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MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2

Autonomous Tandem Ocean Mapping

Alternative title: Autonom Tandem Hav Kartlegging

Awarded: NOK 12.5 mill.

Project Manager:

Project Number:

321592

Project Period:

2021 - 2023

Imagine that you want to assess the impact of climate change on a coral reef, investigate matters on the seabed, or inspect a net in an aquaculture seafarm. Today, this is typically accomplished with remotely operated vehicles (ROV), controlled from a manned vessel. The Autonomous Tandem Ocean Mapping (ATOM)-project has resulted in the development of a system for carrying out such operations completely remote, unmanned, and with a higher degree of autonomy by combining an unmanned surface vessel (USV) and an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). With this system, underwater inspection and survey tasks that previously have been carried out through manned operations can be entirely carried out remotely. By replacing a manned vessel with a smaller, unmanned boat for launching and recovering the UUV, this system contributes to cost efficient and environmentally friendly solutions in maritime research and industry. Over the course of the project, the project partners Maritime Robotics , Skarv Technologies and Ecotone have developed a ready prototype for autonomous mapping and inspection of ocean spaces and maritime structures. The system comprises a four meter long UUV, Otter X, developed by Maritime Robotics. Otter X is equipped with a custom launch and recovery system (LARS), able to carry, deploy and recover a small, lightweight UUV, with onboard technology developed by Skarv Technologies. The UUV carries an underwater hyperspectral imager (UHI), developed by Ecotone. This sensor is capable of identifying materials on the seabed, by collecting information from the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Furthermore, the UUV is connected to the USV by a robust tether, enabling communication between the vessels during the operation. Additionally, the UUV is able to communicate directly with an operator on land. This makes it possible to conduct everything from launch, mission planning and execution, to recovery completely unmanned. UHI- and videodata from sensors onboard the UUV is streamed in realtime to the operator through a graphical user interface, where the operator also has a complete overview of both of the vessels. This project has driven the development of Maritime Robotics’ next generation of unmanned vessels, Otter X, forward. This four meter catamaran is a larger version of the Maritime Robotics most sold USV, theOtter, allowing longer operations and heavier payloads, even another vessel, to enable oceanspace autonomy. Additionally, Maritime Robotics has further developed their on-board software in order to support remote and unmanned operations with an underwater vehicle, as well as designing, building and integrating a custom launch and recovery system. Skarv Technologies has developed an autonomous tethered UUV, built on the BlueROV platform. It is customized for the UHI sensor and consists of a specialized lighting rig to optimize the quality of collected data. This novel vessel is a light-weight, highly sophisticated sensor platform that enables detailed mapping of underwater oceanspaces. To make autonomous operations possible, Skarv Technologies has developed a navigation and guidance system for the UUV. Their prototype has been demonstrated for Bergen municipality through the project Renere Havn Bergen. During this project, the vessel gathered data in the fjord Store Lungerådsvann outside of Bergen. In addition to developing unmanned vessels, Maritime Robotics and Skarv technologies have developed software for the autonomous operation of the tandem system. This includes a communication protocol between the vessels, software drivers for the acoustic modems, and support for defining and forwarding mission plans from land, directly to the USV. To maintain an appropriate distance between the vessels during the operation, a mode for following the UUV is used on the USV. Ecotone has developed a method for reflectance estimation based on preliminary light models, which is currently being tested on real recordings and further refined. Ecotone has also developed a specially designed lighting system for the UHI, scientific measurements of the new light source have been conducted, and Ecotone is ready to implement user interfaces and make the developed reflectance estimation available for customers. The project work has been an iterative process, with phases of cooperative field tests at Maritime Robotics headquarters in Trondheim, followed by improvements to the technology. Early in the project, acoustic modem drivers were developed, tested and improved. Throughout 2021 and 2022, a series of tests without the launch and recovery system were conducted, using the Otter as the USV ensuring communication, interfacing between the vehicles, remote operation of the UUV, formation mode between the vessels, and streaming of UHI sensor data back to land. During the last year of the project, the focus was shifted to the LARS and the development of Otter X, to allow the complete solution to be tested.

