OceanServer Technology, a leader in commercial AUVs, has received a contract from SMART, in Singapore, for an Iver2 AUV outfitted with a variety of water sensors. The vehicle is one of several critical assets used by SMART for next generation environmental data collection and modelling. The vehicle will also be used for mapped-based navigation and algorithms for creation of solid models from AUV sensing systems.
The Iver2 is a low-cost, simple-to-operate AUV system that incorporates a truly ‘open’ software architecture and defined hardware interfaces. This unique design has enabled OceanServer to carve out a very strong position in the university space for autonomous underwater vehicles. Common payloads include GPS navigation, CTD probe, altimeter, side scan sonar, and several water quality sensors.
Each system includes the OceanServer VectorMap mission planning and data presentation tool, which provides geo-registered data files that can be easily exported to other software analysis tools. The VectorMap program can input any geo-referenced chart, map or photo image, allowing the operator to intuitively develop missions using simple point-and-click navigation.
About censam
The center for environmental sensing and modeling (censam) was established under the auspices of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) in January 2008 with support from the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF).
The grand challenge of censam is to provide proof of concepts in the paradigm of pervasive monitoring, modelling and control within the highly-developed and carefully-managed urban environment of Singapore. The long-term goal is to develop a representation of the natural and built environment that will seamlessly transition from micro-scale processes (at the level of an individual constructed facility, 1km-10km), to the meso-scale of the city-state of Singapore (10km-100km) and the macrosystem of the coupled biosphere-atmosphere-ocean (at the regional scale, 100km-1000km). Multiple resolution environmental models will assimilate remote sensing data from satellite and airborne platforms with ground observations from diverse sensor networks and mobile sub-marine AUV sensor platforms. The censam brings together a multidisciplinary team of MIT faculty with researchers from Singaporean academic institutions and industry.