Summertime At (and Under) the Beach

Maybe it's just the idea of spending summer days at the beach, or re-runs of Jaws, or just maybe fact the ocean isn't nearly as much fun in January. For whatever reasons, researchers this summer aren't just heading to the ocean--they're going under it.

For instance, submarines built by students teams from the UK, Norway, France and Spain are right now taking part in the first ever Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge Europe competition at Pinewood Studios where the underwater scenes in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and the James Bond movie Doctor No were filmed. Modeled on a similar competition in the U.S., SAUCE has been designed to advance Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) technology.

To enter the competition, team had to design and build a submersible vehicle capable of carrying out a range of underwater tasks, such as swimming through a submerged gate, dropping markers onto targets and hitting a floating object. The challenge is made even harder in that the submarine has to be autonomous, meaning that it carries out these tasks without being directed by a human operator.

For example, the submarine built by the Bath University Racing Submarine Team (BURST) is about 1.5 metres long and 1 metre wide, has been built using parts from computers and other everyday equipment, including a controller from a Sony PlayStation. It is powered by four flippers which, acting like a fish, both steer and drive the vehicle along. It also includes two webcams to help the vehicle recognize the targets and navigate through the water.

Meanwhile, in Monterey Bay, California, a fleet of undersea robots are working together to make detailed and efficient observations of the ocean without the aid of humans. The Adaptive Sampling and Prediction (ASAP) project, conducted by a multidisciplinary team of oceanographers, marine biologists, and researchers in control and dynamics, involves underwater robots, known as "gliders," that will take the ocean's temperature, measure its salinity (salt content), estimate the currents and track the upwelling.

Inspired by the behavior of schools of fish, a group at Princeton University has created algorithms that allow the gliders to self-choreograph their movements in a series of rectangular patterns. The patterns span a large volume that the scientists have mapped in Monterey Bay. On a day-to-day basis the control algorithms let the gliders make decisions independently about how to alter their course -- without any input from humans. This day-to-day autonomy enables the gliders to move according to the organized patterns, even as they are buffeted by strong currents.

In addition to gliders, the ASAP ocean-observing network also includes research ships, surveillance aircraft, propeller-driven vehicles, fixed buoy sensors, and coastal radar mapping. The ASAP field operation is one of four marine research initiatives taking place during the summer in Monterey Bay.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 09:35 AM  Permalink