Mapping in the Background: Scalable capabilities using low-cost passive robotic systems for seafloor imaging
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering & the Environment
Abstract
This fellowship will develop a simple approach to collect large volumes of seafloor visual imagery using fleets of low-cost, passively-drifting underwater robots. Based on the concept of the Lagrangian imaging float outlined in Roman et al., 2011 [1], this fellowship will investigate how seafloor visual observations can scale to enable several orders of magnitude larger regions of the seafloor to be surveyed at significantly lower costs and reduced effort than is possible with today's RAI systems. To achieve this, novel methods will be developed to increase the endurance of these platforms from several hours to several weeks, and enable the location of each platform in the fleet to be determined in a globally consistent way. The images obtained will be packaged into 3D visual seafloor reconstructions along the trajectories taken by the platforms as they drift on near bottom currents. This will provide valuable data for a range of scientific studies and statutory monitoring applications. While the trajectories cannot be precisely targeted, sacrificing the ability to follow predefined track lines allows for a significant reduction in power consumption and can eliminate the need for the expensive sensors and acoustic tracking needed for real-time localisation of RAI systems in the GPS deprived underwater environment. Furthermore, the increased mission duration eliminates the need for daily deployment and recovery using expensive crewed research vessels that put humans in high-risk situations and rapidly exceed the cost of even the most expensive robotic platforms.
To demonstrate this concept, this fellowship will develop a fleet of low-cost platforms that can maintain a desired altitude while obtaining 3D images of the seafloor. Each platform will cost < £5k and have an endurance of several weeks. Novel methods to reduce energy consumption will be developed. This includes a buoyancy control system that can achieve neutral buoyancy at any depth even in regions where the density of seawater is not precisely known. An intelligent, low-power 3D imaging system will be developed together with a hybrid altitude and illumination control system that minimises energy consumption. This will adapt both the frequency at which images are acquired and the strength of illumination used in order maintain a high-quality of data while minimising the amount of energy needed to control the platform's altitude. In order to determine the location of the seafloor images, a novel approach that combines; matched features between sequential images to estimate the motion between acquisitions; seafloor depth observations of all members in the fleet; information available about the terrain and the physics of regional scale flow, will be used to determine the most likely trajectories of each platform. The concepts developed in this research will be demonstrated through a series of experiments carried out under controlled conditions and during field trials using a small fleet of passive drifters that will be deployed at sea.
[1] C Roman et al., Lagrangian floats as seafloor imaging platforms, Continental Shelf Research 31, 1592-1598 (2011)
To demonstrate this concept, this fellowship will develop a fleet of low-cost platforms that can maintain a desired altitude while obtaining 3D images of the seafloor. Each platform will cost < £5k and have an endurance of several weeks. Novel methods to reduce energy consumption will be developed. This includes a buoyancy control system that can achieve neutral buoyancy at any depth even in regions where the density of seawater is not precisely known. An intelligent, low-power 3D imaging system will be developed together with a hybrid altitude and illumination control system that minimises energy consumption. This will adapt both the frequency at which images are acquired and the strength of illumination used in order maintain a high-quality of data while minimising the amount of energy needed to control the platform's altitude. In order to determine the location of the seafloor images, a novel approach that combines; matched features between sequential images to estimate the motion between acquisitions; seafloor depth observations of all members in the fleet; information available about the terrain and the physics of regional scale flow, will be used to determine the most likely trajectories of each platform. The concepts developed in this research will be demonstrated through a series of experiments carried out under controlled conditions and during field trials using a small fleet of passive drifters that will be deployed at sea.
[1] C Roman et al., Lagrangian floats as seafloor imaging platforms, Continental Shelf Research 31, 1592-1598 (2011)
Planned Impact
The challenges addressed by this proposal have a direct impact on the cost and availability of RAI systems to make detailed observations in extreme and hazardous underwater environments. This contributes to the UK's industrial strategy, which identifies RAI technologies in extreme environments as a challenge area for future sectors, and the goals of the EPSRC for building the resilience needed for a prosperous nation. The stakeholders that will directly and indirectly benefit beyond academia are; 1) industry e.g. developers, manufacturers, distributer and operators through economic gain and end users through the advance of knowledge, 2) regulators in government and private sectors through benefits to society, 3) wider public through benefit to society and the skills of people.
