Swedish Centre for Ocean Observing Technology

ODF Sweden will deliver learning and support digitalization in marine environmental management

Data, Data Factory, Environmental management, Environmental monitoring, Innovation / August 23, 2019 August 23, 2019

ODF Sweden (coordinated by SCOOT) is now gaining pace! First innovation cycle, lasting to end of 2019, will focus environmental monitoring and management. We will deliver learning and support for digitalization in marine environmental management to the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management (SwAM). The collaboration between ODF Sweden and SwAM is a part of the ”Three Archipelagos” project. We are excited about this opportunity.

Are you interested in ODF Sweden? Do not hesitate to contact its director Robin Teigland or its coordinator Torsten Linders.

SCOOT goes all in

ASV, AUV, Demo, Hugin, Innovation, Ran, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Seaglider, SG Semla, SP SeaCat, SunChallenger, Workshop / July 1, 2019 July 13, 2019

Do you want to learn and test what/where/how autonomous platforms can measure in the ocean. Do you already have experience and want to meet other experts? This is the workshop for you! More info about available resources and schedule here.

SCOOT’s fleet of autonomous vessels and robots will be available, together with support vessels, technicians and experts. Specifically this includes SCOOT’s flagrobot, the AUV Ran. SCOOT is proud of the coverage Ran’s achievements has got in media, e.g. in Roling Stone, Public Radio International and Swedish public service television.

Our host for this workshop is Institute of Marine Research, belonging to Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

Please contact us if you interested in participating!

SCOOT welcomes SunChallenger II to Gothenburg

ASV, Demo, Innovation, SunChallenger, Workshop / June 17, 2019 June 18, 2019

Difficult winds will unfortunately mean that the SunChallenger II will not make to Gothenburg on June 19. Constructor Jonas Blanck will nevertheless be there and explain his project.

On Wednesday June 19, SCOOT will welcome the newly launched SunChallenger II to Gothenburg. SCOOT is an eager friend of the SunChallenger project. SCOOT director Seb Swart leads the welcoming committee, which includes representatives from GU, MMT Sweden AB, Chalmers University of Technology and Research Institutes of Sweden. Everybody is invited to join us! The event is hosted by MMT Sweden AB and takes place at Nya Varvet, starting in the marina at 9.30 am. After lunch we continue with a seminar/discussion about what to expect from projects and platforms such as the SunChallenger.

Specifications SunChallenger II: 16 ft Catamaran, 5x 300W glass-glass Solar panels, 2x MPPT solar chargers, 2x 500W electric trolling motors, 5x 12v 80Ah Lifepo4 batteries, 2x Raspberry Pi, 2x Jetson Nano, Dual GPS, Compass, PiCamera, 360° camera, 4G modem, AIS transponder, CHIRP DownVision Sonar & Fishfinder, water/air temperature, pH, Conductivity sensor, CO2 sensor, wind sensor, LED Lanterna, Horn, Flag.

National Research & Innovation Agenda for Underwater Technology

AUV, Environmental monitoring, Innovation / June 4, 2019 June 29, 2019

SCOOT is active in SubTechSweden, a network of actors who want to strengthen innovation in underwater technology in Sweden. SubTechSweden now releases NRIA-U 2019 (National Research & Innovation Agenda for Underwater Technology). The agenda has a very clear main recommendation: Sweden needs “a joint programme for underwater technology, funding and coordinating basic research, applied research and demonstrations (TRL 1 – 6)”. NRIA-U 2019 is an updated version of NRIA-U 2016.

SubTechSweden emphasises that the underwater innovation area can help to meet the UN sustainability goals, the Government’s Maritime Strategy and Sweden’s underwater capability (decided by the Government to be a “significant national security interest”). NRIA-U 2019 mentions specifically the need for underwater technology in ocean science, monitoring, spatial planning and management. The achievements of SCOOT’s flagrobot AUV Ran under the Antarctic ice shelves are mentioned as a good example of innovation, together with platforms for infrastructure inspection, illustrated with MMT’s Surveyor Interceptor.

SCOOT will coordinate Ocean Data Factory

Data, Data Factory, Innovation / May 29, 2019 July 30, 2019

What started in early March with a workshop on innovation through open data will on July 1st turn into a major SCOOT activity, the Ocean Data Factory – ODF. SCOOT takes on the coordinating role, working with a large consortium from the industry, academia and public sector organisations. ODF will be headed by professor Robin Teigland from Chalmers University of Technology.

ODF will be an arena for competence building and innovation, open to all who believe that crunching data from the ocean is 1) fun, 2) holds the answers to a sustainable blue economy and 3) gets really productive when different competences do it together! We will be conducting our activities in high paced cycles focusing on selected themes. First theme to be announced soon, stay tuned…

ODF is part of Vinnova’s (Sweden’s Innovation Agency) investment to speed up development within AI. We are delighted to see that also the National Space Data Lab will be initiated. Planning for joint co-creation has already started.

