20 January 2012 -- This winter, researchers from the Collaborative ASW programme are focused on processing the large amount of data that was gathered during the GLINT/NGAS11 sea trials. The sea trials, held last summer, marked the first demonstration of active antisubmarine warfare using a multistatic network of underwater vehicles to successfully detect and track underwater targets.

This is a significant milestone in the goal of creating a network of mobile and fixed sensors that work collaboratively to find and track submarines in coastal waters. Using robots for submarine surveillance can be a cost-effective, stealthy alternative to ship-based surveillance techniques. Both NURC ships, NRV Alliance and CRV Leonardo participated in the trial.

To read a general description of the GLINT/NGAS11 sea trial, read the front-page article in the December issue of the Centre Quarterly.

28 November 2011 -- The LIDAR Observations of Optical and Physical Properties (LOOPP) Workshop was held at NURC in La Spezia, Italy, from 15 to 17 November 2011. This conference gathered experts on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems to review past and current status of using this technology to retrieve water column optical properties, suggest improvements and generate a road-map of future LIDAR research. Click here for more details.

14 November 2011 -- NURC participated in the 2011 North American Technology Demonstration (NATD) held in Ottawa, Canada, from 25 to 27 October 2011. The three-day event was sponsored by NATO's Emerging Security Challenges Divison, through their Defence Against Terrorism Programme of Work on Non-Lethal Capabilities. It was jointly hosted by the Canadian Department of National Defence and the US Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD). NATD was the largest non-lethal technology event ever, with 970 registrants from 30 nations.

• OpenSea simulation platform for escalation-of-force capability development in a virtual port environment
• Non-Lethal Response for Port Protection project for the development of military force protection in ports and harbours
• SECTRONIC project where NURC joins European industry to advance civilian ship and port security

15 September 2011 -- NURC attended the 6th International Conference on Current Problems in Optics of Natural Waters (ONW'2011) in St. Petersburg, Russia, on 6-10 September 2011. The Optics of Natural Waters Conference series continues the study of processes that affect light in natural waters. Dr. Charles Trees, Head of NURC's Remote Sensing Branch, acted as Co-Chair for the meeting. Dr. Violeta Sanjuan Calzado also attended the meeting, where she and Dr. Trees gave oral presentations.

24 August 2011 -- REP11A was the first leg of a sea trial in the Gulf of Taranto dedicated to characterising the environment in support of research in ocean forecasting and acoustic prediction capabilities, including uncertainties. REP11 is a major component to the Environmental Knowledge Operational Effectiveness (EKOE) program at NURC. The objectives of REP11A were to collect data suitable for initialising, constraining, and validating ocean forecasting models. Click here to read the complete overview.

2 August 2011 -- On Monday 1st August 2011, at 8.40 AM, the NATO Research Vessel Alliance came to the rescue of an 18 metre pleasure craft in Italian waters, near the port of Savona in the Ligurian Sea. The motor yacht was spotted on fire by NURC's crew at 5 miles distance. The NURC crew promptly raised the alarm with the Italian Coast Guard and launched a Delta Fast Rescue Boat. Six people were saved uninjured. The yacht sank a few minutes later due to the extent of the damage caused by the fire. At the same time of arrival as the Italian Coast Guard vessels, the rescued persons were taken on board the Alliance where they received first aid. Meanwhile, due to the gravity and extent of the fire, the Alliance's request for firefighting was denied by the coast guard. Click here to see the official press release.

11 July 2011 -- University of Luebeck has won the SAUC-Europe'11 competition held at NURC from 4-10 July. The team's AUV called "Hanse" got the highest score successfully completing a number of mission tasks assigned. The second prize has gone to University of Girona (2010 champions) from Spain with its AUV "Sparus", and the third to DFKI Bremen, closely followed by ENSTA Bretagne (fourth). Heriot-Watt University entered the final phase and got the "Cooperation Award". Next edition will be held again at NURC, La Spezia, in 2012.

23 June 2011 -- NURC's mine reacquisition and neutralization efforts focus on Autonomous Surface Vehicle carrying and guiding an automated ROV (aROV) close to the mine target utilizing advances in sonar image processing and target tracking, autonomous navigation and control, and collaborative autonomous systems mission planning. NURC's approach is to use modified COTS equipment to test new concepts inexpensively. In the presented concept of operations, an ASV reacquires a previously identified target (in the mine hunting phase) using its imaging sonar.

7 May 2011 -- The early stage of the European project ARGOMARINE (Automatic Oil Spill Recognition and Geopositioning integrated in a Marine Monitoring Network, http://www.argomarine.eu) has come to an end on May 6 at NURC in La Spezia, with the successful completion of the first at-sea test. This 3 year project aims at creating an integrated system dedicated to the monitoring of the marine environment for oil spills. ARGOMARINE is intended to develop new technologies capable of constantly monitoring our seas and giving a real-time alert... Read more ...