The proposed planning activity seeks to undertake planning of the establishment of a new Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Smart Ocean Technology at the University of Connecticut and the University of Washington. The proposed Center seeks to promote and harness robust technological advances in computing, communication, control, devices, instrumentation and platforms that have the potential to provide persistent observation and exploration capabilities for aquatic environments. A distinguishing feature of the proposed center is the emphasis on integration of intelligence/awareness (e.g. `smart) at various levels of underwater systems design in order to achieve the agility necessary for the desired robustness, persistence and cost efficiencies.
The planned center intends to focus on creating novel technologies in the areas of communication, power, sensing, and platform systems for the ocean application domain. The resulting systems and the insights they produce about the ocean will inform technical and policy efforts in areas of global impact such as weather/climate, food resources, and sustainability. The center plans to have a significant impact on students via interdisciplinary research engagement. Further, educational outreach to various community organizations (schools and science/technology museums, notably) is expected based on products - data, images and streaming video - resulting from the work conducted at the center.
This planning activity undertook planning of the establishment of a new Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Smart Ocean Technology at the University of Connecticut and the University of Washington. The proposed Center will focus on promoting and harness robust technological advances in computing, communication, control, devices, instrumentation and platforms that have the potential to provide persistent observation and exploration capabilities for aquatic environments. A distinguishing feature of the proposed center is the emphasis on integration of intelligence/awareness (e.g. smart) at various levels of underwater systems design in order to achieve the agility necessary for the desired robustness, persistence and cost efficiencies. The planned center intends to focus on creating novel technologies in the areas of communication, power, sensing, and platform systems for the ocean application domain. The resulting systems and the insights they produce about the ocean will inform technical and policy efforts in areas of global impact such as weather/climate, food resources, and sustainability. The center plans to have a significant impact on students via interdisciplinary research engagement. Further, educational outreach to various community organizations (schools and science/technology museums, notably) is expected based on products - data, images and streaming video - resulting from the work conducted at the center. As part of this activity, numerous corporations and government research entities have been and continue to be approached for membership in the center; fees from such members will support research at the Center, together with management support and funding from the NSF. A planning workshop was held at the University of Connecticut from June 10-12, 2013. Proceedings of the workshop are available for the general public at www.smartoceantechnology.org. In attendance were official NSF and university faculty and administrators, who presented a series of talks on the I/UCRC program, vision, capabilities and value proposition of the Center, university capabilities, and faculty-led research proposals that could be funded by such a Center. Also in attendance were numerous representatives from industry who were engaged by faculty and NSF in discussion and development of a ranked list of research proposals (LIFE FORM). Industry attendees were from the following companies: New Tapestry, APS Technology, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, Internet Works, Kongsberg Underwater Technology, Draper Laboratory, Mobile Telecom International, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Global Dynamix, Advanced Acoustic Concepts, Presco, Aquatic Sensor Network Technology, Asius Technologies, L&W Research, Rite-Solutions, Intelligent Automation, Sonardyne, Tectonic Technologies, Aerojet, The Boeing Company, CT Innovations, ExxonMobil, PEL Associates, Southeast National Marine Renewable Energy Center, ABB, and Hitron Technologies. Planning for the Center continues with a subset of the above companies currently committed to membership. Timeline for closure of the founding membership round and establishment of the Center is by end of March 2014.
