Pioneering LADAR system aims to revolutionize marine plastic detection

Anglo-Norwegian R&D company, Ladar Ltd has developed a ground-breaking, compact LADAR^TM (laser detection and ranging) system that can supercharge plastic detection capabilities for users involved in everything from environmental research and monitoring to marine clean up campaigns and harvesting plastic for recycling. A huge amount of plastic waste is dumped into our oceans every year. DNV GL expert Arnstein Eknes estimates between eight and fifteen million metric tonnes annually – about a lorry load every minute.

Holistic approach

Despite laudable moves to ban single-use plastic, production and consumption keeps growing. “We need to address the problem at many different structural levels, particularly effective waste management on land and driving awareness of the adverse effects of the today’s consumption culture,” Eknes said. The production of massive quantities of disposable masks and plastic personal protection equipment (PPE) due to the coronavirus crisis may serve to exacerbate the situation. Eknes stresses he is not anti-plastic per se. “Plastic is essential and a great resource. We just need to handle it in the right way, from responsible manufacturing through disposal and recyclability. We should also encourage the use of viable alternatives where it isn’t essential,” he said.

Pollution scourge

Plastic pollution cannot always be seen with the naked eye. Microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics originate from a host of mundane products like clothes and cosmetics. The presence of microplastics in fish and shellfish is a growing health concern in terms of human consumption. Eknes noted that not much can be done about what is already in the ocean; the challenge now is to prevent the pollution at source.

In the vanguard

Environmental technologies play a big part in combating this global problem, not only in mapping and studying its effects, but also in pollution mitigation. The microspectral LADAR^TM system developed over the last few years, with early support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 fund, is a game-changer in remote plastic detection and plugs an important technology gap. LADAR^TM uses a laser beam pulse to provide reliable and long-range plastic detection with high-speed operation and no latency. Highly accurate measurement provides a full 3D perspective of the scanned area or target in real time. Its laser bandwidth configuration can be adapted to different light wavelengths depending on requirements.

Water penetrating capability

“In normal operating situations, LADAR^TM can detect objects in the surface layer at a range of a few metres up to a nautical mile distant,” said founder, Sverre Dokken. This allows for the creation of an effective surveillance zone around a platform where plastic objects can be detected, characterised, classified and tracked. Relevant observational data is processed using AI algorithms and displayed in real time via an intuitive GUI (graphical user interface).

Multipurpose technology

Dokken said the system’s current set-up allows for a huge variety of applications related to plastic detection such as real-time 24/7 monitoring of specific areas such as rivers and coasts, harbours and ports, volume measurement also in different sea states, flow patterns and other essential research data. The system also enables plastic detection for targeted clean up and catchment interventions by either manned or autonomous craft. The system can accurately and precisely detect different sizes of plastic and display this data to enhance user performance, while also providing key information both prior to and after clean up operations. Its 24/7 monitoring capability enables examination of plastic debris flow and breakdown cycle that can be inferred and used in modelling.

Circular economy

Remote detection may also have a role to play in the harvesting of marine plastic for recycling as part of moves towards a circular economy. Dokken suggests governments could, for example, introduce quota-related incentives for idle fishing boats and trawlers to “fish” for plastic in vulnerable coastal areas using LADAR^TM detection.

‘Valuable tool’

With appropriate bandwidth reconfiguration, LADAR^TM also has potential to detect and track micro- and nanoplastics in support of future environmental regulation of waste management and industry. It could also be used to protect fish farms in coastal areas sensitive to plastic pollution transported downstream by rivers following storms.

Versatile and portable

Thanks to its compact size and low weight, LADAR^TM can be mounted on virtually any platform, while its modular assembly allows for rapid redeployment and easy maintenance.

Dokken said drone platforms are also going to be increasingly important in the next phases of development as the company matches up even lighter versions for plastic detection especially along rivers and shallow coasts in pristine areas that are hard to access.

He said the current and subsequent capabilities of LADAR^TM make it an essential piece of sensor technology enabling efficient detection of plastic presence in water, for users both public and private. Marine plastic pollution is “one of the greatest challenges facing the world’s oceans” and he is proud to be part of the technological momentum needed to combat it.

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