In welcoming delegates to NOC in Southampton, Professor Ed Hill will talk about how technology has a role to play in tackling climate change. Drawing on his experience as a scientist, international spokesperson and leader within the ocean science community, he will bring together the key debates and global initiatives on climate change, and set out how the ocean can offer some of the solutions.

UTEC is developing a new USV solution for OFW Balance of Plant (BoP) inspection and survey such as Inter Array Cables, Export Cables, Monopile Scour, etc..

In addition to providing an overview of the USV and its target work scope in OWF BoP, UTEC will also discuss the enabling communications technology that is a prerequisite for USV or indeed any remote survey operations. This is primarily focused on the efficient use of all available bandwidth as well as ensuring network resilience and security.

Back in 2017, Exail launched its DriX USV. Our ambition? Expanding survey capabilities using greener, safer and more efficient Uncrewed Surface Vessels. This presentation will detail the operational and technical challenges we have faced over the past 6 years in deploying our USVs, the solutions we had to come up with, as well as our vision for the future of uncrewed systems in the commercial survey domain.

Join this session to hear about the importance of pan-sector reporting and why it’s needed.

Five years ago, we developed the LR Unmanned Marine Systems Code in conjunction with industry to help set out a regulatory framework. It was developed to provide a unique and valuable assurance process to certify the safe design, build and maintenance of UMS to achieve certification which is acceptable to Flag States, local regulators and other parties. LR has applied the code process and framework to a number of UMS projects and is developing a unique understanding of the challenges associated with the technology. Companies involved in producing equipment are often not familiar with marine assurance processes nor the risks and hazards in the marine environment and the rapid development times mean that the equipment may not be appropriate or have the required level of integrity.

In the space of just a year, Anahita has gone from building an autonomous sailing vessel in a shed to securing a grant from the European Space Agency to develop the vessels for commercialisation. Her talk will focus on the journey of founding Oshen, the Microtransat, and the engineering challenges that come with designing autonomous vessels: especially when they’re intended to cross the Atlantic Ocean!

Ciaran examines the challenges and rewards of working with a pioneering employer, having made the leap from academic student researcher to working as a field surveyor. The talk will reflect on how capitalising on skills from previous roles, a focus on character development, and a willingness to engage with all aspects of the business has proved to be fruitful and fulfilling. The talk will conclude with discussion on how autonomy and remote operations offer new opportunities for personal growth and development.

As a postgraduate student of MSc Geospatial Science (Hydrographic Surveying). Olly will be a part of the first UCL Cohort to apply USV technology within his fieldwork and MSc Project.  This presentation will focus on his experiences studying the course this year, along with the benefits of students gaining USV experience before joining the industry.

PopEye is the world’s first 24/7 anchor monitoring system for large commercial vessels. By utilizing state-of-the-art computer vision technology, and latest advances in mechanical design, we have designed a novel camera-in-a-box solution that operates against the ocean’s most difficult conditions. By predicting anchor-drag before it actually happens, the system offers a constant, objective stream of information, and peace of mind in the form of risk prevention to the ship owner, the ship operators, the ship’s insurance company, the port authorities, and even the coastguard.

The team is composed of Robotics, Electrical, Mechanical and Computer Science engineering students from University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School and GRASP Lab in the USA with previous work experience at Tesla, SpaceX, Zoox, Toyota Racing and McKinsey&Co. This is their journey to their multi-award-winning senior capstone project, with the support of the United States Coast Guard.

Learn more at www.popeyelabs.co

Gordon Meadow, CEO & Founder of SeaBot Maritime, will emphasise the importance of human-centred digital transformation which will empower people with new skills; resulting in smarter, safer and greener/cleaner spanning the seafaring workforce and that of its operations. These will enable them to work alongside machines performing shared tasks and using shared decision making in the application of new technologies including those vital to decarbonisation

This presentation provides an overview of the Solent’s world-leading maritime cluster, and the organisation that has been established to Lead, Champion, and Grow the sector.

With the strong growth being experienced (and further forecast) within the blue economy, significantly driven by the requirement for energy security, there is increasingly an industry workforce shortage. This shortage alongside the work/life balance expectation of a new generation entering the industry requires a new approach to how we manage our marine operations. The introduction of larger, longer endurance Uncrewed Surface Vessels is not only driving a transformation in how these vessels are operated but also how conventional crewed vessels collect and process geodata. The improvement in vessel connectivity alongside increased automation and digitalisation is driving a major change in the operational model for offshore geodata collection. This change in offshore operational model has implications for the workforce currently involved in the industry, from trainee through to the end client, as well as for the future workforce joining our industry.