SCOOT enters project AutoMonIn – Autonomous Monitoring of marine Invasive species

Biodiversity, DNA, Environmental monitoring, Innovation / May 4, 2019 May 23, 2019

Chalmers University of Technology will lead a feasibility study aiming for “ an early warning system for invasive species based on DNA- methods, tailor-made to find species on alert-lists .”

The goal is to enable a transition from the traditional manual monitoring methods to the newly developed and coming methods based on automation and DNA-technique. This will be highly valuable to organisations conducting environmental monitoring and other stakeholders with an interest in the spread of invasive species, e.g. harbours and the shipping industry.

SCOOT enters AutoMonIn in order to support innovation and automation of marine environmental monitoring, in this case specifically biodiversity. Several of the technology elements in AutoMonIn are generic and can be adapted to ocean monitoring of other parameters than invasive species.

The other project partners are SeAnalytics AB, University of Gothenburg (SCOOT), Research Institutes of Sweden. Kickoff meeting was held April, 2019, project ends January, 2020. External funding comes from Vinnova (Sweden’s Innovation Agency). The aim of the current feasibility study is to prepare for a for a larger collaboration project. SCOOT hosts the project web page.

SCOOT demonstrate drone-drone interaction

ASV, Demo, Innovation, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, SP SeaCat / April 13, 2019 May 23, 2019

What is a drone? Most people imagine something flying, but to the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, a drone can just as well be vehicle on or under water. SCOOT takes advantage of this wide definition to take part in Vinnova’s programme “Drones of the future”. SCOOT will demonstrate autonomous launch and recovery of the unmanned 60 kg Sailbuoy (Offshore Sensing AS) by the unmanned 500 kg SP SeaCat (SP Marine Tech).

The demonstration is part of Drone Center Sweden’s demo days on May 14th – 15th in Västervik, South-eastern Sweden. The SCOOT demo is part of the water session on the afternoon on the 14th. Even in the water session, we will be the only project demonstrating drones actually on the water… The project is a collaboration between University of Gothenburg, Research Institutes of Sweden Chalmers, University of Technology, Alkit Communications AB, SP Marine Tech AB, Depåservice AB.

Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) Sailbuoy, for long endurance scientific monitoring, manufactured by Offshore Sensing AS.

Come and meet us! SCOOT open 8 May

ASV, AUV, Data, Demo, Hugin, Innovation, Ran, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Seaglider / April 9, 2019 May 23, 2019

“Robots giving YOU data from the ocean”

On May the 8th we open the SCOOT doors at Nya Varvet in Gothenburg, to anyone interested in the ocean, data from the ocean and methods for collecting ocean data. Come and meet the researchers and the robots! Most of all, come and tell us about your ideas: SCOOT wants to support your innovation. Read the full program. SCOOT open is part of #gbgtechweek and #EUinmyregion.

SCOOT is impressed: Lysekil Ocean Network

Data, Innovation / March 20, 2019 May 23, 2019

SCOOT has followed ‘The Lysekil Challange’. 3rd year students in the Industrial Economy program at Chalmers University of Technology have been working on digital solutions for the municipality Lysekil, located on the Swedish west coast. 20 projects are now competing for votes until March 30th. In a tight competition, SCOOT has decided to cast our vote for project 15 ‘Lysekil Ocean Network’ and its innovative web-portal . Motivation:

“For addressing an important challenge in our common ocean, using innovative and engaging data gathering.”

The project Lysekil Ocean Network will be presented at SCOOT open house on May 8th at Nya Varvet, Göteborg.

Mission completed: First Sailbuoy on the southern hemisphere

ASV, Sailbuoy, SB Kringla, Southern Ocean / March 14, 2019 May 23, 2019

On March 1st University of Gothenburg’s surface glider SB Kringla was successfully retrieved to the South African icebreaker SA Agulhas II. For 78 days she has relentlessly battled the waves in the Marginal Ice Zone along the Greenwich meridian, see graph below. SB Kringla is the first Offshore Sensíng Sailbuoy to be deployed and retrieved on the southern hemisphere. She has measured ocean surface temperature and salinity, together with surface wind, temperature and pressure in the atmosphere. Data from SB Kringla as well as from diving Seagliders can be viewed at ROAM-MIZ. Do you have ideas about surface gliders or diving gliders? Contact us.

Selected data output (Wind direction and latitude) from SB Kringla during the mission Dec 17, 2018 – March 1, 2019. Note the failing weather station on Feb 7.

We are suspecting that SB Kringla has encountered an iceberg during the mission. It is likely this happened on February 7 when the weather station started to fail. On retrieval we could see that the sensor head of weather station was cracked and that there were substantial damage to the sail. Amazingly she had continued, with no apparent effect on sailing performance!