MarTERA:Integrated Technologies Longterm Deployment of Robotic Underwater platforms (INTENDU)

The motivation behind the project Integrated Technologies Longterm Deployment of Robotic Underwater platforms (INTENDU) was the need for cost effective method for long-term monitoring of the environmental effects of marine aquaculture. The overall goal of the international project was to develop technical solutions for monitoring fish and benthos around fish farms using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV). The goal of the subproject at Runde Environmental Centre was to facilitate testing of equipment for aquaculture-related environmental monitoring, focussing on two cases. The first one was monitoring of wild fish that are often attracted by fish farms. Aggregation of wild fish close to fish farms poses several risks to the environment and the health of both the wild and the farmed fish. The other case was monitoring benthic (bottom-dwelling) organisms that can be affected by organic waste from the fish farm. We made field observations of wild fish in the area around a fish farm in order to verify video observations that were made simultaneously using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). We prepared underwater filming by investigating the requirements and technical specifications of different solutions for camera, underwater housing, cables, power, and lighting systems, and made some preliminary tests. An underwater camera is now quasi-permanently installed in the kelp forest outside the environmental centre, streaming video continually to a webpage and to screens at our visitors? centre. Throughout the project we have collaborated closely with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Ålesund. In addition to field observation and technical testing mentioned above we have made seabed video footage available for use in their development of machine learning software for automatic identification of benthic organisms and their tracks in the sediment of the seabed. Our work has contributed to research that has led to several scientific articles and a PhD thesis at NTNU. We have increased our knowledge about underwater filming technology, how it can be applied to study wild fish and benthos and to monitor the environmental effects of marine aquaculture.

Resultata av feltarbeidet og testinga som er utført i delprosjektet har bidratt til NTNU si forsking som har vorte publisert i vitskapelege artiklar og ei snart ferdigstilt doktorgradsavhandling. Video-livestreamen frå tareskogen ved Runde Miljøsenter inngår som ein del av formidlinga om kystøkosystemet til allmenta. Vi har fordjupa kompetansen vår på visuell miljøovervaking under vatn, og vil bruke det i utviklinga av eit observasjonssystem for kystøkologi ved Runde.

A number of different tasks are nowadays already successfully performed with unmanned robotic platforms. Operations like ocean monitoring and exploration, bathymetric tasks or even inspection of underwater structures, are all good examples of tasks that be performed in an efficient and cost-effective way by AUVs. While the versatility of such platforms brings added benefits, its long term use is still very limited by the energetic autonomy of the vehicles. Therefore, deployment and recovery operations of the vehicle are always necessary, requiring non-negligible amounts of both time and personnel, but also of a support vessel. This leads to a significant impact in the operations costs. Enabling long-term unattended operations, without the need of a support vessel, would dramatically decrease the cost of operating such vehicles, making them more affordable. Persistent and/or long-term deployment of AUVs, for exploration and monitoring tasks, has been foreseen as a future development, The main drive for this project arises from concrete and specific needs for long term monitoring of fish-farm infrastructures. In specific, the the use of an AUV for those purposes would, on one side, allow the study of wild fish aggregations in such structures, and on the other allow a more continuous monitoring of the benthos under the fish farms. The development of a new era of technologies that enable the aforementioned tasks are the core of this project, in particular for both contactless underwater power transmission and wireless communications. On top of that, the development of the navigation and control strategies that enable the vehicle to perform its inspection and monitoring activities will complement the key technological challenges of the project.