GEBCO-NF Alumni Team Finalizes Sea Trials for XPRIZE Final

The GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni Team has completed its first 24-hour sea-trials, in preparation for the final round of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE.

The sea-trials assessed various operating protocols and procedures. The team’s progression from the semi-final round was first announced by the XPRIZE at a London award ceremony in March – and having secured sufficient funds and completed significant improvements to its entry, the team has scheduled another two 24-hour sea-trials to be completed before the final round.

The Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE is a global competition challenging teams to advance deep-sea technologies for autonomous, fast, high-resolution ocean exploration.

Following their semi-final success, the GEBCO-NF Alumni Team has expanded to include more than 70 individuals who are actively working on some aspect of the team concept. Of these, 15 are alumni of The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO postgraduate training programme, based at the University of New Hampshire. The alumni represent the 12 countries of Russia, Egypt, South Africa, USA, Mauritius, Peru, Ireland, Japan, Philippines, Israel, Poland and Brazil.

“Our expanded team is a remarkable example of what can be achieved through international collaboration”, said Dr Rochelle Wigley, project coordinator. “That so many of our team are alumni of The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO postgraduate training course at the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping (University of New Hampshire), highlights what a valuable global resource this capacity-building programme is. The team also benefits from the experience of academics from a range of fields including geology, geomorphology and geophysics, as well as surveyors from national hydrographic offices, navies and industry. This diversity is still one of our greatest strengths.”

The team’s improved concept utilizes a purpose-built Kongsberg Maritime HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), rated to operate at depths up to 4,500 meters, which includes all of the company’s most up-to-date technologies.

The AUV is supported by a SEA-KIT unmanned surface vessel, USV Maxlimer. The SEA-KIT vessel has been designed and built by Hushcraft in the UK, and has the unique ability to autonomously launch and recover the AUV. The surface vessel acts as an active communication link during subsea survey operations.

Yulia Zarayskaya, training programme alumnus and project lead, said that “the skills acquired by the alumni through the data processing development, as well as working alongside team partners and suppliers, puts them at the  forefront of rapidly developing autonomous marine operations and the modern processes of transforming data into useful information.”
 
The GEBCO-NF Alumni Team will compete in the final round in November-December at a secret location yet to be announced by the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE.