Memorial University of Newfoundland

Purpose

The Project will enhance and upgrade the Memorial University of Newfoundland’s existing Explorer Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). More specifically, the sensor payload, communication, navigation and control system of the Explorer AUV will be further enhanced. This upgrade will enable the Explorer AUV as a technology platform ensuring its capability of carrying out research projects related to environmental monitoring in the oceans, and in particular projects related to detecting oil spills and micro-plastics with a variety of collaborators. As a result of these upgrades, the vehicle will also have a state of the art navigation and positioning systems. The open architecture of the Explorer allows researchers to periodically upgrade the operating profile and fault tolerance of the vehicle. This can include adding system elements needed to increase the level of autonomy for the vehicle, which in turn will allow more sophisticated missions to be completed.