AUVfest 2008 is a unique opportunity to demonstrate and test the applications of autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, for both the Navy and NOAA archaeological research. Click image for larger view and image credit.
Explore the AUVfest 2008 expedition research area wreck Sites.
AUVfest 2008: Navy Mine-Hunting Robots help NOAA Explore Sunken History
May 12 - May 23, 2008
AUVfest 2008 is a unique opportunity to demonstrate and test the applications of autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, for both mine countermeasures and archaeological research. In total, 13 AUV systems are participating in the missions, which will take place in Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay. AUVfest 2008 is hosted by and based at The Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island. The Office of Naval Research and NOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Research are both sponsoring the event.
AUVs are unmanned, underwater robots akin to the Exploration Rover NASA uses on Mars. AUVs operate independent of humans, using their sensors to create maps of the ocean floor, record environmental information, and sense what humans have left behind. In military applications, such as hunting for underwater mines, AUVs can literally save lives. Since World War II, more U.S. Navy ships have been damaged or lost due to mines than all other causes combined. The Office of Naval Research supports and develops AUVs that can locate, classify, and neutralize underwater mines.
Perhaps surprisingly, the AUVs and sensors developed for mine countermeasures can be very useful to maritime archaeologists. Acoustic sonars, for instance, can scan broad areas of the bottom and provide fine-detail images of objects. Below-bottom imaging systems can generate tomographic, or sectional, images of buried objects. As interest grows in deep-water exploration, AUVs can play an important role in discovering clues about human history. One of the goals of AUVfest 2008 is to expose maritime archaeologists to the capabilities of AUVs and sensors in finding, mapping, and protecting shipwrecks and archaeological sites.
Through this collaboration, both federal organizations will benefit. NOAA archaeologists will test existing equipment, allowing them to try AUVs in real archaeological expeditions. Technology developers for the Navy will learn about the needs of a new set of users, driving them to create more flexible and robust systems. Considering both scientific and military objectives can drive new innovations and applications. The Navy and NOAA hope that their partnership will run deep, sustaining and strengthening in the future.
NOAA Podcast:
Learn what we hope to discover on this expedition with a video
or audio podcast on the mission. (Quicktime, 3 Mb.)
You can access the Ocean Explorer AUVfest 2008 News feed here:
Updates & Logs
Click images or links below for detailed mission logs and updates.
Mission Summary NOAA’s Frank Cantelas provides a mission summary, highlighting why AUVfest 2008 was a great success. NOAA’s collaboration with ONR and between maritime archaeologists and AUV technologists, highlights the theme, “Partnership Runs Deep.”
May 19 Discover why the AUV and maritime archaeology workshop between archaeologists, technicians and Navy agencies unanimously agreed that cooperation was critical for their success.
May 18 Many of the AUVs at AUVfest 2008 were developed for the Navy mine applications, but they can sense archaeological artifacts using the same systems, making the Navy’s investment in technology a dual benefit for the country.
May 17 Three Navy reservists acting as the expedition safety leads provide their straightforward perspective of the daily surprises happening during the missions.
Includes Videos
May 16 Monday and Tuesday, the first days of AUVfest 2008, we had some rough weather that spelled trouble for AUV systems. Includes Videos
May 15 Without a human operator, how does an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) find its way? Includes Videos
May 14 Rhode Island, the Ocean State, has more shipwrecks per square mile than any other state. We know of more than 2,000 ships that have sunk in its waters, and there are certainly many more.
