Biosketch

As a student in 2010–2011 Ben worked on power supplies for ocean monitoring equipment, transformers for acoustic tracking systems, and equipment set up and operation for various field experiments.

As an APL-UW engineer, Ben focuses on electronics for acoustic object detection and backscatter experiments in the Gulf of Mexico, and several acoustic and tracking range experiments in the Arctic. He has extensive experience at the APL-UW Acoustic Test Facility calibrating many types of transducers and hydrophones.

Experiments involve designing rugged and reliable electronics for extreme environments: cold, corrosion, and salt water at various depths. As a university-certified diver, Ben has been underwater during many of these experiments. For the Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) project, Ben worked on a 1-mile-deep high-definition camera that monitors the ASHES hydrothermal vent and sends back high-quality uncompressed video of the vent and its surrounding biology.

Department Affiliation

Ocean Engineering

Education

B.S. Electrical Engineering, Washington State University, 2012

Projects

Regional Scale Nodes — HD Video Camera A high-definition video stream, sent real-time and uncompressed to shore from the Axial Volcano caldera, will be at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 60 frames per second, interlaced. The goal is to obtain the highest resolution views possible of jetting black smoker fluids and coupled biologial activity on this hydrothermal sulfide chimney.

1 Jul 2013

Inventions

Passive Miniature Acoustic Recorder for Seaglider Record of Invention Number: 47208 Ben Brand, Jason Gobat, Adam Huxtable, Geoff Shilling

Disclosure

22 Jan 2015