From transport, energy and fishing to high growth marine sectors of seabed mining, aquaculture and offshore energy, emerging information ecosystems will transform utilisation and sustainability of ocean resources.

In EXPOSURES, we demonstrate how on-demand autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) can drive intelligent data analytics to rapidly assess environmental processes and impacts in marine waterways. The result will be create new marine information ecosystem that exploits underwater IoT infrastructures such as those offered by the European SUNRISE facility.

Low cost AUVs, information sharing and fusion the key to rapid insight

Oceans are challenging environments to construct and operate industrial assets. Foundations of offshore structures are vulnerable to localised scour whilst busy navigation channels are subject to ongoing sediment transport. Natural hazards are amplified by extreme weather events and the impact of climate change. Maintaining knowledge about the complex interplay between human activity and micro/macro ecological processes is essential for optimisation of periodic maintenance, response to crisis or extreme weather events, assessment of environment impact and license compliance.

Technology advances within the marine information ecosystem will significantly reduce the time from survey instruction to marine insight. Low-cost drones (autonomous underwater vehicles) and advanced data analytics will seamlessly connect surveyors, marine analysts and decision makers. Drones are now small enough to be launched by one person from the shore and cost less that €100K allowing pre-configuration for marine applications such as scour and sediment transport analysis. Surveyors may no longer need to operate manned sea going vessels and marine surveying may become a land based activity operated by personnel deployed on-demand. Combine the drones with Internet connectivity, geospatial data fusion, and linked data descriptions accessible on the web, and marine analysts will have the information they need for assessing situations rapidly. In addition, ongoing curation of marine information made accessible to teams of analysts through open and closed data policies will increase geo-spatial knowledge and drive improvements in environmental predictions.

Full article at: http://www.it-innovation.soton.ac.uk/projects/exposures