Persistence Through Collaboration at Sea for Off-Shore and Coastal Operations

Collaboration (Bruzzone et al. 2013a, b, c, d, e, f) is often mentioned as an opportunity to develop new capabilities for autonomous systems; indeed this paper proposes a practical application where use this approach to enhance the autonomy of the systems during operations in coastal areas or around offshore platforms. The proposed case deals with developing a collaborative approach (Bruzzone et al. 2013a, b, c, d, e, f) among an USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle) with several AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) to guarantee persistent surveillance over a marine area (Shkurti et al. 2012). Obviously, the proposed solution could be adopted also for defense and homeland security (Bruzzone et al. 2011a, b, 2010) as well as for archeological site protection in consistence with related cost analysis. The authors propose a technological solution as well as a simulation framework to validate and demonstrate the capabilities of this new approach as well as to quantify expected improvements

Subsea inspection and monitoring challenges

Master's thesis in Offshore technology : industrial asset managementThis paper uncovers and suggests solutions for the challenges to control change over time more reliable and cost effective. Front-end concept engineering, design, inspection and monitoring strategies, technologies, systems and methods for Life-of-Field are recommended. Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) are identified as a possible cost- efficient opportunity to reduce cost of inspections and monitoring operations while safeguarding asset integrity. A recognized design spiral methodology is used to perform a front-end concept evaluation of an AUV system. Investigation of key technological limitations and new developments within underwater communication, energy storage and wireless power transmission is performed. It further enables opportunities such as AUV recharging station on the seafloor for better utilization. One major learning point is through the use of numerical models and the outcome being a better and more hydro effective hull design. One expectation from this paper may be the aid to collaborating partners in their design work

Renewable Energy Powered Autonomous Smart Ocean Surface Vehicles (REASOSE)

The REASOSE is not just an Ocean surface vehicle, its poly-type smart autonomous propulsion which eliminates the limitations of existing surface vehicles (remotely operated). The renewable energy source always proved to be abundance of availability in the environment, since the power created through renewable source with loss is engineering acceptance which can immobilise the vehicle. But REASOSE is a unique vehicle with poly-type propulsion incorporated with different renewable sources from the environment which furnishes the consistency of the vehicle inevitable. The REASOSE is a smart intelligent system of vehicle that autonomously switch over to the efficient propulsion as per the availability and in kind of any hindrances the vehicle acts smartly and reaches its destination contiguously. The proposed project novelty is not only stick to a line, the proposed vehicle serves to be change over for versatile applications, the vehicle will be incorporated with high definition live transmitted camera serves for coastal surveillance, deep sea monitoring and so on. The integrated CTD, ADCP and other oceanographic sensors can be a changeover in data collection at different area at required region and time. The stack-up space provides the transportation during unconditional or conditional mode of cargo transfer to required destination

Renewable Energy Powered Autonomous Smart Ocean Surface Vehicles (REASOSE)

The REASOSE is not just an Ocean surface vehicle, its poly-type smart autonomous propulsion which eliminates the limitations of existing surface vehicles (remotely operated). The renewable energy source always proved to be abundance of availability in the environment, since the power created through renewable source with loss is engineering acceptance which can immobilise the vehicle. But REASOSE is a unique vehicle with poly-type propulsion incorporated with different renewable sources from the environment which furnishes the consistency of the vehicle inevitable. The REASOSE is a smart intelligent system of vehicle that autonomously switch over to the efficient propulsion as per the availability and in kind of any hindrances the vehicle acts smartly and reaches its destination contiguously. The proposed project novelty is not only stick to a line, the proposed vehicle serves to be change over for versatile applications, the vehicle will be incorporated with high definition live transmitted camera serves for coastal surveillance, deep sea monitoring and so on. The integrated CTD, ADCP and other oceanographic sensors can be a changeover in data collection at different area at required region and time. The stack-up space provides the transportation during unconditional or conditional mode of cargo transfer to required destination

Evaluation of the potential for automation and robot technology, with focus on condition monitoring on static systems for topside offshore facilities.

