Harbour security technologies on display

26 Oct 2009 -- Members from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly recently gathered at NURC, the NATO research centre in La Spezia, Italy, to learn about the latest approaches to securing our ports and harbours. The demonstration was also given to civilian and military organisations involved in harbour protection, as well as to local media. Read more...

Technologies for harbour security

13 Oct 2009 -- The Centre has been investigating the use of different sonars for detecting and tracking underwater intruders in ports. The sonars' performance under realistic conditions was evaluated to develop guidance on their optimal use and, equally important, to develop modes of rapid response once an intruder has been detected. The need for improved response options has led to the development of unmanned response craft automatically vectored into response position above an underwater intruder, to provide rapid response with constant high readiness, and to provide the forward reach needed for confident resolution of an underwater intrusion. Automatic behaviour patterns have been developed for these unmanned craft to simplify their control and to increase their effectiveness. Some of these technologies and approaches will be shown in a series of harbour security demonstrations scheduled later in the month.

 

Marine mammals join AUVs in NURC experiment

6 Oct 2009 -- The CATHARSIS2 sea trial, scheduled for October 2009 in the waters near Elba Island, Italy, will investigate novel object detection technologies. Scientists will deploy autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with advanced sensors to detect and locate dummy mines (with no explosives) that are used in this exercise.  The results will help scientists determine the performance of the new technologies and the best strategy in the use of AUVs to detect objects under water. The Centre’s scientific team will be joined by a team of marine mammals and their trainers from the United States Navy, the MK5 Marine Mammal system. The five sea lions and personnel from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific are being flown from their home base in California to the Italian Air Force base in Pisa, and will travel to Elba Island to join the NURC team. The sea lions are trained to recover a variety of objects, including dummy mines, by attaching a recovery line to the object, as well as carrying a video camera to determine the type of object and how it is laying on the bottom. More infomation in English and in Italian.

Molfetta: Danger on the seabed (in NATO's video reports "Six Colours")

31 March 2009 -- A story on the Centre's work in Molfetta, Puglia has just been released by NATO HQ's Public Diplomacy Dept. as one of 6 video reports in its series "Six Colours". The series is aimed at showing the impact of NATO's activities on citizens of member nations. "NATO is well-known but people, especially the younger generation, do not know what NATO does. The purpose of these stories is to show that, with the expertise of NATO.with the capabilities we have., we are able to create a better, more secure environment for the citizens", said Jean-François Bureau, NATO's Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy. The segment on Molfetta shows how NURC is working with the Italian authorities to locate submerged munitions left on the seabed after World War II, using new technologies that are more effective and affordable. The video reports are available online at http://www.nato.int/multi/sixcolours and on Youtube