Croatia: The rising star of underwater exploration
Having joined the EU in 2013, Croatia needs to build upon its expertise to meet EU obligations concerning its coastal and marine environment. Collaborations with EU institutes will help Croatia unveil a lot of untapped scientific and technological potential in underwater systems and technologies. The 'Developing the Croatian underwater robotics research potential' (CURE) project focused on building Croatian research capability in underwater robotics. Strategic partnerships with other institutions, knowledge mobilisation and newly purchased equipment as well as various dissemination programmes contributed to achieving this aim. Part of the research involved methods that could eventually help operators of remotely operated underwater vehicles work using only their hearing. Among the most significant developments was a novel concept of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) being guided and controlled by another AUV, without operator intervention. Research also focused on AUV joint missions to avoid fixed or moving obstacles in the sea. Identification of surface and submarine vehicles was made possible by employing a self-oscillation method. Project members were very active in publishing research results in peer-reviewed journals and making presentations at international conferences. By using cloud computing, the project was able to change how underwater missions are executed and how data are prepared for reporting. CURE significantly improved research potential and ability to accommodate the needs of Croatia and the West Balkan region in the exploration of underwater systems and technologies.
Keywords
Underwater exploration, robotics, autonomous underwater vehicle, self-oscillation
