Charles River Analytics AI & Computer Vision Technology Enhances Wildlife Protection

At the end of 2022, Vineyard Wind and Charles River Analytics began a collaboration aimed at further protecting marine mammals during the construction of the Vineyard Wind 1 project. Vineyard Wind, an 800-megawatt project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, will generate electricity for more than 400,000 homes and businesses in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, create 3,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) job years, save customers $1.4 billion over the first 20 years of operation, and is expected to reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.6 million metric tons per year, the equivalent of taking 325,000 cars off the road annually. Charles River Analytics is providing its Awarion artificial intelligence and computer vision technology to Vineyard Wind to help detect the presence of marine mammal, ship, and fishing gear using Electro-Optical and Infrared (EO/IR) video streams. Designed to deliver enhanced maritime situational awareness, these EO/IR methods provide much greater detail and resolution than radar, enabling superior detection probability and true autonomy. Awarion can be attached to both manned and unmanned marine vessels to deliver persistent autonomous lookout capabilities, as well as trajectory modeling and threat assessment.