Wider public: On decadal timescales, sustaining seafloor environments and their ecosystems contributes to the economy and social well-being of the general public through job creation (e.g. sustaining industrial activity such as offshore resource development) and security (e.g. understanding the risks posed by global hazards such as climate change and pollution). On shorter timescales of < 5 years, the activities in this fellowship will developed experts with the necessary skill set to deliver impact to UK industry in the RAI sector through collaboration and technology transfer. This combined with outreach and public engagement will raise awareness of RAI systems and inspire future generations of RAI researchers.
Regulators: The growing recognition of human impacts on the environment (e.g. global warming, marine plastics and mining as discussed in recent intergovernmental G7 meetings) drives governments and industry to consider the best practices for sustained environmental monitoring. Building knowledge and understanding through monitoring the impact of industrial activities (e.g. offshore oil and gas extraction, fishing, mining, development of infrastructure and decommissioning) on seafloor ecosystems can help ground estimates of the socioeconomic costs associated with these activities, which in turn can help governments formulate informed and effective conservation and resource management policies over timescales of < 10 years. The cost of meeting the UK government's commitment to the conservation of marine protected areas and responsible decommissioning of offshore infrastructure is dependent on the technologies available for adoption to make observations over the necessary spatial and temporal scales. The application of the low-cost methods for long-term, regional-scale seafloor monitoring developed in this fellowship can contribute to this goal by enabling responsible monitoring at orders of magnitude lower cost than what is possible using today's technologies.
Industry and end-users: The requirement for regional scale monitoring drives industry and end-user investment in the development of technologies and best practises that can be widely adopted. End-users can benefit from these methods by advancing our knowledge and understanding of the impact of human activities on the environment. Industries in the supply chain stand to make economic gains by seeing the technologies they have invested in become widely adopted, both in the UK and globally. The investment in skills needed within the UK to deliver the UK's industrial strategy and the transfer of these skills to industry will lead to future innovations in the RAI sector and continued industrial impact.
Wider public: On decadal timescales, sustaining seafloor environments and their ecosystems contributes to the economy and social well-being of the general public through job creation (e.g. sustaining industrial activity such as offshore resource development) and security (e.g. understanding the risks posed by global hazards such as climate change and pollution). On shorter timescales of < 5 years, the activities in this fellowship will developed experts with the necessary skill set to deliver impact to UK industry in the RAI sector through collaboration and technology transfer. This combined with outreach and public engagement will raise awareness of RAI systems and inspire future generations of RAI researchers.
Regulators: The growing recognition of human impacts on the environment (e.g. global warming, marine plastics and mining as discussed in recent intergovernmental G7 meetings) drives governments and industry to consider the best practices for sustained environmental monitoring. Building knowledge and understanding through monitoring the impact of industrial activities (e.g. offshore oil and gas extraction, fishing, mining, development of infrastructure and decommissioning) on seafloor ecosystems can help ground estimates of the socioeconomic costs associated with these activities, which in turn can help governments formulate informed and effective conservation and resource management policies over timescales of < 10 years. The cost of meeting the UK government's commitment to the conservation of marine protected areas and responsible decommissioning of offshore infrastructure is dependent on the technologies available for adoption to make observations over the necessary spatial and temporal scales. The application of the low-cost methods for long-term, regional-scale seafloor monitoring developed in this fellowship can contribute to this goal by enabling responsible monitoring at orders of magnitude lower cost than what is possible using today's technologies.
Industry and end-users: The requirement for regional scale monitoring drives industry and end-user investment in the development of technologies and best practises that can be widely adopted. End-users can benefit from these methods by advancing our knowledge and understanding of the impact of human activities on the environment. Industries in the supply chain stand to make economic gains by seeing the technologies they have invested in become widely adopted, both in the UK and globally. The investment in skills needed within the UK to deliver the UK's industrial strategy and the transfer of these skills to industry will lead to future innovations in the RAI sector and continued industrial impact.
