National Marine Facilities Sea Systems (NMFSS)

The first opportunity for the public to view a live demonstration of world-leading technology that enables a fleet of robotic-subs to work together to measure the ocean’s properties, will take place at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) this Wednesday.

With the help of the NOC, the UK Marine Industries Alliance has launched an industry Code of Conduct in respect of surface Maritime Autonomous Systems.

The aim of the Code is to establish pan industry agreement on aspects of marine autonomous systems development, design, production and operation in advance of and alongside the establishment of governing regulations.

The NOC is to form part of the new Centres of Excellence in Satellite applications, which is expected to aid economic growth in the Solent region. As part of this new centre the NOC will develop the technologies to help robot-subs use live satellite data to inform their route through the ocean, not unlike drivers using live traffic updates.

The National Oceanography Centre (NOC) is a partner in a new £2.5m Centre for Doctoral Training in the use of ‘robotic’ systems for environmental sciences.

The Royal Research Ship Discovery has completed her first year of research. Over a series of nine research expeditions, scientists studied the seasonal events taking place in UK shelf waters throughout the year. The vessel, procured by the Natural Environment Research Council for UK science is the latest in marine technology.