| Summary: |
The project PISCIS addresses the design and implementation of a modular, advanced and low cost system for ocean data gathering that includes two autonomous underwater vehicles, an acoustic positioning system, a docking station and sensing packages. The PISCIS is configurable for applications in real time oceanography, bathymetry, underwater archaeology, and effluents monitoring. The coordinated motion of the vehicles supported by the docking station allows a rapid ocean sampling, an essential requirement for the synoptic observation of oceanographic phenomena. Building on the technological capabilities of LSTS, the innovation in the development of an autonomous underwater vehicle, the acoustic positioning system for multiple vehicles, the multiple vehicle coordinated control system, and the docking station, is guided by the issues arising in solving real problems, which have been the subject of cooperation with reputed institutions: NUWC - Naval Undersea Warfare, University of Texas (UT), Texas, University of Califómia at Berkeley (UCB), USA and, in Europe, Cambridge University and VERIMAG - Institut d'lnformatique et Mathematiques Appliquées de Grenoble. The leadership and execution in projects in Portugal and USA demonstrate the technical and managerial capabilities of the research team. |