NORUS Workshop II, Cal Poly

Overview for the week

noreply@blogger.com (Nilsen) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:05:00 +0000

Hey all!

The purpose of our journey to San Luis Obispo was to educate the participants of the NORUS program of new technologies that could be used to research the changing Arctic environment. Additionally there were many opportunities to have fun. For example, we started the workshop by hiking in a state park:

Monday 23:

On Monday, John Kerfoot gave an detailed overview on the “guts” of the glider and the programming required to run a smooth mission.After putting RU16 back together, we brought RU16 out to a ballasting tank on the Cal Poly Pier to prepare it for a brief mission along the California coast.

__________________________________________________________

Tuesday 24:

On Tuesday we quickly went through the mission planning for 16’s trip around California and got out on the Zodiac to deploy.

After deployment Cal Poly participants informed us about the IVER 2, a propelled AUV that uses sonar to monitor the coast. Although the IVER2 run short-term missions, it is very efficient and is low cost.

Scott Layton, Cal Poly

_________________________________________________________

Wednesday 25:

On Wednesday, Mark Moline educated us on the REMUS, another AUV. It is like the IVER2 because it runs short-term missions, however it carries more sensors and has a GPS system. The students had a short competition to write code for a mission that was then carried out a little ways off the pier.

We then learned about crawlers, which are small tank-like sampler that crawl along the bottom of a basin and take samples; and ROVs, which are small, tethered, and remotely controlled robots.

_________________________________________________________

Thursday 26:

On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving the “California way” by learning how to surf and having a nice traditional thanksgiving dinner (including turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes) at a country club.

_________________________________________________________

Friday 27:

Friday, we worked as a group on the lay out of the NORUS website, www.norus-science.com, and discussed future workshops in Trondheim and Svalbard. Also mentioned are relevant courses taught at UNIS in Svalbard that are to happen at the beginning of May and in mid September (http://www.unis.no)

That’s all for now. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and week!

Inga and Nilsen

noreply@blogger.com (Ragnhild) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Wednesday November 25^th

REMUS Deployment and Mission Planning/Crawler Demo

REMUS

Today we learned about our 3rd AUV – the REMUS. Like the IVER2, it is propelled by a propeller, and like the Glider, it contains quite a few instruments that allow for navigation, communication, and measurements of the sea column (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, CDT, compass, Iridium, etc.). It also contains a sidescanner, which allows for mapping and topography of the ocean floor. There’s a pretty cool user interface as well, which takes data sent from the REMUS (by Iridium or otherwise) and plots it graphically (e.g. compass positions, vehicle orientations, and GPS locations)

We also learned how to program the REMUS for missions; there was a contest to see who could create the best mission plan in the smallest amount of time to explore a cubic volume of water. Robbie Plankenhorn’s team won (much to our chagrin…) The following images show the participants deploying and recovering the AUV.

Crawler Demo

Dr. Chris Clark gave a demo of the Crawler and a tiny mini ROV, an underwater vehicle controlled by wire with a video feed that allows us to see what life is like on the ocean floor in real time.

A Day of Surfing and Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Colin Evans) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Hey everyone,

So yesterday was an introduction for most of us to a California style Thanksgiving which involved a surf session during the day and a nice turkey dinner in the evening. We first arrived at Good Clean Fun in Cayucos and the waves were a pretty descent size for us as beginners. Our instructor started us out on giving a few pointers about surfing on the beach before we all got in the water and they were pretty helpful. He stated first hand that standing up on the board is absolutely the most difficult thing to do in surfing. I remember thinking how it really didn't look that difficult until we all tried standing up in the water. I never thought that something that looked so easy could be so difficult. Everyone ended up tasting enough salt water by the end of the session, but it was a great experience for all of us. I still think I have the taste of salt water in my mouth. Dr. Chris Clark was in the more advanced section in the water as he looked like a professional next to all of us.

After we all grabbed a quick lunch after the surf session, we headed back to Avila and rested for a bit before meeting up for a fun Thanksgiving dinner generously prepared for us by one of Mark's friends. Dinner was excellent and the turkey was great. Mark brought plenty of wines for all of us to enjoy during dinner and Erlend, being Erlend, ordered a few more for the table. We ended the dinner with some really good desserts including the traditional pumpkin pie and another dessert filled with chocolate tastiness which had everyone at the table sampling. Overall, it was a very enjoyable Thanksgiving that I'm sure everyone will remember.

Cute sea lion!

noreply@blogger.com (Marit) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:15:00 +0000

IVER Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Elen) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:58:00 +0000

Progress IVER2

Chris presented information on mechanics and programming of the IVER. Currently the IVER is outfitted with compass, altimeter, and 2 CPUs. Scott and Robbie worked hard to prepare the IVER for demonstrations of it's underice capabilities.
The IVER's movements can be controlled through the secondary CPU. In the afternoon, we all had an opportunity to drive the IVER near the Cal Poly Pier. Scott and Robbie also showed how the IVER will track its movements along an ice edge in the Arctic.