Organisations
- University of Southampton (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Sonardyne International Ltd (Collaboration)
- NATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY CENTRE (Collaboration)
- University of Girona (Collaboration)
- University of Porto (Collaboration)
- University of the Balearic Islands (Collaboration)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY (Collaboration)
- Sonardyne International Limited (Project Partner)
Publications
Cappelletto J
(2019)
Micro-ballast dispenser for long endurance underwater mapping platforms
Thornton B
(2020)
Sizing Drop Weights for Deep Diving Submersibles Taking Into Account Nonuniform Seawater Density Profiles
in IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
Description | We have gathered environmental conservation data from marine protected areas in Norway and Spain using the platform developed in this research. The low cost platform has been deployed at sea and gathered information about cold water coral and seagrass distribution |
Exploitation Route | Driftcam platforms are currently written in to an EU grant to survey various marine environments for the HORIZON-CL6-2022-BIODIV-01-01 call |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine |
URL | https://ocean.soton.ac.uk/driftcam |
Description | The camera systems being developed have led to investment at Sonardyne into developing seabed imaging technology for their own internal research purposes. |
First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | (TechOceanS) - Technologies for Ocean Sensing |
Amount | € 8,975,662 (EUR) |
Funding ID | 101000858 |
Organisation | European Commission |
Sector | Public |
Country | European Union (EU) |
Start | 09/2020 |
End | 09/2024 |
Description | EPSRC Core Equipment at Southampton 2020 |
Amount | £704,499 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V035975/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 05/2022 |
Description | Scalable seagrass mapping using deep learning |
Amount | € 3,060 (EUR) |
Funding ID | SEA02_014 |
Organisation | EUROFLEETS |
Sector | Private |
Country | France |
Start | 08/2021 |
End | 10/2021 |
Title | Development of Driftcam prototye |
Description | A low cost passive drifting deep-sea imaging system has been developed. The platform can collect images of the seafloor by maintaining a fixed altitude off the seabed while drifting laterally on underwater currents. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | None yet. The system will be deployed in March 2020 under EUMR Autonomous habitat mapping in fjords. |
URL | https://ocean.soton.ac.uk/driftcam |
Title | Data and underwater imagery from Trondheim Fjord |
Description | Driftcam was deployed under the EU MR network to survey cold water coral. Data gathered is being prepared for uploaded onto the SOI Squidle image database platform. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | Led to collaborative work with NTNU in Norway |
URL | https://console.cloud.google.com/storage/browser/soi-uos-data/dy109/autosub6000/20190916_090456_as6_... |
Title | GRASS maps data from Balearic Islands |
Description | Data of seagrass (posedonia) distribution was gathered from a Marine Protected Area in the Balearic Islands |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2021 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | The dataset is released and currently being prepared for ingest into soi squidle |
URL | https://www.eurofleets.eu/2021/09/14/grassmap-to-set-sail-today/ |
Description | EUMR - Autonomous habitat mapping in fjords |
Organisation | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
Country | Norway |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A successful application under the EUMarine Robotics Research Infrastructure Network securing ship time and access to robotic platforms belonging to the NTNU. A joint research expedition to be conducted in Trondheim to monitor cold-water coral reefs in Trondheim Fjord. We will be deploying our passive robotic drifters to collect data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Universit of Porto and NTNU provide access and operational services for ships and robotic systems. University of Sydney is our research partner, and will deploy their own mapping drifters to collect data. Data processing algorithms developed at the University of Southampton and Sydney will be used to process data and make outputs publically available. |
Impact | The expedition will be in March 2020 so there are no outputs yet.. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EUMR - Autonomous habitat mapping in fjords |
Organisation | University of Porto |
Country | Portugal |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A successful application under the EUMarine Robotics Research Infrastructure Network securing ship time and access to robotic platforms belonging to the NTNU. A joint research expedition to be conducted in Trondheim to monitor cold-water coral reefs in Trondheim Fjord. We will be deploying our passive robotic drifters to collect data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Universit of Porto and NTNU provide access and operational services for ships and robotic systems. University of Sydney is our research partner, and will deploy their own mapping drifters to collect data. Data processing algorithms developed at the University of Southampton and Sydney will be used to process data and make outputs publically available. |
Impact | The expedition will be in March 2020 so there are no outputs yet.. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EUMR - Autonomous habitat mapping in fjords |
Organisation | University of Sydney |
Department | Australian Centre for Field Robotics |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A successful application under the EUMarine Robotics Research Infrastructure Network securing ship time and access to robotic platforms belonging to the NTNU. A joint research expedition to be conducted in Trondheim to monitor cold-water coral reefs in Trondheim Fjord. We will be deploying our passive robotic drifters to collect data. |
Collaborator Contribution | Universit of Porto and NTNU provide access and operational services for ships and robotic systems. University of Sydney is our research partner, and will deploy their own mapping drifters to collect data. Data processing algorithms developed at the University of Southampton and Sydney will be used to process data and make outputs publically available. |
