An experiment to detect oil spills, URready4OS, is being performed until Friday near the port of Cartagena, Spain.
A European project, coordinated by the University Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), will see a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and aerial drones put on trial on board the vessel Clara Campoamor.
The project, funded by the Directorate-General Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection of the European Comission, aims to establish a protocol list and have a fleet of intelligent rapid response vehicles, trained in detection of oil spills at sea.
The culmination of this experimental phase, is to simulate an oil spill and implement these intelligent vehicles, which will have to detect the plume of discharge and monitoring it.
Representatives from as Navantia, Repsol and Oil Spill Response (OSRL), an international cooperative responding to oil spills all over the world, attended the test demonstration, with 20 researchers taking part in the project, and 5 drones being supplied by Spain, Portugal and Greece.