As an intro to the Remus presentation, Jørgen Bergen gave some short input of the scientific relevance of using the Remus in futureArctic missions. There are two aspect to focus on; measuring diel vertical migration (DVM) and affect of ice on biological communities.

After a really nice sushi dinner at the Yanagi's, Zoë Wood and Daniel Medina presented software for 3D visualization of glider data. Further considerations about incorparating the ice environment, non-photorealistic considerations and biological parameters into visualizition modeling software of glider data were discussed.

Tuesday, November 24

noreply@blogger.com (Robbie Plankenhorn) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:28:00 +0000

Deployment of the Slocum glider

Arrived at the Cal Poly pier bright and early this morning. John Kerfoot (Rutgers) demonstrated how to program the Slocum glider and download mission files to the glider. Prior to launching the glider, we ran a status mission on the pier.
Thanks to the help of Jason Felton and Tom Moylan (Cal Poly) the glider was successfully loaded into the Zodiac and deployed by students in Avila Bay. After completing short abort sequence tests, the glider was sent on its way.

Monday, November 23

noreply@blogger.com (Marit) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

Hello all!

Our second day was all about gliders! We started off walking to the Cal Poly Pier, where we saw a lot of sea lions, sea otters, pelicans and a lot of other bird species.
We then took a tour of the pier and had a safety briefing. We learned that the pier was originally used for oil transport. The pier was abandoned in 1994 after an oil spill occurred. In 2003 it was rebuilt as a marine research facility. The pier is now designed to outlast any storm; its platform is made of steel and has holes in the floor so that the water could filter out.

After the safety briefing we all gathered around the SLOCUM glider RU16 and opened it up to check out the hardware. The glider has a bladder that fills with air in the tail cone to keep the tail out of the water. This makes communicating with satellites easier. The front of the glider (also known as the head cone) can be filled with water so that it sinks. In the middle there are batteries and other hardware. We learned a lot about ballasting the glider to make it sink without a roll or pitch at a 26 degree angle. Some of the Norwegian students interrupted the lecture to give us their custom made coffee mugs.

Using what we learned, we put the glider in a water tank to see how it looked. The tail was slightly heavier than the front, but not significant for the launch.

Then we all ate lunch in the sun behind the marine lab building. The meal was delicious and the sun was relaxing, which was perfect for cold adapted students from Norway. We also got to see some big whales in the horizon. Basically it was a perfect lunch setting!

After lunch we learned a lot about how to program the gliders and how to prepare them for missions. We planned a mission which you all can follow on Google earth.

We then went to dinner at the Steamers of Pismo. We had some nice, expensive white wine and a big, pleasant meal.

After the meal we headed back to the Avila beach Marine Institute for a late evening lecture from Chris Clark about autonomous control and state estimation of robots. We learned that robots go through a procedure involving perception, localization and cognition, which is then used to perform a controlled motion. We got a robot demonstration with the robotics lab program and a cute little robot.

We're looking forward to tomorrow's glider launch!

Sunday, November 22

noreply@blogger.com (Erlend) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:51:00 +0000

On our first formal day of fun and learning, the NORUS group was introduced to the location in which we are going to reside most of the time of the workshop - a nice marine science slash teaching center situated ideally by the beach just two minutes walk from our hotel.

After initial introductions, the group traveled west of San Luis Obispo to Montana De Oro State Park to enjoy some healthy exercise and gorgeous views of the California coast. In the beginning part of the hike, there were several scenic views of the Morro Bay rock and the Morro Bay coastline with several prime surfing spots visible and the group stopped to take pictures. During the hike, Dr. Mark Moline was a model tour guide and discussed how the area used to be several ranches before becoming a state park. He also identified poison oak to the group, which could have been devastating if anyone became exposed to it. Later, when viewing the many tide pool areas along the hike, we were fortunate enough to encounter some marine life including a sea otter and several species of sea snails. The group concluded the hike by enjoying a beautiful sunset and some nice group pictures.

Starving from the strenuous stroll, but excited to have survived the perils of poison oak and obnoxious otters, we congregated yet again at the customs house for a feast. After having over-eaten on american portions, we returned to the science center for John's teaser talk on gliders and their potential.

Prof. Moline explaining the perils of poison oak
- it will get you, and it will kill you

Here is what we heard:

Gliders today are no longer a pipe dream, but are actually in use all over the globe, making science as they go.

