[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-85447-en":3,"doc-seo-85447-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},85447,687197100911,"Himbo","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/a000239b6f1da00475?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1782698725881665579",8,"Research & Report","KAMERA Enhancing Aerial Surveys of Ice-associated Seals in Arctic Environments","KAMERA is a comprehensive system enabling multicamera, multi-spectral synchronization and real-time detection of seals and polar bears for aerial surveys in Arctic seas around Alaska. Through rigorous calibration and hardware synchronization, it leverages multiple spectra for robust object detection and reduces dataset processing time by up to 80% versus prior approaches. All survey imagery and animal detections are annotated with metadata and mapped onto a world plane for accurate area estimates and rapid assessment. The software, models, and schematics are planned for open-source release.","KAMERA: Enhancing Aerial Surveys of Ice-associated Seals  \nin Arctic Environments  \nAdam Romlein 1 , Benjamin X. Hou2 , Yuval Boss3 , Cynthia L. Christman3 , Stacie Koslovsky2 , Erin E.  \nMoreland2 , Jason Parham 1 , and Anthony Hoogs 1  \n1 Kitware, Inc., USA, {adam.romlein,jason.parham,[anthony.hoogs](anthony.hoogs}@kitware.com)[}](anthony.hoogs}@kitware.com)[@kitware.com](anthony.hoogs}@kitware.com)[ ](anthony.hoogs}@kitware.com)2 NOAA NMFS AFSC MML, USA, {ben.hou,stacie.koslovky,[erin.moreland](erin.moreland}@noaa.gov)[}](erin.moreland}@noaa.gov)[@noaa.gov](erin.moreland}@noaa.gov)[ ](erin.moreland}@noaa.gov)3 CICOES, University of Washington, USA, [yuval@uw.edu](yuval@uw.edu), [cynthia.christman@noaa.gov](cynthia.christman@noaa.gov)  \narXiv :2509 . 19129v2 [ cs .CV] 13 Jul 2026  \nAbstract  \nWe introduce KAMERA: a comprehensive system for multicamera, multi-spectral synchronization and real-time detection of seals and polar bears. Utilized in aerial surveys for ice-associated seals in the Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort seas around Alaska, KAMERA provides up to an 80% reduction in dataset processing time over previous methods. Our rigorous calibration and hardware synchronization enable using multiple spectra for object detection. All collected data are annotated with metadata so they can be easily referenced later. All imagery and animal detections from a survey are mapped onto a world plane for accurate surveyed area estimates and quick assessment of survey results. We hope KAMERA will inspire other mapping and detection efforts in the scientific community, with all software, models, and schematics fully open-sourced.  \n1. Introduction  \nCrewed andUncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) have emerged as popular methods for data collection, as they allow for sampling across large geographic areas that are inaccessible or impractical to traverse via other platforms (e.g., boats, automobiles) . Aerial survey methods are commonly employed in agriculture, civil engineering, geology, and the biological sciences [6, 8, 11, 14, 15, 22, 33, 35] . Increasingly, such surveys rely upon the integration of robust onboard computing systems paired with remote sensing instrumentation (e.g., LIDAR, cameras, radar) to capture high-quality, rich datasets that can be leveraged to streamline data analyses and information extraction, thereby reducing the time between data collection and decision-making. For these reasons, many wildlife management agencies have shifted towards use of such technologies as they enable more timely  \nFigure 1 . KAMERA’s hardware, software, and area of operations outlined. A ribbon seal captured with KAMERAis shown in RGB, IR, and UV on the bottom. This aerial survey used three cameras in each modality to capture a wide swath across the flight path at high resolution.  \ninterventions. In particular, multi-spectral aerial surveys with AI methods for object detection assistance have become a common approach for studies of abundance and distribution of ice-associated seals [2, 7, 9, 13, 25–27, 29] . Their broad distribution across expansive sea ice habitat presents significant practical challenges for data collection and expedient analysis of multi-terabyte imagery datasets. Our paper describes the design of a novel multi-camera,  \n\n| Survey Region | Year (s) | RGB Cameras | Collection | Data Sync | Processing | Time to\u003Cbr>Results |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Bering Sea | 2012-2013 | Digital SLRs | 1.8 million images | Independent | IR Peak Analysis, Blob Detection | 1-2 yrs |\n| Chukchi Sea | 2016 | Machine Vision (29MP) | 1 million pairs | Integrated | Semi-Automated Hot Spot Detection | 6 mos |\n| Beaufort Sea | 2021 | Machine Vision (29MP) | 900,000 triplets | KAMERA | YOLOv3 IR/RGB Trigger Model | 5 wks |\n| Bering, Chukchi, and Beaufort Seas | 2025 | Medium Format (120MP) | 1.5 million samples, reduced | KAMERA | YOLOv3 IR\u003Cbr>Hot Spot Detection | TBD |\n\nTable 1 . Timeline of large-scale, image-based surveys for","cbCaiejF82X1XxqP","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiejF82X1XxqP","pdf",4328537,2,1,10,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Multi-camera, multi-spectral synchronization\n## Real-time detection\n## Mapping\n## Open-source\n# Background","[{\"question\":\"What is KAMERA and what problem does it address in aerial wildlife surveys?\",\"answer\":\"KAMERA is a multicamera, multi-spectral system that synchronizes data and supports real-time detection and classification. It targets limitations of previous survey systems such as asynchronous collection, poor data alignment, and closed proprietary workflows.\"},{\"question\":\"How does KAMERA improve efficiency compared with earlier methods?\",\"answer\":\"KAMERA provides up to an 80% reduction in dataset processing time. Real-time onboard analysis on GPUs helps decide what data to archive, reducing delays between collection and results.\"},{\"question\":\"What happens to the imagery and detections after a survey?\",\"answer\":\"All collected imagery and animal detections are annotated with metadata for later referencing. They are also mapped onto a world plane to support accurate surveyed area estimates and quick post-flight assessment.\"}]",1784203599,25,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":86,"head_meta":88,"extra_data":90,"updated_unix":28},"kamera-enhancing-aerial-surveys-of-ice-associated-seals-in-arctic-environments","",{"@graph":36,"@context":85},[37,53,68],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/kamera-enhancing-aerial-surveys-of-ice-associated-seals-in-arctic-environments/85447/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":41,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-25","2026-07-16",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71,77,81],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"What is KAMERA and what problem does it address in aerial wildlife surveys?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"KAMERA is a multicamera, multi-spectral system that synchronizes data and supports real-time detection and classification. It targets limitations of previous survey systems such as asynchronous collection, poor data alignment, and closed proprietary workflows.","Answer",{"name":78,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":79},"How does KAMERA improve efficiency compared with earlier methods?",{"text":80,"@type":76},"KAMERA provides up to an 80% reduction in dataset processing time. Real-time onboard analysis on GPUs helps decide what data to archive, reducing delays between collection and results.",{"name":82,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":83},"What happens to the imagery and detections after a survey?",{"text":84,"@type":76},"All collected imagery and animal detections are annotated with metadata for later referencing. They are also mapped onto a world plane to support accurate surveyed area estimates and quick post-flight assessment.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":87,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":89,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":92},[93,97,101,105,110,115,120,123,128,131,134],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":94,"show_sort_weight":95,"slug":96},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":133},"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":135,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":136,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":137},19,"General","general"]