Page 30: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2016)

The Ocean Aero Submaran

Next Generation of

Ocean Observation

By Kira Coley s the demand for coastal and open- various forms of autonomous vessels. Now a new gen- ocean observation increases through- eration in unmanned ocean systems, the “Submaran”, out the world, the need of informa- has entered the market as an autonomous, renewable tion in real-time has never been more powered unmanned vessel packaged in a small, man- important. The prohibitive costs of portable con? guration. As well as its affordability, the

Amanned research ships often result in Submaran is a revolutionary AUV, possessing capabili- fewer ocean surveys as well as compromises towards ties as the ? rst ever Hybrid vehicle. scienti? c objectives. Unmanned research vessels, such The Submaran ability to submerge allows it to navi- as autonomous underwater and surface vehicles, are gate storms and avoid traf? c while performing sub-sur- hailed as the solution at a time of reduced government face data collection tasks. The combined capabilities of budgets and heightened importance of oceanic studies. the Submaran represents a new level of ocean autonomy,

In a bid to solve the ocean observation challenges for survivability and self-suf? ciency. the military, scienti? c and oil and gas communities, “In our eyes, autonomy has four levels: remote con-

Ocean Aero has designed the “Submaran”: a new af- trol; directed autonomy; supervised autonomy and what fordable class of Unmanned Underwater, Surface Vessel we call, ‘terminator’ autonomy” explains Eric Patten, (UUSV), that combines the best of both surface and sub- CEO of Ocean Aero, “It is dif? cult to control unmanned surface technology into a completely new transformable vessels for long periods with remote control. With di- body, capable of missions in extreme conditions. rected autonomy, the operator provides waypoints and

The last several years has seen the rise of the Un- the vessel automatically adjusts the rudders, ? aps and manned Surface Vessel (USV) and the classi? cation of sail accordingly. ‘Terminator’ autonomy is when they

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