Application of autonomous systems to monitor oil spills

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The National Oceanography Centre is at the forefront of the development of marine autonomous systems (MAS). These include deep-diving robotic submarines, gliders and surface vehicles that can take sensors to measure large areas in remote parts of the ocean. As the capability of marine and aerial autonomous systems increases more potential applications are becoming apparent, including the possibility to improve monitoring of industrial activities at sea. There is particular interest in how autonomous systems can be used to improve the quality and efficiency of routine monitoring of the environment and infrastructure relating to the oil and gas industry. There are also questions about how these systems can be used to monitor, and help in the response to oil spills. This project aims to investigate how autonomous surveillance systems (aerial and marine) can fit into emergency oil spill response and routine monitoring of the environment and infrastructure in the oil and gas industry.A researcher from the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) will work as an intern at Oil Spill Response Limited, an industry funded cooperative that responds to oil spills globally. The intern will carry out a wide ranging review of the scope of autonomous systems used commercially and in research to identify systems and sensors that may be applied in response to oil spills or routine monitoring. The work will then consider the design of surveys using multiple platforms such as autonomous marine and aerial vehicles to identify the requirements from deployment to data management. This will draw on lessons learned from NOC's experience with MAS. The conclusions from these studies will be used to investigate how autonomous systems could be incorporated into routine operations in an industrial setting which will them be presented to and discussed with members of the oil and gas industry and research community.