, Rockhopper acoustic recording units were developed to enable scientists to study any acoustically active marine species of interest. Due to its origin at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the recording instrument was named after one of our favorite marine birds &#8211; the Rockhopper Penguin. Rockhopper&#8217;s predecessor, MARUs (Marine Autonomous<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/rockhopper-unit\/\" title=\"ReadRockhopper \u2013 Marine Passive Acoustic Recording Unit\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_birdpress_hero_toggle":false,"_birdpress_hero_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_image_type":"image","_birdpress_hero_style":"default","_birdpress_hero_ratio":"","_birdpress_hero_h1":"","_birdpress_hero_media_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_media_array_id":[],"_birdpress_hero_media_array":[],"_birdpress_hero_media":0,"_birdpress_hero_video_id":0,"_birdpress_hero_video":0,"_birdpress_hero_youtube":"","_birdpress_hero_content":true,"_birdpress_hero_byline":"","_birdpress_hero_byline_bottom":"","_birdpress_hero_button_link":"","_birdpress_hero_button_text":"","_birdpress_hero_button_color":"","_birdpress_hero_date":false,"original_guid":"","_birdpress_hide_search":false,"_birdpress_page_width":"","_birdpress_global_cta":false,"_birdpress_widget_sidebar":"","_birdpress_next_article":0,"_birdpress_next_article_title":"","_birdpress_prev_article":0,"_birdpress_prev_article_title":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_sub_navigation":"","_birdpress_sub_navigation_title":false,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation_id":0,"_birdpress_anchor_navigation":"","_birdpress_postType":"both","_birdpress_categoryID":0,"_birdpress_tagID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostID":0,"_birdpress_parentPostTitle":"","_birdpress_menuID":0,"_birdpress_menuName":"","_birdpress_listHeader":"","_birdpress_listLayout":"card-display","_birdpress_listColumns":"","_birdpress_maxItems":12,"_birdpress_listPaginate":true,"_birdpress_displaySort":true,"_birdpress_sortOrder":"DESC","_birdpress_sortBy":"date","_birdpress_listID":"","_birdpress_listClass":"","_birdpress_displayImages":true,"_birdpress_displayCaptions":false,"_birdpress_displayExcerpts":false,"_birdpress_attTop":"","_birdpress_attBottom":"","_birdpress_showLogos":false,"_birdpress_post_logo":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,27],"tags":[],"content-format":[],"class_list":["post-7216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7216"},{"taxonomy":"content-format","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.birds.cornell.edu\/ccb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-format?post=7216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}