Comms and Control
to global fleet orchestration, DIGIT provides the software architecture to win the fight. It represents a fundamental shift toward mission-aware technology, giving operators and autonomous systems the foresight to make confident decisions to deliver successful mission outcomes.”Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is advancing subsea communication technology with a one million dollar grant through the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge, a defense innovation initiative supported by Australia’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, the United Kingdom’s Defense and Security
Hydromea, FAU Receive AUKUS Grant
Hydromea SA and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) won a $1 million award granted through the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge. The trilateral defense initiative, backed by the United States Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), Australia's Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and the United Kingdom's Defense and Security Accelerator (DASA), is funding the joint team to develop a next-generation underwater communication and networking system capable of operating in contested and congested environments.The project was selected from a highly competitive international pool of
FAU Receives Grant to Transform Underwater Robotic Communication
Florida Atlantic University has been awarded a $1 million grant through the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge, a trilateral defense innovation initiative supported by Australia’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator, the United Kingdom’s Defense and Security Accelerator, and the United States Defense Innovation Unit.The project, led by FAU’s Center for Connected Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence (CA-AI) in collaboration with Hydromea, a Swiss pioneer in visible-light optics, was selected from a highly competitive pool of proposals submitted by universities, research
Microplastics Becoming Measurable Part of Ocean’s Carbon Cycle
tons of plastic enters the ocean every year. Microplastics – ranging from 1 micron to 5 millimeters – make up most of the plastic pieces found.Most research has focused on surface waters, usually sampling just the top 15 to 50 centimeters using net tows, but a researcher from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is among an international team of scientists who has mapped microplastic distribution from the surface to the deep sea at a global scale.The researchers synthesized depth-profile data from 1,885 stations collected between 2014 and 2024 to map microplastic distribution patterns by
Autonomous Multi-Vehicle System Designed for Long-Term Arctic Studies
ice. Moreover, traditional ocean observation methods offer limited temporal and spatial coverage, while drones and AUVs are hindered by energy constraints that restrict their research potential.To overcome these challenges, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University have proposed a design of an alternative, autonomous observational method that features a small waterplane area twin hull (SWATH) vessel that acts as a docking and charging station for AUVs and UAVs.The SWATH ship is engineered for exceptional stability, allowing it to navigate through
Nauticus Robotics' Subsea Robot Set for Further Trials in Florida
Subsea autonomous robot maker Nauticus Robotics has entered into partnership with Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for further testing of its flagship underwater vehicle, Aquanaut Mark 2.Nauticus and FAU will perform Aquanaut Mark 2 vehicle development testing in the protected waters near the university's Institute for Ocean and Systems Engineering Dania Beach facilities as well as in the deeper waters of the Atlantic Ocean.This partnership is expected to result in approximately 90% savings on vehicle development testing.This phase of testing requires both shallow and deeper waters to fully test
Subsea Vehicles: Diving into the Autosub Program
; It was a new arena. When the Autosub 1 was first presented, there were just 36 other AUVs known at that time. “They designed all the pressure vessels, they did all the testing, they built all the control architecture,” says Furlong. Part of the latter was in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University using Lonworks modules, enabling a distributed control architecture, which remained with the vehicles right through to Autosub6000. “The distributed architecture of the system was really ground breaking,” he says. Operations in 1999, with Autosub 2 in Antarctica. All
Scientists Come Closer to Solving Caribbean Seaweed Mystery
to 2019 offers the strongest evidence yet that water coming from city and farm runoff has been a major contributor to expansion of the so-called Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt, which now stretches for nearly 9,000 kilometers.Nitrogen runoffThat study, co-authored by biologist Brian Lapointe at Florida Atlantic University, found that sargassum collected recently in coastal waters from Brazil to the southern United States, and including several Caribbean nations, contained levels of nitrogen that were 35% higher on average than in samples taken more than three decades earlier. The findings were published
US Navy Testing New Anti-submarine Technology
system components followed by progressively more inclusive integration and testing until the full ASW Mission Package has been tested.The Dockside-1 test a week prior to the Seneca Lake event had LCS Sailors overseeing and actively engaging in the operation of the DART Mission System at the Florida Atlantic University Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute's waterside product integration, assembly and test complex.Dockside-2 testing, planned for autumn 2018, will expand the scope of DART system integration to add three additional Raytheon mission modules to complete the system. The Navy will take
August 2026