Gliders vary their buoyancy and produce forward movement by flying up or down, using their wings to push water behind them. They have no need for propellers, which means reduced energy consumption and mission times of several months. With this kind of mission lengths, biofouling becomes an issue – as a naked glider is like a virgin land on which hydroids, lepas (duckbill shells?), barnacles and algae immediately starts settling whereever they can get a foothold. Coating with Teflon and jumping between water masses of sharp temperature gradients represents a couple of the solutions, but neither is simple and straightforward.

Models have normally been driven by remotely sensed products like satellite and Codar (radar) products. Unlike these technologies, gliders produce data from beneath the surface as well, literally providing in depth input data for your model. Shipboard surveys can be very thorough and accurate, but are expensive, while gliders and AUVs are cheap in comparison.

In your waters of interest, the Webb Slocum is the only glider able to operate in a coastal setting less than 200 meters deep. The Seaglider and Spray glider have longer deflection times, and thus need larger depths to operate. Gliders are cost effective and financially scalable to fit your scientific budget, once the platform has been bought. However, in a glider mission, low to moderate speeds must be acceptable, so high energy waters of strong turbulence or currents will pose a challenge to navigate

Gliders can be fitted with an already wide, and growing, array of instruments for measurements at your leisure. These include optical inherent and apparent properties, biological properties such as phytoplankton signatures and production rates, as well as physical and chemical properties of for example temperature, salinity, nutrients and oxygen.

Iridium and wireless communications allow distributed gliders to be controlled remotely, and you could be sipping your latté at a coffee bar while operating your fleet of arctic gliders through your complimentary wireless access. Real-time oceanography at the tip of your finger!

Workshop Programme

noreply@blogger.com (Kasper Hancke) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:04:00 +0000

NORUS Workshop II
November 21st - 28th, 2009
Avila Beach, California USA

Tentative Agenda

Saturday, November 21st
Arrive USA-California-Avila Beach
Check-In Avila Beach Lighthouse
18:00 Informal Dinner – (Custom House – 25 ppl)

Sunday, November 22nd
Discover Local Area
Additional Arrivals
(Avila Beach Marine Institute)
12:00 Opening Lunch (Catering Spread by Avila Grocery & Deli)
NORUS Update/Plans (Johnsen/Moline/Clark/Berge)
Workshop II Overview (Moline/Clark)
14:00 Hiking – Montana d’Oro State Park
19:00 Dinner – (Custom House – 25 ppl)
20:00 Lecture – Glider Overview Lecture (Kerfoot)
20:30 Discussion

Monday, November 23rd
(Cal Poly Pier)
08:30 Introduction to Pier Facility/Safety Brief
09:00 Glider Guts, Ballasting, Preparation
12:00 Lunch (Avila Grocery & Deli)
13:00 Glider Mission Planning
15:30 Break
16:00 Glider Launch Sequence
18:00 Dinner – (Steamers of Pismo – 25 ppl)
20:00 Lecture – Autonomous Control/State Estimation (Clark)
21:00 Discussion

Tuesday, November 24th
(Cal Poly Pier)
07:30 Glider Launch/Testing/Data
12:00 Lunch (Avila Grocery & Deli)
13:00 Intro to Iver2 (Clark)
14:00 Iver2 Launch/Recover – Manual Control, Mission Planning
15:00 Break
15:30 Iver2 Simulated Under ice demo (Clark)
17:30 Break
18:00 Dinner – (Yanagi’s – 25 ppl)
20:00 Lecture – Graphics and Visualization (Wood) or
Sampling Biology 2D, 3D, 4D and beyond (Moline)
21:00 Discussion

Wednesday, November 25th
(Cal Poly Pier)
07:30 REMUS/Mission Planning (Moline)
10:00 REMUS Launch
11:00 REMUS Recover/Data Download
12:00 Lunch (Avila Grocery & Deli)
13:00 Intro to ROV and crawler, and image processing (Clark)
15:00 Break
15:30 ROV and Crawler Demos
17:30 Break
18:00 Dinner – (Café Roma – Banquet Room)

Thursday, November 26th THANKSGIVING-National Holiday

Continue at Cal Poly Pier if needed
08:30 Good Clean Fun – surfing/kayaking (Cayucos)
18:30 Thanksgiving Dinner – (McPhee’s Avila Beach)
Free Evening

Friday, November 27th
(Cal Poly Pier)
09:00 Website
12:00 Lunch (Avila Grocery & Deli)
13:00 Future Applications
Planning Ny Aalesund
Planning Hopavaagen
Planning August 2010 Cruise
ICEX Discussion
Book Discussions and Assignments
15:00 Wine Tasting (Laetitia Vineyards or Edna Valley)17:30 Dinner – (AJ Spurs - 25 ppl.)
19:00 Beach Bonfire – dress warm

Saturday, November 28th
(Cal Poly Pier)
08:00 PI Wrap-up Breakfast (Johnsen/Moline/Clark/Berge)
Departures