Community News

UUST 2009 30 year Anniversary

August 24, 2009

UUST 2009 23-26 August, The New England Center University of New Hampshire

Lafayette Company May Assist in Air France Efforts

June 24, 2009 — via KATC.com

The Air France Flight 447 search authority (BEA) has contacted C & C Technologies (Lafayette, Louisiana, USA) regarding a Phase Two effort to locate the flight recorders in the event that the pinger locater effort fails.

C & C Technologies is the world leader in deepwater autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) survey operations.

NOAA and Partners to Conduct Survey of Civil War Ironclad USS Monitor

June 22, 2009 — via NOAA

NOAA and partnering organizations are deploying scuba divers and state-of-the-art technology this week to study the current condition of the USS Monitor, a Civil War shipwreck protected by a NOAA national marine sanctuary.

During the expedition, which concludes June 28, divers will survey and photograph visible sections of the Monitor using non-invasive techniques, including high-resolution digital still and video imagery. Deep Explorers and Rutgers University’s Institute of Marine and Coastal Science (IMCS) will also deploy an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that will scan the wreck using sonar and collect water quality data. This is the first time a survey of this type will be conducted over the Monitor wreck site and the surrounding area. NOAA will use the information gathered during the survey to monitor the condition of the historic vessel and the sanctuary.

Mine's eye

June 17, 2009 — via The Engineer - UK

A UK company has developed real-time sonar-imaging technology that uses a computer graphics card to greatly improve the image quality for side-scan sonar, as used in mine-hunting and pipeline surveys.

Synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) techniques enhance the resolution of images processed from sideways-looking sonar by up to 10 times, but existing systems require expensive technology to estimate the motion of the platform, as well as requiring it to move relatively straight. University College London (UCL) spinout Bloomsbury DSP is using the processing power of an NVIDIA graphics card to run proprietary algorithms to deliver high-resolution sonar images in real time without these restrictions.

Photo robot helps analyze Delaware Aqueduct

June 13, 2009 — via Times Herald-Record

The latest in high-tech tools and a little bit of luck with the weather combined to give the best pictures ever of the inside of the Delaware Aqueduct.
Paul Rush, deputy commissioner for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said only a handful of photos from last Friday's photo inspection of the aqueduct's Rondout-West Branch Tunnel have been downloaded.

Evidence of Mine Field Discovered During BALTOPS

June 11, 2009 — via U.S. Naval Forces Europe, 6th Fleet Public Affairs

A Swedish navy ship operating in the Baltic Sea June 10 discovered evidence of a mine line while participating in Baltic Operations Exercise 2009.

HSwMS Faaroesund (MUL 20) discovered an object while deploying its autonomous underwater vehicle for a tactical evaluation of the sea floor as part of BALTOPS. This discovery could indicate the presence of underwater mines left over from both World Wars I and II in the vicinity.

Seaglider Monitors Climate-Related Ocean Circulation In The Arctic

June 10, 2009 — via U S News and World Report

An intelligent, ocean-going glider has spent six months on a record-breaking deployment to sample the icy waters off western Greenland. The samples will contribute to the longest continuous measurement of Arctic currents that help to drive ocean circulation and regulate global seawater temperatures.

Saab to upgrade Double Eagle mine disposal vehicles for Swedish Navy

June 10, 2009 — via Defence Professionals

Saab has received an order from FMV, the Swedish Defence Material Administration, for a midlife upgrade of Double Eagle MkI mine disposal vehicle systems to Double Eagle MkII status.??The order comprises five Double Eagle Mk mine disposal vehicles for the Koster class minehunters, additional upgrade of the onboard systems, training, documentation and optional support program.

Robots Re-enact Ancient Predator-Prey Interaction

June 10, 2009 — via AUVSI Unmanned Science Newsletter 2009 Issue 11

Finned robots are demonstrating evolution in a laboratory at Vassar College in New York, showing how adaptations can favor survival.

Two robots swim in a pool, one playing the role of a predator, the other - dubbed Preyro - the role of prey. Researchers led by Professor John Long make changes to Preyro's tail to see which designs help it avoid the predator robot, according to the Associated Press.

NYC launches probe to inspect leaky Delaware Aqueduct - Sinkholes might be solved

June 6, 2009 — via Times Herald-Record

A picture-taking torpedo will tell New York City just how badly its Delaware Aqueduct is leaking, and help engineers figure out how they might fix it. The device — its formal name is autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV — was lowered into a shaft of the aqueduct's Rondout-West Branch Tunnel Friday morning. It's equipped with five digital cameras that will be clicking away constantly, taking pictures — 180,000 in all — that will tell the city Department of Environmental Protection's engineers where all the cracks are, and how much has changed inside the tunnel since a similar inspection was done in 2003.

OceanServer Delivers Iver2 AUV to Aselsan, Inc.

June 5, 2009 — via OceanServer

OceanServer Technology has delivered an Iver2 AUV to Aselsan, Inc. of Ankara, Turkey. Aselsan will use the Iver2 AUV for general R&D purposes and for ongoing AUV development activities.

