“Design, Development, Integration and Sea Trials of ROVLatis : A Smart Remotely Operated Tethered Underwater Vehicle”
Dr.Hammad Ahmad, Univ. of Limerick Ireland
Abstract An
ROV is a remotely operated Underwater Vehicle. ROVs are controlled and
powered remotely from the surface via a tether cable and are designed to
operate in underwater environments which are hostile or inaccessible to
human divers. ROVLatis is the first such vehicle designed, built and tested in Ireland. ROVLatis has
been developed for ocean exploration, high-resolution seabed mapping,
marine environment monitoring and operations supporting roll-out of
Ocean Energy Devices. It is designed to operate from the beach out to
the edge of the continental shelf at depths of 1,000m and more. The
smart technologies deployed on Latis are cutting edge, with advanced
integrated control systems incorporating auto-pilot, fault-tolerant
thruster control and Pilot aiding tools/simulation for practice /
training of complex operations prior to execution in the real world.
The vehicle is equipped with the latest in sidescan and multibeam sonar
and vision-based navigation with patented data capture from several
acoustic devices simultaneously. Featuring capabilities normally only
found on much larger work class ROVs, Latis' smaller footprint allows it
to be deployed more cost effectively from smaller inshore vessels.
Two OPTEC professors have been awarded three "Gouden Krijtjes", the yearly teaching awards given by the organization of engineering students (vtk). Prof. Lombaert was awarded the prize for the best course in civil engineering, and Prof. Diehl the prizes for the best professor and the best course in mathematical engineering (where he teaches numerical optimization). They received these awards at the yearly "proffentap" where experienced students taught them how to draft beer professionally.
