Community News

Navy to Deploy First Underwater Drones from Submarines

April 13, 2015 – via US Navy Unmanned Maritime Systems

The Remus 600s will launch from a 11-meter long module on the Virginia-class submarines called the dry deck shelter which can launch divers and UUVs while submerged.

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Submarines: U.S. Navy Plans For China

April 12, 2015 – via The Strategy Page

One tactic involves U.S. nuclear subs carrying a dozen or more torpedo sized UUVs (unmanned underwater vehicle) to be launched from torpedo tubes (and sometimes recovered for reuse as well) to perform electronic warfare (mostly jamming) and reconnaissance (electronic and the more conventional forms).

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DARPA Ocean Drone Would Lift ‘Upward Falling Payloads’

April 10, 2015 – via DARPA

The “Upward Falling Payload” (UFP) concept centers on developing deployable, unmanned, nonlethal distributed systems that lie on the deep-ocean floor in special containers for years at a time. These deep-sea nodes could be remotely activated when needed and recalled to the surface.

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Virtual Worlds: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Simulator Tech

April 10, 2015 – via Memorial University

GRi’s technology is used for product prototyping that can save AUV/ROV technology manufacturers substantial time and money. So accurate is GRi’s virtual ocean environment and dynamic performance that new technology designs can be tested at variable depths, current conditions, extreme conditions, and carrying out a range of activities, without the need to put an underwater vehicle overboard or even build it in the first place.

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Memorial University Spins off New R&D; Companies

April 10, 2015 – via Memorial University

The camera application has the potential to be a game-changer in cold, harsh and ice-prone environments like the Arctic, allowing Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to remain underneath ice, docking on the seafloor to recharge, greatly extending their operational range.

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LDUUV-INP, Swarming UAVs on display at Sea-Air-Space

April 10, 2015 – via Office of Naval Research

Naval leaders at the expo will address the significant science and technology advancements that have taken place under the LDUUV-INP program, including leap-ahead capabilities in UUV endurance, power and autonomy.

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Mapping the Abyss with AUV Photography

April 9, 2015 – via National Oceanography Centre

A new photographic processing technique developed by scientists at the National Oceanography Centre (UK), used a camera on the Autosub6000 AUV to enable them to take a continuous stream of high resolution photographs of life on the sea floor.

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Adventure Under Ice

April 9, 2015 – via Johns Hopkins University

Nereid will allow researchers to observe the little understood and important ecosystems below the moving polar sea ice, under massive glacial ice shelves such as the Ross Ice Shelf in the Antarctic and, at greater depths, in the immediate vicinity of the mid-ocean ridges such as the Gakkel Ridge of the arctic seafloor—where the Earth’s fiery interior meets near-freezing seawater.

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DOF Subsea to Launch AUV Service

April 7, 2015 – via DOF Subsea

The company will showcase its newest service, utilizing three Slocum Gliders, named the DOF Skandi Explorers

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Teledyne Gavia to Showcase New Products at Ocean Business

April 7, 2015 – via Teledyne Gavia

The Multibeam Profiler module, built for the Gavia AUV by Teledyne BlueView, is derived from BlueView’s 2250 kHz MB-Series sonar.

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Anglo-French project aims at using robots to fight underwater mines

April 6, 2015 – via Thales

When deployed, Thales sees the mine hunters of tomorrow as a fleet of underwater robots, unmanned surface vessels, towed sonars, and remote operated vehicles connected by Iridium satellite links as well as radio, acoustic, and direct cable links that allow the command ship, robots, local operations centers, and Reach Back data centers to remain in close communications.

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Keeping an eye, underwater

April 5, 2015 – via Defence Research and Development Organisation

The Indian Navy is planning to indigenously source 10 such platforms mainly for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), mine mitigation and sensor deployment

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Export Control Reform: Protecting National Security and Strengthening the U.S. Defense Industrial Base

April 3, 2015 – via US Department of Commerce

ECR makes it easier for businesses to engage in secure trade with our closest friends and allies, helps to create strong relationships between U.S. export suppliers and foreign customers, and strengthens the security of supply from small defense companies.

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Octopus-inspired robot is the fastest underwater robot based on the given power (w/video)

April 2, 2015 – via Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

The 27-cm long robot is inflated with water and once released, rapidly deflates by shooting the water out through an aperture at its base to power its propulsion. As the rocket contracts, it can achieve more than 2.6 times the thrust of a rigid rocket doing the same manoeuvre, while creating minimum turbulence

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New robotic vehicle provides a never-before-seen look under Antarctica (w/ Video)

April 2, 2015 – via Georgia Tech

The sensors on Icefin are helping scientists understand how the ocean affects properties of the ice, and how the ice affects properties of the ocean. The exchange between ocean and ice is a process that mediates biology, affects the climate system and controls the stability of glaciers.

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Robot fish to track real ones

April 1, 2015 – via Michigan State University Department of Engineering

The goal is for the robotic fish to become a commercial product for scientists to be able to carry around and use at their convenience

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Deep-sea robots set to make waves

March 30, 2015 – via Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology

The idea is to provide constant surveillance of the seas at low cost, using little energy.

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Call for Papers: MTS/IEEE Oceans 15 Washington

March 30, 2015 – via IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society

The deadline for submitting abstracts is 23 May 2015.

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This Duck Drone Could Spy on Enemy Subs

March 30, 2015 – via Naval Research Laboratory

Under its Flimmer program (for “flying swimmer”), the NRL team built a “Test Sub” — basically a submarine with wings —and simply worked around the fact that it was heavier than the typical drone. They took it on at least three test runs, dropping it from a plane at 1,000 feet. The test sub flew well enough, according to Edwards’s account, performing “as any other aircraft, controllable in three axes and exhibiting sufficient stability for man-in-the-loop flight.” The team then guided it along the surface of the water at 40 knots (about 46 miles per hour) “before sending it beneath the waves where it performed like a regular UUV,” or unmanned underwater vehicle.

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Underwater glider touches down in Wellington

March 30, 2015 – via National Institute of Water and Atmosphere

The Slocum Glider is one of about 500 around the world but is the first in New Zealand.

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