The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has taken delivery of a 5- meter wave-propelled unmanned surface vessel, built by AutoNaut.
The vessel will be used by NTNU for development in autonomous systems and oceanographic studies.
The new 5-meter vessel has more power and space available, and incorporates several design upgrades, including refinement to the wave-foil technology and an improved launch/recovery system, the company explained.
Professor Kanna Rajan , Department of Engineering Cybernetics of NTNU, said, “We are very excited to have an AutoNaut to work with. It’s been a pleasure to work with the AutoNaut team to meet all our sensor needs in a state-of-the-art green-energy USV. NTNU are pleased to have received the vessel and very much look forward to be using it for several long-endurance scientific missions involving coordination with satellites, aerial and underwater vehicles.”
Pete Bromley , technical manager at AutoNaut, added, “We’re really proud of the improvements made in this boat – we’ve learned a lot from sea-trials in the last year or so and NTNU have brought some great ideas to the development.”
NTNU will station their AutoNaut at the Trondheim campus, where it will in the next few months conduct test for autonomous shipping in Trondheimsfjord.
A key role of the NTNU AutoNaut will be to record persistent observations, including ADCP, CTD and meteorological data in the Trondheimsfjord, Froan archipelago, followed by missions off Svalbard.