Impact | The expedition will be in March 2020 so there are no outputs yet.. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EUMR - Visual Autonomous Habitat Mapping |
Organisation | National Oceanography Centre |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a competitively won access to european infrastructure to collect seafloor mapping data using platforms and ships belonging to the university of girona. It is covered by the EUMR facilities access Trans National Access program. |
Collaborator Contribution | We were originally going to deploy UoS robotic platforms and imaging systems to conduct a joint survey with Uni Girona, National Oceanography Centre, Australian Centre for Field Robotics. However, due to COVID travel will not be possible, and so data collection will be conducted by the local team (ie. Uni Girona) and this will be shared between the groups for data processing and analysis. |
Impact | Multidisciplinery between marine science and engineering. Outputs to be generated following a ocean expedition. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EUMR - Visual Autonomous Habitat Mapping |
Organisation | University of Girona |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a competitively won access to european infrastructure to collect seafloor mapping data using platforms and ships belonging to the university of girona. It is covered by the EUMR facilities access Trans National Access program. |
Collaborator Contribution | We were originally going to deploy UoS robotic platforms and imaging systems to conduct a joint survey with Uni Girona, National Oceanography Centre, Australian Centre for Field Robotics. However, due to COVID travel will not be possible, and so data collection will be conducted by the local team (ie. Uni Girona) and this will be shared between the groups for data processing and analysis. |
Impact | Multidisciplinery between marine science and engineering. Outputs to be generated following a ocean expedition. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | EUMR - Visual Autonomous Habitat Mapping |
Organisation | University of Sydney |
Country | Australia |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a competitively won access to european infrastructure to collect seafloor mapping data using platforms and ships belonging to the university of girona. It is covered by the EUMR facilities access Trans National Access program. |
Collaborator Contribution | We were originally going to deploy UoS robotic platforms and imaging systems to conduct a joint survey with Uni Girona, National Oceanography Centre, Australian Centre for Field Robotics. However, due to COVID travel will not be possible, and so data collection will be conducted by the local team (ie. Uni Girona) and this will be shared between the groups for data processing and analysis. |
Impact | Multidisciplinery between marine science and engineering. Outputs to be generated following a ocean expedition. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Eurofleets+ SEA Regional Call Proposal GRASSMAP |
Organisation | University of the Balearic Islands |
Country | Spain |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a competitively won opportunity to map seagrass off the balearic islands using platforms of our partner organisations. Our team lead the proposal and planning of the field expedition. |
Collaborator Contribution | The expedition will take place in September / October 2021 to map seagrass, and essential ocean variable off the coast of the baleric island. Platforms and sensors developed by UoS will be used, and data processing methods will also be used for the gathered data. |
Impact | none |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Sonardyne - Driftcam |
Organisation | Sonardyne International Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Development of a low-cost seafloor imaging drifter, advise and technology transfer for expertise in subsea imaging |
Collaborator Contribution | Support of manufacture, technology development, access to company facilities and mentoring, and phd industry sponsorship (90k GBP) for an international student |
Impact | Design of a mapping system and underwater lighting. |
Start Year | 2018 |
Title | oplab_pipeline |
Description | oplab_pipeline is a python toolchain to process AUV dives from raw data into navigation and imaging products. The software is capable of: 1) Process navigation: fuses AUV or ROV sensor data using state of the art filters and geolocalises recorded imagery. 2) Camera and laser calibration: performs automatic calibration pattern detection to calibrate monocular or stereo cameras. Also calibrates laser sheets with respect to the cameras. 3) Image correction: performs pixel-wise image corrections to enhance colour and contrast in underwater images. |
Type Of Technology | Software |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Open Source License? | Yes |
Impact | Open-sourcing this software has increased the interest of companies in us. They have contacted us directly and we are working on a licensing scheme. |
URL | https://github.com/ocean-perception/oplab_pipeline |
Description | BBC feature robotic survey of seagrass at studland bay |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Survey of Seagrass at Studland bay were carried out - the BBC featured the survey work. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-61320330 |
Description | Bournemouth Echo coverage of Studland Bay Robotic Seagrass Monitoring |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Bournemouth Echo covered Studland bay robotic seagrass survey activities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/20148158.seagrass-studland-bay-studied-scientists/ |
Description | Business booth at Oceans 2022 with Sonardyne International |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | A booth at an international conference with seafloor mapping robots on display. A youtube interview was produced which has ~300 views |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.unmannedsystemstechnology.com/video/sonardyne-discusses-smarty200-auv-payloads/ |
Description | Christchurch Sailing Club coverage of Studland Bay Robotic Seagrass Survey |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | Christchurch Sailing Club covered robotic survey of seagrass at Studland Bay |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.christchurchsailingclub.co.uk/article/studland-mcz-and-vnaz- |
