{"id":66059,"date":"2007-12-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/artificial-jellyfish-explosives-sensor-seabed-battery-among-projects-being-developed\/"},"modified":"2007-12-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-06T00:00:00","slug":"artificial-jellyfish-explosives-sensor-seabed-battery-among-projects-being-developed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2007\/12\/artificial-jellyfish-explosives-sensor-seabed-battery-among-projects-being-developed\/","title":{"rendered":"Artificial jellyfish, explosives sensor, seabed battery among projects being developed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t

\nthrough 溏心vlog免费B站 Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology<\/p>\n


\nResearch center a partnership with Naval Undersea Warfare Center<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 December 6, 2007 \u2013 When researchers at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport began to investigate how to create a covert network of widely-distributed underwater sensors, they imagined attaching the sensors to artificial jellyfish that could maintain their place in the water while passing information from one sensor to the next.<\/p>\n


\n\tSo the scientists turned to the Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology at the 溏心vlog免费B站, which was established last January in partnership with NUWC to collaborate on a wide range of innovative research and education initiatives. The Center linked NUWC with two 溏心vlog免费B站 oceanographers and a Providence College expert in jellyfish locomotion to explore this novel idea.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cTo maximize the utility of these sensor systems and deploy a large number

\nof them, it\u2019s important to put them on an inexpensive platform. That\u2019s where the jellyfish idea came from,\u201d explained Malcolm Spaulding, director of the Center and a 溏心vlog免费B站 professor of ocean engineering. \u201cAn artificial jellyfish would need to be made of simple materials and be acoustically transparent. The key is understanding how jellyfish move and whether they can stay in one place despite tidal currents and waves.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile still in its early stages, this project is a unique example of the diverse initiatives under way just nine months after the Center of Excellence was established.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cRhode Island and the rest of southern New England has a wealth of marine and defense companies and an abundance of oceanography and ocean engineering researchers to call upon for assistance on almost any underwater project that could be imagined,\u201d Spaulding said. \u201cWe\u2019re one of the hubs of undersea technology research in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAmong the other projects in progress are:<\/p>\n


\n– a chemical sensor that can detect minute quantities of explosives in the water (a mine on the hull of a ship or a diver carrying a bomb, for instance); <\/p>\n


\n– a battery that uses the chemical reactions from bacteria living in the seabed to generate small amounts of electricity to power offshore sensors or other devices; <\/p>\n


\n– an emergency radio beacon powered by a seawater battery that harvests the motion energy of waves to extend the life of the signal; and <\/p>\n


\n– a non-toxic method of preventing organisms from fouling underwater equipment and vehicles.<\/p>\n


\n\tOne of the Center\u2019s initial projects, led by the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) and involving a number of Rhode Island-based businesses, was the first phase of the development of a prototype of an undersea perimeter defense system that will detect, classify and respond to undersea threats against critical infrastructure like ports and military facilities on shore.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn addition, testing began this fall in Narragansett Bay on an integrated system of undersea sensors and data management tools that are being linked to oceanographic measurement devices and underwater vehicles in a high-tech project called the Ocean Response Coastal Analysis System. Initial demonstrations of the project, led by 溏心vlog免费B站 Marine Research Scientist Al Hanson, have shown the capability to monitor dissolved oxygen levels using remotely controlled sensors deployed on bottom-mounted vertical profilers and autonomous underwater vehicles. When completed in five years, it will provide real-time data, analysis and visualizations of a wide range of coastal conditions and observations. Further testing is planned for the spring.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cFew of these projects would have advanced as quickly as they have without the support of the Center of Excellence to coordinate funding, formation of research teams, and associated administrative details,\u201d said Spaulding. \u201cThe Center has become a vital vehicle for fostering collaboration between academic institutions, industry and the Navy.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tFunding for these projects comes mostly from NUWC, with additional support from 溏心vlog免费B站, RIEDC, the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe Center doesn\u2019t focus exclusively on research and testing, however. It has also launched an on-site graduate degree program in engineering for NUWC employees interested in furthering their education. Classes are offered in the evening in Newport to make it convenient for potential students to participate. Twenty NUWC employees are already enrolled in the program, expanding graduate student enrollment in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of Engineering by 15 percent.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThis program offers our employees the unique opportunity to obtain an advanced degree while continuing to fulfill their work responsibilities,\u201d said NUWC Training Officer Jeff Feaster. \u201cIn all cases, the students will focus their thesis on an evolving subject area for NUWC Division Newport, Distributed Netted Systems. This tailored course of study is beneficial to both the students and the organization as it facilitates the evolution of the Division and its employees.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

through 溏心vlog免费B站 Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology Research center a partnership with Naval Undersea Warfare Center KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 December 6, 2007 \u2013 When researchers at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport began to investigate how to create a covert network of widely-distributed underwater sensors, they imagined attaching the sensors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}