ATOM-prosjektet har bidratt til å legge til rette for nye løsninger i forskning og maritim industri. Prototypen kan videreutvikles til å bli et kommersielt levedyktig produkt og kan tilby nye verktøy for å gjennomføre kartlegging og undersøkelser i maritime flater. Dersom slike løsninger tas i bruk kan dette ha en rekke positive konsekvenser for forskning, industri og samfunnet som helhet. Ettersom systemet bruker en ubemannet farkost som plattform for ROV operasjoner, tradisjonelt utført fra bemannede båter, kan dette spare bedrifter og forskningsinstitusjoner for kostnader knyttet til drivstoff og mannskap. På et samfunnsnivå vil dette også kunne bidra til å redusere utslipp av klimagasser, ettersom plattformen er helelektrisk. I tillegg kan ubemannede operasjoner bidra til å øke sikkerheten. I tillegg til å erstatte eksisterende løsninger for ROV-operasjoner, med mer kostnadseffektive, mer miljøvennlige og sikrere løsninger, vil denne teknologien også muliggjøre nye måter å gjennomføre slike operasjoner på. En ubemannet plattform vil potensielt kunne operere over lang tid eller i omgivelser som ikke er tilgjengelige for større, bemannede båter. Dette kan bidra til å samle inn data på en ny måte, i nye omgivelser. Med en ubemannet kartleggingsløsning vil fenomener i havbunnen som varierer over tid kunne monitoreres og dermed gi ny og viktig innsikt i maritim forskning. Prosjektet har også vært viktig for prosjektpartnerne. Gjennom prosjektarbeidet har ATOM bidratt til kompetanseheving, økt tverrfaglig samarbeid og ny teknologiutvikling. Behovet for en USV plattform med kapasitet til å frakte en UUV som nyttelast har drevet frem utviklingen av Maritime Robotics’ OtterX. Denne nye USV-en i løpet av prosjektet har blitt et kommersielt produkt som snart tilbys til industrien. I tillegg har prosjektet vært en katalysator for Maritime Robotics’ teknologiutvikling. Behovet for en farkost som skal kunne fungere som en fjernstyrt plattform har drevet frem videre utvikling av styrings- og navigasjonssystemer for autonome operasjoner. Skarv Technologies har gjennom prosjektet lagt grunnlaget for et nytt produkt for selskapet - en kostnadseffektiv UUV for høyoppløselig optisk havbunnskartlegging. Metodikken har vært demonstrert gjennom flere kartleggingsoppdrag for kunder i parallell med ATOM. Ecotone har gjennom prosjektarbeidet hatt mulighet til å gjennomføre datainnsamling og testing av nyutviklet sensorteknologi, uten behov for en bemannet båt. Prosjektet har gitt partnerne mulighet til å utveksle kompetanse, ideer og meninger, og har dannet grunnlag for videre samarbeid. Samarbeid mellom teknologibedrifter som alle jobber i det maritime domenet, men med ulik teknologi, vil kunne muliggjøre nye løsninger og teknologiutvikling som den enkelte teknologibedriften ikke kan iverksette alene.

The ATOM project will create a marine multi-vehicle sensor system combining an unmanned surface platform (USV) with an unmanned underwater platform (UUV) carrying an underwater hyperspectral imager (UHI). The combined system will be specialized for subsea surveys to enable end users to cost-effectively run frequent surveys both in mid water and at the sea floor. The system will autonomously survey specified target areas without operator intervention, while providing live data streams. The system will be a “swiss army knife of ocean exploration” and constitutes a fundamental shift in ocean sensing practices for the following reasons: * It creates the ability to rapidly carry, deploy & recover a sensor-carrying platform at depth and over large areas. * It ensures high bandwidth data and power link from air to seabed, extending communications from sensors such as the UHI to the surface. * It enables autonomous operation and optimization of data collection without surface ships or human interaction. ATOM thus develops the first system to autonomously deploy and recover underwater platforms with hyperspectral sensors, capable of a wide range of applications, from environmental surveys to identification of objects based on their reflective properties.

Funding scheme:

MAROFF-2-Maritim virksomhet og offsh-2