Page 23: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2018)

Professor Asgeir Johan Sørensen, Norwegian

University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

Photo from NTNU AMOS, by Thor Nielsen

Initially, it was work in the oil and gas sector, to avoid risk to divers, that led to Norway to pursue remote operated subsea technolo- gies. It’s been more recently that the industry has been looking to develop “ more autonomous subsea systems, from processing equipment to subsea vehicles, such as pipeline tracking autonomous underwater vehicles.

the water column, having had to ? nd the plank- wavelength to classify and detect things that we ton in the ? rst place then follow it. haven’t been able to before. The possibilities are ”

These capabilities will be crucial when systems vast. are working with and around subsea oil and gas Sørensen also sees a “democratisation” of this systems, which is expected to be one of the main space. With cheaper satellites and commercial areas where autonomous systems are required, underwater drones available to the public, “ev- along with ocean science, says Sørensen. eryone can be an ocean scientist.” It’s a timely

For whatever the purpose, be it oil and gas availability of technology, Sørensen says. “Ev- exploration, renewables or aquaculture develop- eryone should be aware of the oceans, and how ment, shipping or ocean science, the range and we care for them. Putting plastics in the ocean, capability of subsea equipment and ancillary and we will not get away with that, the public will see support systems is expanding by the day, aided it more and more. by developments in ICT, nanotechnology and “We see there is huge potential for unmanned even biotechnology (for the snake motion used autonomous systems, from space to the sea? oor by Eelume, for example), including new mate- for mapping and monitoring of the oceans,” says rials, microe-electric-mechanical systems, and Sørensen. big data. As an example, systems are being de- How this world will be ruled and regulated in veloped which could sense and distributed forces yet to be answered. There are also concerns about along the body of an underwater vehicle, in or- cyber security. But, people also need to look at der to compensate for or reduce drag, says Sø- their business models, says Sørensen. “Where rensen. He also cites micro to macro actuation ever you are sitting, I would be worried about and sensing, and machine vision systems using my business model. There are changes going on, hyperspectral sensing which can take in any you need to be awake,” says Sorensen. www.marinelink.com 23

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