Jelly tracking instrument (JETI)
Project Manager: Mark Brown
Lead Scientists: Bruce Robison/Steve Rock
Lead Engineer: Duane Edgington

 The technologically advanced tools available to the ocean science community have enhanced observations of animals in their natural habitat, but questions remain regarding longer time scale events. This project proposes to develop a Jelly Tracking Instrument (JETI) that can track a slow-moving animal over a long period of time. The initial target species is the larvacean,  Bathochordaeus. System requirements for this task include tracking the animal and its filter/house until the animal abandons the saturated structure and builds a new one. The critical scientific questions here are how long does an individual keep a house and how long does it takes to build a new one?

Drifter technology such as the Autonomous Lagrangian Circulation Explorer (ALACE) floats and the University of Washington glider inspired the preliminary concept for the JETI. Design requirements will be to observe and to track while recording water conductivity, temperature and depth in order to begin to map spatial information with animal behavior. The JETI will have the ability to autonomously maintain its sub-surface position and to move with the current, while making position adjustments based on animal behavior. The control/tracking system for JETI will take advantage of vision-based technologies developed and demonstrated under the Precision Control Technologies for ROVs and Intervention AUVs program (Project 600034).