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Community News for December, 2009
OceanServer Delivers Iver2 AUV to Naval Surface Warfare Center
December 16, 2009 — via OceanServer
OceanServer Technology announced today that it has recently delivered an Iver2 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head Division. NSWC will use the Iver2 AUV for sensor development, general research, and in-water evaluation of new sensors. The Indian Head Division has a long track record of critical research for the US Navy and is recognized as the nation’s premier resource for energetics technology, development & innovation, and technology-based solutions.
Ocean Observation: Upcoming RFP Details
December 16, 2009 — via Marine Technology Reporter News
The Coastal and Global Scale Nodes (CGSN) Implementing Organization (IO) of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) plans to issue several Requests for Proposal (RFPs) during the coming year, some as early as December 2009.
Deep-sea glider The first robot to cross the Atlantic offers new possibilities for ocean and climate research
December 15, 2009 — via Washington Post
She was at sea for 221 days. She was alone, often in dangerous places, and usually out of touch. Her predecessor had disappeared on a similar trip, probably killed by a shark. Yet she was always able to do what was asked, to head in a different direction on a moment's notice and report back without complaint.
Slam dunk for future smart robots
December 14, 2009 — via Cordis
“What does the world look like?” and “where am I?” are two questions robots must solve if they are to act autonomously in an unknown environment. Work by European researchers will help future robot generations provide smarter answers. The process by which robots use vision, laser and/or sonar sensors to map an environment and, at the same time, determine their location in it is known as Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM), a field of robotics that has been the focus of intense research for three decades.
Undersea battle scenarios worry defense planners
December 9, 2009 — via UPI
The prospect of hostile forces aiming to attack Western targets by stealth through underwater channels is worrying defense planners so much that naval strategists have called a conference that will focus on the problem.
The conference, "Underwater Battlespace 2010," is scheduled to take place in London in January 2010. Conference organizers said specialist discussion panels will bring together naval experts from across the world to highlight securit
Underwater Drone Carries Out Record Inspection
December 8, 2009 — via Nikkei Business Daily
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. said Monday that its RTV-KAM unmanned underwater vehicle completed inspection of a 2,500-meter stretch of a water channel, over 60% longer than the previous domestic record. The vehicle inspected the insides of intake and discharge channels at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s (9503) power plant in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture.
Glider Completes Historic Ocean Crossing: New Technology Advances Climate Understanding
December 7, 2009 — via NOAA
The glider, launched off the coast of New Jersey last April, repeatedly dove to depths of up to 200 meters to collect data including temperature, salinity and density. Scientists correlate these data with those from satellite imagery and altimetry, radar systems and seafloor and buoy-mounted sensors to get a more detailed view of a particular patch of ocean in near real time. The glider’s constant motion offers a more comprehensive view of ocean conditions in time and space than the static measurements usually taken from the deck of a ship.
Open Source Mission Planner Being Developed
December 6, 2009 — via Source Forge
A Mission planning system for IMTP (Institute of Marine Technology Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences) autonomous underwater vehicles has been posted on Source Forge as an open source software Project.
Rutgers submersible completes trans-Atlantic trip
December 4, 2009 — via Asbury Park Press
A robot submersible has completed the first trans-Atlantic Ocean crossing by an autonomous underwater vehicle, and should be recovered early this morning by a team of Rutgers University researchers and their Spanish colleagues on a 150-foot buoy tender out of the port of Vigo.
A Closer Look at the Hudson Canyon Shows Why the Canyon is Critical for Fish
December 1, 2009 — via Rutgers University
Peter Rona, professor of marine science at Rutgers’ Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, and Vincent Guida, a research fisheries biologist at the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center, led the cruise which found the pits up to hundreds of feet in diameter and tens of feet deep this summer. Their findings will be presented at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Dec. 14-18, in San Francisco.