Page 51 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No1

TQ&A with Mark Moline
he College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE)
opened the Robotic Discovery Laboratory (RDL) at the Hugh R. Sharp Campus in Lewes last August, consolidating the college’s environmental robotics capabilities and bring- ing together a variety of research technologies.
UD RESEARCH recently talked with Mark Moline, direc- tor of the School of Marine Science and Policy, about the capabilities and uses of the robotic fleet.
UUVs can be split into two groups: auton- omous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and tethered underwater vehicles known as remote operated vehicles or ROVs.
The UUVs can map and measure, re- cord video, and capture photos and side- scan sonar images. The UAVs, or flying drones, can survey coastlines, marshes, beaches and more.
Q: How do CEOE researchers choose vehicles for different jobs?
MOLINE: Which vehicle is used for a specific mission is ultimately driven by the mission’s scientific goal. First, we consider our needs, including how long the robot needs to be at sea, how deep it needs to dive and what type of data we are trying to capture. Then we decide what system works best and customize the vehicle for the mission.
For example, if we are interested in visual data, we will choose a vehicle with optical cameras. If we are interested in gathering light data (irradiance), we might use a vehicle equipped with multispectral optical sensors. Several of the RDL vehi- cles have similar sensors (sidescan-sonar, cameras, etc.) but overall, it is the com-
bination of sensors, vehicle logistics and performance that dictate which vehicle is best suited for the scientific mission.
One configuration of a vehicle can be used for many different missions. Wher- ever possible, the vehicles are preconfig- ured in the RDL before being deployed, but, if this is problematic, the equipment is transported and assembled on loca- tion. In all cases, researchers carry spare equipment because it’s difficult to acquire additional parts or devices while at sea.
Q
MOLINE: The RDL fleet includes more than a dozen robotic systems, including unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Q
MOLINE: Our robots have been deployed on aquatic research missions
all over the world, including the Arctic, Antarctica, the Caribbean, Canada, New Zealand, Turkey and Brazil. In the United States, they’ve helped researchers collect data in California, the Gulf of Mexico and up and down the East Coast.
I’m currently using UUVs to aid in the search for downed American aircraft from World War II in the Pacific Ocean and
to understand how marine organisms in the Arctic Ocean cope with continuous winter darkness.
Other projects in the college include assessing the impact of physical processes on penguins in Antarctica, quantifying dredge impacts on scallop harvesting in the mid-Atlantic and managing environ- mental resources at Assateague Island National Seashore.
Q
MOLINE: Sonar, short for Sound Nav- igation and Ranging, is a technique used to navigate or detect objects underwater or at the water’s surface. Sonar works like a speaker and a microphone together. The research vehicle sends out a sound pulse from a speaker and when the sound hits an object it is reflected back to the UUV in a return signal. By timing the difference in transmission and reception times, researchers can infer how far away things are and the kind of material off which the signal is reflecting.
: Where are the UD robots
being used?
: Tell us about the CEOE
environmental robotics fleet.
: What is sonar and how
does it work?
Pictured with the Remus 600 are, from left, Mark Moline, Art Trembanis and Matthew Oliver.
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LEAH DODD