About the C-POD

C-POD The first version (V0) of the C-POD is now in production and all available units have been sold.

Version 1 C-PODs will be available for mid-August 2008. They will be more sensitive than V0 C-PODs and will be able to log click bursts (the broader-band, social, non-echolocation sounds made by some dolphins) more efficiently.

We hope that the V1 will be a final version of the C-POD, so that data series will be comparable. A great deal of work has gone into achieving this target.

To ensure consistency of data through projects, it will be possible to make V1 C-PODs behave like V0s. It will also be possible to upgrade V0 C-PODs to V1.

The C-POD uses digital waveform characterisation to select clicks and logs the time, centre frequency, intensity and bandwidth of each cetacean click. The main advantages over the T-POD are:

the false positive rate, which is already very low for T-PODs, will be even lower.
T-PODs sometimes do not log clicks from dolphins because the clicks are too broadband and accepting such clicks would flood the memory. The C-POD will log these clicks.
the software will be better able to distinguish the trains arising from individual cetaceans and will be able to distinguish several different groups of species.
the frequency range, 20-150 kHz, means they will log all odontocetes continuously (except sperm whales).
due to their low power requirements, C-PODs can run for 4 months on 8 alkaline D-cells.
a removable Secure Digital (SD) memory card allowing much more data to be collected.
rapid servicing at sea as no computer is required for downloading data from the POD.
very few user-controlled settings required so that comparable data can be captured in different studies.
tighter standardisation so that small trends over time can be identified.
like T-PODs they will be buoyant and consequently self-orientating.

To develop a more accurate train filter and improve species identification, large volumes of data will be required by Chelonia from as diverse a range of users as possible. We are therefore asking users to agree to provide us with all their raw C-POD data. We will use it to optimise the C-POD PC software. The software improvements will always be retrospectively applicable to all data sets and new versions of the C-POD software will be available to users free of charge, so that data can be re-analysed. Your data will remain confidential and will not be published.

In return, we will provide brief feedback on the quality of all datasets received.

Please contact us if you would like more information. Ordering lead times are typically 12 weeks (see our Terms and Conditions).