AUVSA - Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for Scientific Applications: A Conference to Promote Dialog Between AUV Developers, Engineers and Science Users

January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006

Dr. Hanumant Singh
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543

Program Manager: Mr. Justin Manley NOAA/OAR/Battelle

Related NOAA Strategic Plan Goal:
Goal 1. Protect, restore and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management.
Goal 3. Serve society’s needs for weather and water information.

Project Overview
A conference to facilitate dialog between Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) developers, engineers and science users was held at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, June 6-7, 2006. Funding for conference costs were provided NOAA’s Ocean Exploration program, NSF (Engineering Directorate through the Censsis Engineering Research Center), NSF (OCE), and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Deep Ocean Exploration Institute.

Accomplishments/Progress/Status
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) have, in the past decade, reached a high level of maturity in their application to marine geological, biological, chemical, and physical oceanographic problems. A variety of scientific and commercial AUVs have been designed, built and deployed for scientific applications from shallow water to 11,000 m depths. However, the broad scientific community has not been exposed to an up-to-date review of the relative merits of using different kinds of AUVs for different applications.

In order to best plan and propose a wide range of field research employing AUV technology, - not least in support of forthcoming Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) activities - the range of subjects covered by this workshop included:
• depth ratings, operational capabilities and costs of AUVs available to science;
• pros and cons of various hull designs (e.g., torpedo shaped vs. multi-hulled);
• available sensor packages (resolution, power requirements, operational guidelines);
• science requirements versus operational requirements in AUV missions;
• optimization of AUV characteristics for different types of operation/investigation (e.g., near-bottom bathymetry/geophysics, mid-water water column sensing, near-bottom photography);
• vertical integration of sensors, platforms and algorithms into finished science products.

In order to address the topics presented above and provide a forum for discussion between AUV researchers and scientists, a 2-day workshop was held at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on June 6-7, 2006 with the primary purpose of bringing together leading developers of scientific AUVs with leading scientific users. There were 105 registrants for the workshop, which included six sessions over the course of two days with 2 co-chairs for each session, 21 speakers during the six sessions, and a panel discussion to conclude the workshop, in addition to the dialog that continued outside the workshop agenda. The AUVSA Workshop spawned several special sessions at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in December 2006. The dialog established at the workshop and during the AGU meeting continues well beyond these venues.

Summary of Interaction with NOAA
In addition to the funding for the workshop provided by NOAA, representatives from NOAA were registrants, speakers, and panelists at the 2-day workshop. NOAA has been one of the core agencies in employing AUV technologies and applying them to oceanographic problems.

Summary of Education and Outreach Activity
We expected between 50 and 75 attendees to the conference with an even split between the engineering and science disciplines. Instead we had over 100 registrants with more than a dozen students and representation from industry in addition to the developers, engineers and scientists.

The workshop was comprised of six sessions over the course of two days with 2 co-chairs for each session, 21 speakers during the six sessions, and a panel discussion to conclude the workshop. The AUVSA Workshop spawned several special sessions at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in December 2006.

AUVSA: - Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for Scientific Applications:
A conference to Promote Dialog Between AUV Developers, Engineers and Science Users
Co-Convenors:
H. Singh, C. German, M .Tivey, T. Shank (WHOI) L. Mayer (UNH), L. Whitcomb (JHU),

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ~ Quissett and Village Campuses
Woods Hole, Massachusetts
June 6 - 7, 2006

Day 1: Tuesday, June 6, 2006 Clark 507 Quissett Campus
8:30 a.m.   Welcome, Hanumant Singh ,WHOI
8:35 a.m.   Opening Remarks, Robert Detrick WHOI

Session I
Session Co- Chairs
Ralf Bachmayer, National Research Council Canada
Ryan Eustice, John Hopkins University

8:50 – 9:20    Dana Yoerger WHOI , The ABE and Sentry AUVs
9:20 – 9:50    Maurice Tivey WHOI , Magnetic Mapping with ABE
9:50 - 10:20    Jeff Karson Duke University , ABE User Talk II
10:20- 10:30    Break ~ Coffee / Tea / Juice / Water and Pastries available in the Lobby

Session II
Session Co- Chairs
Kevin McCarthy, Hydroid LLC
Mark Patterson, VIMS William & Mary

10:30- 10:50     Scott Willcox, Joe Bondaryk, Bluefin Technologies
11:00-11:30    Art Kleiner, C & C Technologies
11:30-12:00    Jim McFarlane, ISE Technologies
12:00- 1:00     Buffet Lunch available in the Clark Lobby

Session III
Session Co- Chairs
Rich Camilli, WHOI
Brian Bingham, Olin College

1:00 – 1:30    Tom Austin WHOI , The REMUS AUVs
1:30 – 2:00    Glenn Gawarkiewicz WHOI , REMUS User Talk I
2:00 - 2:30    Mark Moline, California Polytechnic State University, REMUS User Talk II
2:30 – 3:00    Louis Whitcomb, Johns Hopkins University, The 11,000 HROV
3:00-3:10    Break ~ Soda / Juice / Water and Cookies available in the lobby .
AUVSA: - Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for Scientific Applications
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution ~ Quissett and Village Campuses
June 6 - 7, 2006

Session IV
Session Co- Chairs
Larry Mayer, CCOM- University of New Hampshire
Jennifer Reynolds, West Coast & Polar Regions Undersea Research Center (NURP)

3:10 – 3:40    Jim Bellingham, MBARI, MBARI AUV Operations for Science
3:40 - 4:10    Colin Ware/Roland Arsenault, UNH, Visualization of AUV data
4:10 - 4:40    Timothy Shank WHOI , Biological Mapping and Sampling with AUVs
4:40 – 5:20    John Ryan MBARI, AUVs as Elements of Ocean Observing Systems
6:30 – 8:00 Buffet Dinner     (Location: WHOI Quissett Campus Clark 507 )

Day 2: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 Redfield Auditorium – Village Campus

Session V
Session Co- Chairs
Milene Cormier, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Rob Reves-Sohn, WHOI
8:30 – 9:00 Steve McPhail, SOC, The Autosub AUV
9:00 – 9:30 Chris German WHOI , Chemical Sensing on the Autosub AUV
9:30 – 10:00 Henrik Schmidt, MIT, Acoustics Applications of AUVs
10:00-10:15 Break ~ Coffee / Tea / Juice / Water and Pastries available in Lobby

Session VI
Session Co- Chairs
Breea Govenar, WHOI
Jeff Williams, USM

10:15 – 10:45    Hanumant Singh WHOI , The Seabed, Jaguar and Puma AUVs
10:45 – 11:15    Elizabeth Clarke, NWFSC, “West Coast Groundfish Monitoring in Trawlable Areas”
11:15 – 11:45    Neal Driscoll, SIO, Mapping the Gas Blowout Site
11:45 – 12:15    Justin Manley, Battelle, AUVs at NOAA, From Research to Operations
12:15 - 1:15 Lunch (One Slide, five minute, presentations) Box Lunch available in Lobby .
1:15 – 2:30 Panel Discussion on AUVs for OOI
Panel:
James Bellingham, MBARI
Dan Frye, WHOI
Rocky Geyer, WHOI
Susan Humphris, WHOI
Dana Yoerger, WHOI

Last updated: August 19, 2008