Paulo Mónica Oliveira

Abstract
INESC TEC is strongly committed to become a center of excellence in maritime technology and, in particular, deep sea technology. The STRONGMAR project aims at creating solid and productive links in the global field of marine science and technology between INESC TEC and established leading research European institutions, capable of enhancing the scientific and technological capacity of INESC TEC and linked institutions, helping raising its staff's research profile and its recognition as a European maritime research center of excellence. The STRONGMAR project seeks complementarity to the TEC4SEA research infrastructure: on the one hand, TEC4SEA promotes the establishment of a unique infrastructure of research and technological development, and on the other, the STRONGMAR project intends to develop the scientific expertise of the research team of INESC TEC.

Abstract

Abstract
Current practices and major trends in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for maritime operations are presented along with projections of future UAS maritime applications. First, various aspects of UAS program management, including organization, operator responsibilities, program operation, and overall program costs, are reviewed. Next, maritime aircraft missions and required capabilities are outlined, and current practices for both manned and unmanned aircraft are described. Technological trends relating to UAS are also discussed, focusing on developments relevant to maritime UAS operations. This information provides a background for assessing potential future maritime UAS operations. Trends including miniaturization of sensors and computer systems, high energy density of power sources, and increased subsystem standardization and modularity will have important effects in the future. However, another significant trend is towards increased system autonomy via new command and control frameworks that facilitate integration of UAS into higher level maritime observing systems through new concepts of operation for networked systems and new business models. © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015.

Abstract
This paper presents the TEC4SEA research infrastructure created in Portugal to support research, development, and validation of marine technologies. It is a multidisciplinary open platform, capable of supporting research, development, and test of marine robotics, telecommunications, and sensing technologies for monitoring and operating in the ocean environment. Due to the installed research facilities and its privileged geographic location, it allows fast access to deep sea, and can support multidisciplinary research, enabling full validation and evaluation of technological solutions designed for the ocean environment. It is a vertically integrated infrastructure, in the sense that it possesses a set of skills and resources which range from pure conceptual research to field deployment missions, with strong industrial and logistic capacities in the middle tier of prototype production. TEC4SEA is open to the entire scientific and enterprise community, with a free access policy for researchers affiliated with the research units that ensure its maintenance and sustainability. The paper describes the infrastructure in detail, and discusses associated research programs, providing a strategic vision for deep sea research initiatives, within the context of both the Portuguese National Ocean Strategy and European Strategy frameworks.

Abstract