Community News

New SeeStar camera system allows researchers to monitor the depths without sinking the budget

February 2, 2015 – via Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

In designing SeeStar, Kecy worked closely with Mechanical Engineer François Cazenave and Software Engineer Mike Risi. They ended up with a system that costs just under $3,000 in parts, but can operate as deep as 300 meters (almost 1,000 feet) for months at a time.

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Ice-Tethered Profiler

February 2, 2015 – via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

An autonomous instrument for sustained observation of the Arctic Ocean

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Ice-Tethered Profiler

February 2, 2015 – via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

An autonomous instrument for sustained observation of the Arctic Ocean

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Oceaneering to Purchase C&C; Technologies

February 1, 2015 – via C&C; Technologies

Lafayette oil service company to be acquired for $230 million. C&C; will retain its name, and its headquarters will remain in Lafayette.

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Huntington Ingalls Industries Acquires Engineering Solutions Division

January 30, 2015 – via Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.

ESD will operate as Undersea Solutions Group, a subsidiary of HII, and will report to Newport News Shipbuilding’s Submarine and Fleet Support division.

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OceanServer Receives Orders for 6 New Iver AUVs

January 30, 2015 – via OceanServer

Four systems will be delivered to YSI/Xylem, one to Johns Hopkins, and one to Herriot Watt

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Bio-Inspired Autonomous Vehicles Expand Navy Littoral Capabilities

January 29, 2015 – via Naval Research Laboratory

Researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) have taken inspiration from nature — from fish, in particular — to design and develop novel underwater propulsion, control, and sensing solutions for near-shore and littoral zone missions.

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Seismic Vessels Take On New Roles

January 28, 2015 – via Fugro

The vessel is equipped with a Kongsberg HUGIN 4500 autonomous underwater vehicle, which will be used to scan those portions of the search area that cannot be searched effectively by the equipment on other vessels

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Is America’s Dominance Below the Seas Coming to an End?

January 27, 2015 – via Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

New technology is also likely to mitigate the limited endurance of non-nuclear undersea platforms. This could enable unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to pick up some missions such as covert coastal surveillance and mining that previously required a manned submarine.

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HMAS Success Supports Argo Program

January 27, 2015 – via Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The global Argo program relies on over 3000 autonomous drifting sensors from around the world routinely collecting sub-surface observations from the earth’s open ice-free oceans. Around 800 floats need to be deployed each year to maintain coverage and replace those with exhausted batteries.

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A tale of two poles

January 26, 2015 – via University of Delaware

Tracking penguins and rescuing robots all in a day’s work for UD researchers

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Leidos Prototype USV Completes First Self Guided Voyage

January 26, 2015 – via Leidos

Controlled only by the autonomy system, and with only a navigational chart of the area loaded into its memory and inputs from its commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) radars, the surrogate vessel successfully sailed the complicated inshore environment of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

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Scientists developed `underwater Wi-Fi’ to control sea robots

January 24, 2015 – via Tomsk Polytechnic University

“The first results show a capacity for a 1.2 kbp/s connection under conditions of [underwater] constraints.”

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New ‘hybrid’ underwater vehicle prototype

January 23, 2015 – via Makai Ocean Engineering

This ‘hybrid’ autonomous underwater vehicle is called the Bottom-Skimming AUV, or B-SAUV. The B-SAUV is propelled by thrusters but can touch, glide along, and interact with the seafloor.

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Undersea Technologies Are Threat, Opportunity

January 23, 2015 – via Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA)

“UUVs could take over some submarine missions such as close-in surveillance,” Clark said. “Submarines could shift to more of a carrier mothership role, deploying UUVs.” The vehicles could be armed, he suggested, with new lightweight anti-torpedo torpedoes, and would also be able to carry out reconnaissance and surveillance missions closer to shore.

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Drill Project Reveals Sub-Ice Ecosystem Beneath Antarctic Ice Sheet

January 22, 2015 – via University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Scientists are learning a bit more about the ecosystems thriving beneath Antarctic ice. Using a hot-water drill and an underwater robotic vehicle, researchers have made some new discoveries about Antarctica’s geology and biology.

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Scientists ‘Bend’ Acoustic and Elastic Waves With New Metamaterials that Could Have Commercial Applications

January 22, 2015 – via University of Missouri

Creation of an elastic metamaterial with engravings that allow for the negative refraction of elastic waves.

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Advanced Navigation Launches Subsonus USBL

January 19, 2015 – via Advanced Navigation

The system features calibrated hydrophone array combined with an internal tightly coupled INS, all packed into a miniature titanium enclosure small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

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France Evaluates Bids for Anti-Mine Study

January 16, 2015 – via Defense News

The study for an unmanned system is a key part of the cooperative Maritime Mine Counter Measure (MMCM) program.

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A Smarter Undersea Robot

January 16, 2015 – via Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

Engineers seek to correct a curious deficiency

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