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nderwater ocean gliders, autonomous and even years. “And rather than measure surface ocean condi- unmanned, are critical for gathering data and tions or mapping the sea? oor, the glider is uniquely suited to providing insight into climate change, marine measure oceanographic and environmental conditions of the biodiversity, infrastructure and other applica- water column itself, given the sawtooth pattern of its ? ight.”

Utions. Gliders are one of many tools utilized Upcoming projects include the Sentinel Mission, a col- across the maritime industry, occupying a unique role laboration between Teledyne Webb Research and Rutgers thanks to their ability to explore remote and often extreme University and supported by the UN Ocean Decade. It aims locations. This versatility allows for the monitoring of dif- to send a Slocum Sentinel Glider on the ? rst-ever worldwide ferent trends and conditions, some of which are dif? cult to circumnavigation by an autonomous underwater vehicle. identify from larger vehicles or satellites. To ful? ll such an The mission will commence in the coming year, bringing important mission, gliders are continuously evolving and together a global community for unity, collaboration and advancing to better suit the requirements of the multifac- discovery, as well as inspiring the next generation of ocean eted ocean industry. scientists, added Quinn.

SENTINEL ON DUTY DATA AT HAND

Teledyne Marine, specializing in digital instrumentation Spray, a robotic underwater glider, is ful? lling the need for and imaging services, boasts the Slocum glider, with academ- publicly available data. Developed by the Instrument Develop- ic, military and commercial applications and web-based pilot- ment Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Sprays ing. About a year ago, the company delivered the ? rst ultra- can operate for several months at sea, typically in depths up high displacement (UHD) buoyancy engine for the Slocum, to 1000 meters and travelling 15 miles a day. They surface moving a total of 1.8L (1800 cc), or +/- 900cc, and allowing around every six hours, transmitting via satellite the informa- for faster movement through the water and larger hardware tion it collected underwater. payloads.

Building on the Slocum glider is the Slocum Sentinel, with an increased size of 13 inches in diameter and more than eight feet of length, allowing for over 3.5 times as many lithium primary batteries and up to eight sensors or hardware integra-

The Slocum Glider with the tions. The Sentinel will be driven by a buoyancy engine with a volumetric capacity of four liters, maintaining a standard

EK80 sensor integration.

glide speed of 0.75 knots. As a result, explained Shea Quinn,

Slocum Glider product line manager, “Sentinel Glider users will be able to monitor and collect ocean data while operat- ing with higher-energy and greater quantities of hardware/ sensors, over greater distances and more diverse operational areas, and for longer operational periods.”

In terms of sensor integrations, Teledyne introduced the

Kongsberg WBT Mini EK80 Echosounder as commer- cially available option on the gliders. “This technology uses active acoustics to identify and quantify a wide range of targets, including ? sh/plankton, bubbles, oil droplets, and physical oceanographic features such as turbulence,” said

Quinn. “We also collaborated with JASCO Applied Scienc- es and Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems at the REPMUS unmanned maritime systems naval exercise to demonstrate near-real-time passive acoustic detection and localization of underwater targets using three Slocum gliders equipped with four-hydrophone arrays.” “Compared to most other autonomous ocean vehicles, glid- ers have a distinctive advantage in terms of both mission en- durance and targeted data,” observed Quinn. Traditional au- tonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) measure mission lengths in hours, days and weeks, whereas glider missions can be measure in months or © Kimberlee McHugh www.marinetechnologynews.com 33

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