The kick-off meeting of the European Project (EU) “Development and demonstration of a long-endurance sea surveying autonomous unmanned vehicle with gliding capability powered by hydrogen fuel cell”, has been hold in Athens, Greece, from 15-16 November 2018.
Ingenium in partner of this H2020 EU project, with a total cost of 8747765 €. Battery-powered AUVs have been used to study the seabed without the requirement of a human operator. Their operational endurance is limited by the available battery charge. Gliders, an AUV subclass, use small changes in their buoyancy to move like a profiling float. By using their wings, gliders can convert the vertical motion to horizontal, propelling themselves forward with very low power consumption. Hence, mission duration can be extended to months and to thousands of kilometers. However, gliders are suited for a particular set of missions involving relatively basic measurements and seabed mapping cannot be performed due to their inherent inability to cruise in a straight line. A surface support vessel is standard practice for launch and recovery of AUVs. The requirement to have a support vessel adds to the overall mission cost. Therefore, higher endurance is needed in AUV platforms in order to bring mission costs down and improve the ocean exploration capability. The ENDURUNS project will deliver a step-change in AUV technology by implementing a novel hybrid design power by hydrogen fuel cell. An Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) will support the operation of the AUV, providing geotagging and data transmission capability to and from the Control Centre on shore.
Participants
GRAAL TECH SRL, Italy
COMPAGNIE MARITIME D EXPERTISES SA, France
ENGITEC SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL LIMITED, Cyprus
SPACE APPLICATIONS SERVICES NV, Belgium
ON AIR S.R.L., Italy
UAB METIS BALTIC, Lithuania
VALSTYBES IMONE KLAIPEDOS VALSTYBINIO JURU UOSTO DIREKCIJA, Lithuania
HYSYTECH SRL, Italy
ZARRAS DIMITRIOS, Greece
SWISS APPROVAL SOUTH EAST MEDITERRANEAN SEA (SEMS) LTD, Cyprus
THE UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom
UNIVERSIDAD DE CASTILLA – LA MANCHA, Spain
«NATIONAL CENTER FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH «DEMOKRITOS», Greece
CONSIGLIO NAZIONALE DELLE RICERCHE, Italy
TUCO YACHT VÆRFT APS, Denmark
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/218347_en.html
ENDURUNS, AUV, H2020