The latest Autosub Long Range (ALR) vehicle being developed under the Oceanids programme successfully completed its first live trials in the waters of Portland Harbour in Dorset, in May last year.

The new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), ALR1500 – named for the 1500m depth it can achieve – passed its first major test in Portland Harbour with flying colours, successfully demonstrating its integration with the unified web-based Command and Control (C2) software platform that has been developed in parallel by the NOC in partnership with the Scottish Association for Marine Science. These trials demonstrated that the vehicle’s hardware and software systems are communicating effectively with each other, which provides a solid platform as increasingly advanced features are introduced.

Following the Portland trials, ALR1500’s next test was in the waters of Loch Ness, Scotland where two of the three new vehicles (ALR5 and ALR6) went through their first round of commissioning trials. The vehicles carried out a range of test missions of increasing complexity across three weeks in July and August 2019 to test the vehicle’s enhanced functionality, including Terrain Aided Navigation and environmental profiling capabilities.

Oceanids is a £16 million Marine Autonomous Systems (MAS) development programme funded by the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund and being delivered and led by the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in partnership with the Scottish Association for Marine Science, University of Exeter, University of Southampton, and industry partners, which aims to reinforce the UK’s position as a global leader in marine science and technology.

The programme draws upon engineering and science expertise from across a wide range of UK academic, industry and government organisations. The primary aim is to develop enhanced data collection and delivery capability for the UK marine science community, particularly in unexplored and technologically challenging under-ice and deep-ocean environments.

Oceanids will deliver two new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) classes: three 1500m depth-rated Autosub Long Range vehicles (ALR1500) that will have longer endurance and greater payload capacity compared to the current vehicles; and a 2000m depth-rated Autosub capable of carrying high-power sensors and operating under ice (Autosub2KUI). The programme will also deliver enhanced 'command-and-control' (C2) and data management systems for efficient MAS fleet operations, and a range of new sensors to maximise science output from the new platforms. There will also be a series of sea trials to ensure the new capabilities are ready for science deployments anywhere in the ocean. Further details on the programme can be found at:

https://noc.ac.uk/projects/oceanids

 

BioCam – developed by the University of Southampton under the Oceanids programme – is a unique 3D visual mapping system based upon a stereo camera and laser scanner which obtains highly detailed colour images and topographical measurements of the seafloor, such as the cover of live cold-water coral within marine protected areas. This sensor has been designed to integrate with the Autosub 6000, Autosub Long Range and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Isis underwater platforms operated by the NOC.

BioCam played a key role in the recent expedition on board RRS Discovery to the Darwin Mounds off the coast of Scotland, where it was deployed on the NOC’s Autosub 6000 and captured some striking imagery such as the whale carcass (below).

Following a joint meeting between the NOC, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and Government representatives on 17 September 2019, it was confirmed that the NOC will become a legally independent self-governing organisation from 1 November 2019 – a charitable Company Limited by Guarantee with a trading subsidiary for undertaking work of a more commercial nature.

The NOC has pursued becoming a legally separate entity from its previous embedding within NERC/UKRI to equip the Centre with the freedoms it needs to develop as a world-class research institution - such as being able to grow the business and keep financial reserves to reinvest in promising areas of science, and to manage the risks of year-to-year variations in funding.