Description | Grass maps in local news |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | An article about the marine protected area monitoring survey using driftcam was featured in the Ultima Hora spanish newspaper. https://www.ultimahora.es/noticias/local/2021/09/14/1300295/mar-balear-campo-investigaciones-alto-nivel.html |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.ultimahora.es/noticias/local/2021/09/14/1300295/mar-balear-campo-investigaciones-alto-ni... |
Description | Grass maps ship to shore |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A live Ship to Shore broadcast during the Driftcam survey of seagrass in a Marine Protected Area in the Balearic Islands. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=713911612855653 |
Description | IMaREST Our Oceans Our Future |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Research relating to subsea imaging was featured on the ITN IMaREST Our Oceans Our Future https://www.imarest.org/policy-news/institute-news/item/5199-ouroceans https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnojznA1BQo&feature=emb_title |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.imarest.org/policy-news/institute-news/item/5199-ouroceans |
Description | Invited seminar at Marum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 40 researchers from Uni Bremen attended the seminar |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.marum.de/Termine/Blair-Thornton.html |
Description | Invited seminar at Marum, germany |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | PI was invited to present research on underwater imaging (Driftcam, Biocam) to experts at the University of Bremen. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.marum.de/Blair-Thornton.html |
Description | Invited talk at DOOS (Deep Ocean Observing Strategy) panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Blair Thornton was invited to discuss advances in seafloor visual survey and automated data interpretation technologies at a DOOS panel that focuses on observations in the deep ocean to address the grand societal issues of climate change prediction and adaptation, ecosystem conservation, and sustainable management in the deep ocean. The goal of the DOOS project is the creation of a common statement of requirements and initial strategy for sustained global deep ocean observations; considering all Essential Ocean Variables, regions, and technologies so as to extract high impact, feasibile, and fit-for-purpose actions for the next 5-10 years. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Invited talk at Oceanology International 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Invited talk to discuss future of marine autonomy and present results of recent expeditions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.oceanologyinternationalamericas.com/en-gb/whats-on.html |
Description | Invited talk at the EOOS Technology Forum 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Invited talk entitled under the theme "Thinking ahead: The technology of the science we will need for the ocean we want" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.eoos-ocean.eu/events/eoos-technology-forum-2022-workshop/ |
Description | Invited talk at the European Subsea Cables Association (ESCA) Plenary 2022 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Blair Thornton gave a plenary on 'Re-imagining Subsea imaging' at the ESCA's 2022 meeting. ESCA is an organisation of submarine cable owners, operators and suppliers and is primarily aimed at promoting marine safety and protecting cable installations in European and surrounding waters |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.escaeu.org/ |
Description | Keynote at Underwater Technology 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Keynote presentation by Blair Thornton on advanced in seabed imaging. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://www.ut2021.org/ |
Description | Presentation at MATS 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The following presentation was selected by an organising committe for oral presentation at the industry focused MATS (marine autonomy technology showcase) Driftcam: A lagrangian float for scalable and low cost wide area seafloor imaging This was delivered by Dr. Miquel Massot Campos, who is a PDRA on this project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://noc-events.co.uk/mats-2019-day-2-presentations |
Description | Presentation at MATS2022 on seagrass monitoring |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation by Miquel Massot on "Automated interpretation of AUV imagery for monitoring seagrass distribution in Studland bay" |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://noc-events.co.uk/mats-2022 |
Description | Press release about robotic mapping techniques developed to monitor seagrass distribution in Studland Bay |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Article about the robotic mapping technology used to monitor seagrass distribution at Studland Bay. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.southampton.ac.uk/smmi/news/2022/09/05-auv-smarty200.page |
Description | Press release regarding Studland Bay Robotic Monitoring of Seagrass |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | A press release describing survey activities to robotically monitor seagrass distribution at Studland Bay (Marine Conservation Zone). A youtube video was created and has had ~700 views. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2022/08/studland-bay-seagrass-survey.page |
Description | Reimagining Seabed Imaging |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Invited seminar talk at the winchester school of arts on marine survey |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Stand at MATS2022 (Marine Autonomy Technology Showcase) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | University of Southampton stand at the MATS2022 event. BioCam and other mapping systems were on display, with information about the AT-SEA project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://noc-events.co.uk/mats-2022 |
Description | Swanage news coverage of Studland Bay Seagrass Robotic Survey |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Swanage news wrote an article on seafloor robotic survey activities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.swanage.news/researchers-to-map-studlands-seagrass-using-robots/ |