In April 2017, CARIS Onboard™ Product Manager, Travis Hamilton, was onsite with the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) to conduct a CARIS Onboard installation and trial. JAMSTEC is an organization committed to supporting ocean research and development activities which covers a broad spectrum of marine science and technology. With several institutions located across the country, their mandate is to contribute to the creation of a holistic understanding of global concepts surrounding the ocean.
Significant interest in autonomous and unmanned vehicles has developed within the survey community during the last few years. Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV’s) are being considered for tasks such as data gathering in waters considered too shallow for manned vehicles and in areas presenting hazardous operating conditions. Looking forward, the concept of operating a fleet of autonomous and unmanned surface vehicles, with or without manned vessels as part of the fleet, holds great promise to improve survey efficiency.
The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) and Teledyne CARIS™ conducted two important sea trials in July and December of 2015. The July trial was to test the capabilities of CARIS Onboard™ for near real-time processing, while the December trial was focused on remote access to the products created through a remote survey operation.