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Demonstration of long-endurance intelligent multi-purpose autonomous vehicles for marine applications

Project description

Seabed mapping with autonomous vessels

Seas and oceans play a vital role in the economy and societal well-being, with offshore infrastructure like ports, wind farms and aquaculture facilities becoming increasingly common. However, traditional methods for seabed mapping and infrastructure inspection rely on expensive, crewed vessels with limited endurance. To address this, the EU-funded MERLIN project will deploy hydrogen-powered unmanned surface vessels and autonomous underwater vessels that operate autonomously using AI algorithms. These vessels will perform a range of tasks, including seabed mapping, habitat monitoring and port inspections, while collecting samples and recovering sensors. A mission remote control centre will enable seamless communication and command transmission, enhancing operational efficiency and expanding the vessels’ capabilities for complex underwater missions.

Objective

The importance of our seas and oceans to the economy and societal well-being is broadly acknowledged. In addition, offshore infrastructure in the form of ports, wind farms, aquaculture facilities, natural gas pipes, etc. has continuously expanded and has become more commonplace in recent years. Activities associated with seabed mapping, monitoring of the health and status of marine habitats, offshore infrastructure inspection, seabed mining and underwater sensing have traditionally been based on the use of crewed support vessels which are expensive to run and have limited endurance. The MERLIN project seeks to exploit long-endurance operational capabilities offered through the use of hydrogen fuel cells and renewable energy installed onboard Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) and Autonomous Underwater Vessels (AUVs) which are capable of navigating and operating autonomously based on AI algorithms without the need for human intervention. A Mission Remote Control Centre (MRCC) will permit data from the autonomous vessels to be transmitted to base. Conversely, the MRCC will allow the transmission of commands from the supervisor to the robotic vehicles. The vehicles will incorporate advanced surface and underwater grasping capability for the collection of samples, handling, installation and recovery of sensors using custom-built robotic arms. The USV will provide geotagging reference data to the AUVs when they operate underwater and be able to track them during the mission. The USV will be able to navigate from its base to the location of the mission where the AUVs will be released. At the end of the mission the AUVs will dock again with the USV so they can be safely returned to base. The vehicles will be capable of operating independently as well as in combination with support vessels . The demonstration activities include three different high value use cases, including marine habitat monitoring, underwater volcano seabed mapping, and port infrastructure inspection.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL4-2024-DIGITAL-EMERGING-01

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Coordinator

THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 878 926,25
Address
Edgbaston
B15 2TT Birmingham
United Kingdom

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Region
West Midlands (England) West Midlands Birmingham
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 878 926,25

Participants (17)

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