Into the dark and cold Hopkins professor helps send robot to nearly unknown ocean floor

June 5, 2009 — via Baltimore Sun

A Johns Hopkins University engineering professor helped guide an underwater vehicle this week to one of the coldest, darkest, most remote places on Earth. Louis Whitcomb and his team - safe and dry aboard a research vessel in the western Pacific - guided the 18-foot-long robotic submersible Nereus by remote control as it plunged to the bottom of the Mariana Trench. The dive marked the first time since 1998 that man has probed so far into the crushing depths of the Earth's greatest abyss. "It is a humbling experience to remotely pilot a vehicle into such an extreme, hostile, lightless environment," said Whitcomb, 47, one of three principal investigators with the expedition.

Gliders – A new window into our coastal seas

June 5, 2009 — via The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

An autonomous underwater glider has just completed a successful 26-day monitoring of Storm Bay in southern Tasmania for CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Flagship, covering a total distance of 490 km. CSIRO deployed the Slocum Glider as part of a Wealth from Oceans Flagship project to link marine models to sensor networks.

C & C Technologies Enhances AUVs with Camera System

June 5, 2009 — via C & C Technologies

C & C Technologies, Inc. (C & C), the worldwide leader in deepwater autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operations, announces the addition of its proprietary camera technology on its Surveyor Class AUVs.

Robot submarine dives to the deepest part of the ocean controlled by a 7-mile cable as thin as single human hair

June 4, 2009 — via UK Daily Mail

A robotic submarine has dived 6.8miles to reach the deepest known part of the ocean, becoming just the third craft in history to explore the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.Scientists hope the craft will help them answers some of the 'big questions' such as the relationship between the sea floor and climate change.

The unmanned craft dubbed Nereus after a Greek sea god, withstood pressures 1,000 times that of the Earth's surface during its voyage on May 31st. It spent more than 10 hours hovering 'like a helicopter' near the bottom and was remotely operated by pilots aboard a surface ship via a lightweight fibre-optic tether as thin as a human hair. This allowed the robot to send back live video to the ship and to collect samples with its manipulator arm, which experts hope will reveal more about tectonic plate collisions.

Oceans '09 MTS/IEEE Biloxi Abstract Deadline Extended

June 3, 2009 — via MTS/IEEE Oceans 09

The deadline for abstracts to the OCEANS'09 MTS/IEEE Biloxi Conference has been extended to June 12. Submit abstracts for technical papers and student posters to the OCEANS'09 Web site.

Point Loma scientists on team taking vehicle to the deepest place on Earth

June 3, 2009 — via San Diego Union Tribune

The deepest ocean trenches are cold and dark and hostile places, visited by humans even less often than the surface of the moon.Scientists are eager to make them familiar territory, hoping to learn more about life on the ocean floor and the forces that create the continents.
A team of researchers, including members from San Diego, are taking a big step this week with the unmanned submersible Nereus, which is descending to the lowest point on Earth. That spot is Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench southwest of Guam, which has been been explored only twice before.

Underwater robotics research by UTSA's Brent Nowak makes splash with U.S. Navy

June 3, 2009 — via University of Texas San Antonio

Brent Nowak, UTSA associate professor of mechanical engineering, is headed to the water this summer, but he won't be taking much time off to relax. He was selected by the U.S. Navy to conduct research at its Newport-based Naval Undersea Warfare Center, a prestigious fellowship for engineering academics.

At the summer program, formally called the Office of Naval Research Summer Faculty Research Program, Nowak will conduct research on hardware systems for advanced underwater vehicles, controls and intelligent collaborative solutions.

Transforming roofs from wasted space to energy source

June 3, 2009 — via Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

A transparent thin film barrier used to protect flat panel TVs from moisture could become the basis for flexible solar panels that would be installed on roofs like shingles.

The flexible rooftop solar panels - called building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPVs - could replace today's boxy solar panels that are made with rigid glass or silicon and mounted on thick metal frames. The flexible solar shingles would be less expensive to install than current panels and made to last 25 years.

Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle "Nereus" Reaches Deepest Part of the Ocean

June 2, 2009 — via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Oceanus

A new type of deep-sea robotic vehicle called Nereus has successfully reached the deepest part of the world’s ocean, reports a team of U.S. engineers and scientists aboard the research vessel Kilo Moana. The dive to 10,902 meters (6.8 miles) occurred on May 31, 2009, at the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean.

The dive makes Nereus the world’s deepest-diving vehicle and the first vehicle to explore the Mariana Trench since 1998.

The Abyss: Deepest Part of the Oceans No Longer Hidden

June 2, 2009 — via National Science Foundation Press Release 09-118

The Abyss is a dark, deep place, but it's no longer hidden. At least when Nereus is on the scene. Nereus is a new type of deep-sea robotic vehicle, called a hybrid remotely operated vehicle (HROV).

Nereus dove to 10,902 meters (6.8 miles) on May 31, 2009, in the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, reports a team of engineers and scientists aboard the research vessel Kilo Moana.

The dive makes Nereus the world's deepest-diving vehicle, and the first vehicle to explore the Mariana Trench since 1998.

NCS Survey Expands with Low Logistics AUVs

June 2, 2009 — via Subsea World

An order has recently been placed for two Gavia AUVs with a capital expenditure of £1.5m – one 500m-rated system and one 1,000m rated system. These systems are specifically aimed at the shallow water market and are understood to be the first Gavia AUVs to enter the Oil & Gas market as a service provided by a survey contractor. In doing so, Hafmynd, the Icelandic manufacturers, has created a new line named the Gavia Offshore Surveyor. Delivery is expected in late September this year but NCS Survey have already secured a contract, which started in May and will use the demonstration system from Hafmynd for this project.