The Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Showcase (UVVS) has frequently been a feature at Oceanology International 2016 (OI 2016). This year the conference strand has been expanded to cover autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), and has been extended to a day and a half-long conference. Like all OI conference sessions it is free-to-attend.
âThe half day on Wednesday 16 March will concentrate on technology and instrumentation; then the full day on Thursday will focus on the future of AUV operations, applications for AUVs, swarm robotics and surface vehicles,â explained Event Director, Jonathan Heastie of Reed Exhibitions. âThe contents of the conference stream are mirrored in the exhibits on the exhibition showfloor, OI has always been rich in UUVs and we are seeing an increasing number of ASVs on display.â
âBlessed with a very strong set of papers submitted, it has proved very hard to select those to be presented, even with the expansion of the programme by an extra half day,â explained conference co-chairs, Dr Bob Allwood, Chief Executive, Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) and the SUTâs Business Development Executive, Ian Gallett.
âThe presentations will cover a look into the future of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), their applications and, very interestingly, the increase in their cost-effectiveness by deploying them in swarms. Also included are autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) and a detailed look at some of the developments in technology that these and the AUVs can utilise to further increase their usefulness. Apart from looking into the future with the reports of new developments, results from trials and operations are also reported. This promises to be a very interesting and informative day and a half, and one not to be missed by anyone with an interest in the future of autonomous vehicles at sea,â they continued.
Under the heading âTechnology and Instrumentationâ there will be five presentations on the morning of Wednesday 16 March following the opening remarks by Bob Allwood and Ian Gallett.
The first speaker is Mark Atherton, Manager of Business Development and Special Projects at Kongsberg Mesotech Ltd looking at âTechnical innovations to domed scanning sonar improve performance in deepwater operationsâ.
This will be followed by âExtremely rugged but thin, buoyant optical cablesâ delivered by Stephen OâRiorden, Director of Business Development at Linden Photonics.
Angus Lugsdin, Business Development Manager of Tritech International will then give his views on âA new approach to acoustic velocity logs for underwater navigationâ; prior to a look at âRemotely controlled subsea drillâ by Rodrigue Akkari, Director, Applied Concepts in Data Acquisition.
The final speaker of the morning is Pere Ridao, Director of the Computer Vision and Robotics Research Institute at the University of Girona who will talk about â3D areas with strong relief with hovering capable AUVsâ.
Moving on to the second day of UVVS (Thursday 17 March) the morning will start with Graham Lester, Vice President, Hydroid Incâs look at âWhere do we go from here? â The development of the next generation Autonomous Underwater Vehicle technologyâ.
âSwarm Roboticsâ then come under the conference spotlight with three compelling presentations. The first is by Luc Simon of RTSYS, on âAn effective swarm of high-speed compact and long endurance AUVsâ; to be followed by âSwarm AUVs for environmental sensing at high spatial resolutionâ being given by Felix Schill, co-Founder of Hydromea SA. The final speakers in the session are Dr Chris Haworth, Business Development Manager, SeeByte and Dan Hook, Managing Director, ASV with their joint presentation on âDeveloping adaptive behaviours for unmanned and autonomous maritime systemsâ.
These presentations are followed by a four paper session on AUVs and their applications. Total Meocean Specialist Lattes Philippe will speak on âUnderwater glider platform survey for oil and gas explorationâ; to be followed by Roland Rogers, Maritime Sector Lead at the National Oceanographic Centre telling his audience about âAdvancing deep sea operations for unmanned vehiclesâ; with Per Espen Hagen, Senior Principal Engineer, Kongsberg Maritime looking at âPipeline tracking with AUV: Operational experience and lessons learnedâ; and BG Groupâs Subsea Developments Manager, Phil Bremner, delivering âFlatfish â A compact subsea resident inspection AUVâ.
âSurface Vehiclesâ is the final session of the conference stream. Justin Manley, Managing Director, Just Innovation LLC will speak on âASVs as tow platforms: Wave Glider experience and resultsâ; to be followed by Vegard Evjen Hovstein, CEO of Maritime Robotics AS with âUnmanned Surface Vehicles (USV): an efficient tool for maritime data acquisitionâ; and lastly James Cowles, Science and Survey Product Manager, ASV will talk about âUsing autonomous surface vehicles for Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM)â.
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Edited from press release by