New Technologies to Enhance Subsea Operations and Autonomous Environmental Monitoring
Underwater environmental monitoring plays a vital role in comprehending and preserving the well-being of our oceans. However, conducting such monitoring in challenging marine environments poses significant difficulties. To address these challenges, the SubSea Engineering lab at the Hatter Department of Marine Technologies is dedicated to pioneering innovative projects. Three projects will be presented: 1) Obstacle Avoidance – Harnessing New Sensor Fusion Technology: Efficiently navigating through confined underwater spaces is crucial for successful autonomous operations. Our project focuses on developing a cutting-edge obstacle avoidance system, integrating advanced sensor fusion technology. 2) Final Approach to an Underwater Docking Station Based on Magnetic Navigation: Establishing underwater docking stations is essential for extending operational capabilities and optimizing resource management. In this project, we present our progress in creating an extremely accurate final approach navigation toward an underwater docking station based on an artificial magnetic field. 3) Development of a Lagrangian Float for Internal Wave Hunt: Understanding internal waves is pivotal for unraveling ocean dynamics and their influence on climate patterns. Our novel float project focuses on designing an autonomous platform to operate as a Lagrangian float capable of autonomous monitoring the water column, collecting data, and analyzing the existence of internal waves. The development of the platform will be presented.