Daily Business Report: Monday, March 20, 2023
‘Denoising’ a noisy ocean
Scripps Oceanography researchers use
machine learning to listen for specific fish sounds
By Robert Monroe
Come mating season, fishes off the California coast sing songs of love in the evenings and before sunrise. They vocalize not so much as lone crooners but in choruses, in some cases loud enough to be heard from land. It’s a technique of romance shared by frogs, insects, whales, and other animals when the time is right.
For most of these vocal arrangements, the choruses are low-frequency. They’re hard to distinguish from the sounds of ships passing in the night among others.
Biologists, however, have long been interested in listening in on them in the name of understanding fish behavior toward an ultimate goal: They can help preserve fish populations and ocean health by identifying spawning seasons to inform fisheries management.
Now scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and colleagues have developed a way for computers to sift through sounds collected by field acoustic recording packages known as HARPs and process them faster than even the most trained human analysts. The method represents a major advance in the field of signal processing with uses beyond marine environments.
Top photo: Study lead author Ella Kim (pink helmet) helps deploy a HARP instrument package. (Photo: Ana Širović)
Guest commentary:
Recall of self-driving Tesla cars doesn’t go
far enough. California must take action
By Dan O’Dowd, founder of The Dawn Project and CEO of Green Hills Software
California leaders needs to do what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so far failed to achieve: Keep Californians safe from Tesla’s flawed Full Self-Driving beta software.
A nationwide recall of 362,758 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving, or FSD, software didn’t go far enough. Worse, NHTSA has been handling Tesla with kid gloves.
Specifically, the recall indicated that the software may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane; entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop; or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution. The vehicle may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits. And the FSD software does not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.
USS Theodore Roosevelt returning
Wednesday to new homeport of San Diego
The Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) will return to Naval Air Station North Island on Wednesday, after completing an 18-month modernization program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility and shifting homeport from Bremerton, Wash., to San Diego.
Upgrades included a flight deck systems retrofit, expanding the ship’s air dominance capabilities to support the F-35C Lightning II, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, and CMV-22B Osprey, as well as future platforms such as the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned aircraft system. The work also involved a full restoration of crew habitability areas, including crew living quarters and onboard bathrooms; and preventative maintenance and restoration of the ship’s hull, rudders and rudder shafts.
Naval facility to host 26th international
RoboSub competition in San Diego
Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific will cohost the 26th international RoboSub competition in its Transducer Evaluation Center July 31-Aug. 6 in San Diego. NIWC was formerly called SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific.
At the underwater vehicle competition, students from across the globe will build robotic submarines designed to overcome simplified versions of challenges relevant to the autonomous underwater vehicle field.
NIWC Pacific’s Transducer Evaluation Center pool contains six million gallons of water. Its design eliminates all extraneous man-made or natural biologic noises and permits precise control of surface and underwater conditions. From 2002 to 2019, NIWC Pacific hosted RoboSub there until the coronavirus pandemic, when organizers and students pivoted to virtual platforms.
RoboSub is a RoboNation program. Registration to compete is open until April 15. For more information on the event, or to register, visit https://robosub.org/programs/2023/.
Jacinta Wong named executive director
of San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
The San Diego Chinese Historical Museum has named Jacinta S. Wong as its new executive director.
A recent transplant to San Diego, Wong holds over 20 years of management experience working in the nonprofit and government sectors in the City of Chicago.
Wong was integral in creating programs in multiple city departments including the Board of Ethics and Department of Buildings.
Most recently, Wong served as the deputy director for the Chicago Office of the City Clerk’s CityKey Program, helping to implement and expand the city’s municipal identification program.
She grew up on the South Side of Chicago and spent much of her life active with the Chinese community there.
Wong holds a B.A. in Sociology from Loyola University Chicago.
Viasat expands free Wi-Fi to more than 2,000 airplanes
CARLSBAD — Carlsbad telecom giant Viasat has added 300 aircrafts to its in-flight Wi-Fi service deal with Delta Airlines, totaling more than 2,000 commercial jets in North America and other regions. The company now serves 18 airlines and more than 200,000 flights with in-air connectivity including 350 new Southwest Airlines planes.
Lenz Therapeutics raises $83.5 million
to replace eye-glasses with eye drops
SAN DIEGO — San Diego startup Lenz Therapeutics snagged $83.5 million in the latest round of venture capital funding bringing it total amount raised to $130 million. Lenz plans to use the funds for commercialization and FDA approval of irs once-a-day eyedrops developed to improve near vision for 10 hours, replacing daily eyeglass wear.
Miramar College receives $1.4 million M.E.S.A. grant
SAN DIEGO — San Diego Miramar College has received a five-year M.E.S.A. grant from the Chancellor’s Office totaling $1.4 million for the creation of a Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement program (MESA). The program is designed to help underserved and disproportionately impacted students majoring in the sciences achieve their goals, particularly in transfer-oriented programs.
Viridos Inc. raises $25 million
for revolutionary algae biofuels
SAN DIEGO — Viridos Inc., a leading algae biofuel company dedicated to creating sustainable, low-carbon, algae-based jet and diesel fuel, has raised a $25 million Series A equity investment. The series was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures and joined by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and United Airlines Ventures. The funding will be used for R&D to further increase algae oil productivity to reach commercially deployable levels.
160 Driving Academy launches new location in El Cajon
EL CAJON — A ribbon-cutting ceremony was recenly held for 160 Driving Academy’s newest location at 700 N. Johnson Ave. in El Cajon. As the fastest growing vocational school in the country, in 2023, the company will train over 35,000 students on how to safely operate a semi-truck. 160 Driving Academy is licensed and operates in 43 states and each school is certified and licensed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Entry Level Driver Training Program.
Himiway unveils three new electric bikes for 2023
SAN DIEGO — Himiway, the innovative electric bike brand, announced the launch of three new models for 2023: the Himiway Pony Portable Mini Bike, Himiway Rambler Electric City Commuter Bike, and the Himiway Rhino Dual Battery Electric Mountain Bike. The announcement was made on March 16 during the 2023 New Products launch conference that was live-streamed on YouTube.
Guild Mortgage expands reverse mortgage division
SAN DIEGO — Guild Mortgage has added an experienced reverse mortgagte leadership team to expand its reverse mortgage division through its recent acquisition of Cherry Creek Mortgage. Based in Colorado, Cherry Creek Mortgage is a privately held top 10 reverse mortgage lender, as ranked by Reverse Mortgage Insight. Guild will integrate reverse mortgages into its traditional mortgage platform. The division will use Guild’s large existing retail team in some 300 branches throughout the U.S. to expand reverse mortgage offerings to more borrowers nationwide.