Master's thesis in Offshore technologyDigitalization has become one of the most important development areas across industries and work processes. We know that this also has high focus in the oil industry today. Therefore, my contribution would be to try to see where the oil and gas industry is today, the trends and what are the potential moving forward. Automation and use of robot technology has developed very rapidly the last years. Technology trends indicates large potential for automated systems in maintenance and condition monitoring. We see that this technology is implemented to a large extent in other industries. The drivers for the oil and gas industry has historically been based on improved safety. We see now a potential for both cost avoidance, reduced downtime and less impact on the environment Maintenance and inspection is a large cost for the oil industry. In addition, these processes often cause shut down of the facilities. Condition monitoring and maintenance is based on the actual status of equipment and systems. Today’s technology makes it possible. In addition, robot technology has a potential for improving safety and reduce cost and downtime by avoiding human interactions. The oil and gas industry has not been a front runner compared to other industries. The conservatism driven by safety and reliability requirements might be one reason to this. At the same time, we see a growing interest and a lot of initiatives and developments. I have chosen to study topside static systems on offshore platforms. This to be able to narrow down the study. But in general, the descriptions, analysis and discussions may also be relevant for other systems

SWARMs Ontology: A Common Information Model for the Cooperation of Underwater Robots

In order to facilitate cooperation between underwater robots, it is a must for robots to exchange information with unambiguous meaning. However, heterogeneity, existing in information pertaining to different robots, is a major obstruction. Therefore, this paper presents a networked ontology, named the Smart and Networking Underwater Robots in Cooperation Meshes (SWARMs) ontology, to address information heterogeneity and enable robots to have the same understanding of exchanged information. The SWARMs ontology uses a core ontology to interrelate a set of domain-specific ontologies, including the mission and planning, the robotic vehicle, the communication and networking, and the environment recognition and sensing ontology. In addition, the SWARMs ontology utilizes ontology constructs defined in the PR-OWL ontology to annotate context uncertainty based on the Multi-Entity Bayesian Network (MEBN) theory. Thus, the SWARMs ontology can provide both a formal specification for information that is necessarily exchanged between robots and a command and control entity, and also support for uncertainty reasoning. A scenario on chemical pollution monitoring is described and used to showcase how the SWARMs ontology can be instantiated, be extended, represent context uncertainty, and support uncertainty reasoning.Eurpean Commission, H2020, 66210

Proceedings of the 2nd Annual SMACC Research Seminar 2017

The Annual SMACC Research Seminar is a forum for researchers from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, Tampere University of Technology (TUT) and industry to present their research in the area of smart machines and manufacturing. The 2nd seminar is held in 7th of November 2017 in Tampere, Finland. The objective of the seminar is to publish results of the research to wider audiences and to offer researchers a forum to discuss their research and to find common research interests and new research ideas. Smart Machines and Manufacturing Competence Centre - SMACC is joint strategic alliance of VTT Ltd and TUT in the area of intelligent machines and manufacturing. SMACC offers unique services for SME`s in the field of machinery and manufacturing - key features are rapid solutions, cutting-edge research expertise and extensive partnership networks. SMACC is promoting digitalization in mechanical engineering and making scientific research with domestic and international partners in several different topics (www.smacc.fi)

INTEROPERABILITY FOR MODELING AND SIMULATION IN MARITIME EXTENDED FRAMEWORK

This thesis reports on the most relevant researches performed during the years of the Ph.D. at the Genova University and within the Simulation Team. The researches have been performed according to M&S well known recognized standards. The studies performed on interoperable simulation cover all the environments of the Extended Maritime Framework, namely Sea Surface, Underwater, Air, Coast & Land, Space and Cyber Space. The applications cover both the civil and defence domain. The aim is to demonstrate the potential of M&S applications for the Extended Maritime Framework, applied to innovative unmanned vehicles as well as to traditional assets, human personnel included. A variety of techniques and methodology have been fruitfully applied in the researches, ranging from interoperable simulation, discrete event simulation, stochastic simulation, artificial intelligence, decision support system and even human behaviour modelling