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I am going to carry out a series of surveys in Peru for which I plan to tow two soundtraps inserted in the same towfish. They will be separated by approximately 50 cm so I want to use them to extract bearing parameters and hopefully distance. For this I also plan to use Pamguard.

However I am not sure how can I synchronize them to work as one. Could this be done in Pamguard or with some other tool?

Last year I used an array ST4300 so I had different channels in the same recording, but this year I couldn't take this array so I am using two independent soundtraps but would like to know if I can combine the recordings of the two soundtraps in one.

Also, I would like to know if the distance to the animal can be estimated in Pamguard from the bearing and change in location and how to do this.

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  • $\begingroup$ While I'm sceptical that it can be done, It would be important to know, which soundtraps you have available. Maybe there is an solution. $\endgroup$
    – WMXZ
    Commented Jan 31 at 17:09

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Malinka et al (2020) published a relevant paper describing a synchonization cable to clock-sync seven ST300's on a vertical string, so it's certainly possible, though custom firmware (support from OINZ) would also be required. Their guide to construction is in the supplemental material and seems very complete and clear. Code for synchronisation is also available at github https://github.com/cemalinka/SoundTrapArray

However, I don't recall there being any underwater connector on the ST600, so newer models might no longer have such capabilities.

Malinka, C. E., Atkins, J., Johnson, M. P., Tønnesen, P., Dunn, C. A., Claridge, D. E., et al. (2020). An autonomous hydrophone array to study the acoustic ecology of deep-water toothed whales. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 158, 103233. doi: 10.1016/j.dsr.2020.103233

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, an external connector is requirement for sync, which I could not see or being mentioned in newer ST models (newer means with SDcards and not Flash chips). That's why I asked for ST model. $\endgroup$
    – WMXZ
    Commented Feb 1 at 7:45
  • $\begingroup$ Thank you Brian, the code you shared seems helpful, I will try it. Otherwise I also managed to do this in avisoft. $\endgroup$
    – Rut
    Commented Feb 4 at 15:57
  • $\begingroup$ And the soundtraps that I will be using are ST300 HF. $\endgroup$
    – Rut
    Commented Feb 4 at 15:59

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