The REP-AUV10 Experiment Shallow water surveys with a fleet of heterogeneous autonomous vehicles

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2011

Authors

Ricardo Martins (Author) FEUP; João Borges de Sousa (Author) FEUP; Carlos Carvalho Afonso (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Sea Technology

ISSN: 0093-3651

Publisher: COMPASS PUBLICATIONS, INC

Scientific classification

FOS: Engineering and technology > Electrical engineering, Electronic engineering, Information engineering

CORDIS: Technological sciences > Engineering > Control engineering > Robótica Robotics

Other information

Resumo (PT): The Recognized Environmental Picture 2010 experiment was devised by the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) and was to take place in the Alboran Sea with participants from 10 nations representing 27 organizations. The goals of this sea trial included centralized operation of a large and heterogeneous fleet of gliders and AUVs, and the utilization of autonomous vehicles and respective command and control software for battle-space characterization, with a focus on mine warfare-related research. Due to unforeseen logistics problems, the event had to be replanned, and the AUV experiments ceased to be a priority. The parties involved in the AUV-related experiments then chose to organize a new event to take place in the coastal waters of Setúbal, Portugal, in July 2010 that focused mainly on AUV operations. This event, REP-AUV10, was made possible due to a memorandum of understanding established in 2007 between Porto University and the Portuguese Navy. This agreement built on the successful deployment of AUVs from Porto University during the Swordfish 2006 exercise of the Portuguese Navy and targets the development of unmanned vehicle systems, with special emphasis on AUVs. This was the case of the SeaCon project, which was funded by the Portuguese Ministry of Defense under this memorandum of understanding. The main objective of this project consisted of the development of an open and low-cost AUV system for training and improvement of concepts of operation for shallow waters. The system will also be used by the Portuguese Navy to test and evaluate underwater technologies in a cost-effective manner and to develop specialized underwater warfare know-how, namely in mined environment warfare.

Language: Portuguese

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific