The land-based headquarters and marine test-site facilities of the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands (PLOCAN) host the validation tests of a new generation of European ocean sensors and robotics to improve the measurement of Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) within the framework of the European project Technologies for Ocean Sensing (TechOceanS).
Funded with a grant of 8.9 million euros, the TechOceanS project is pioneering the development of five new sensors: two vision systems, a novel sampler and an image processing methodology powered by artificial intelligence, all capable of performing autonomously solid operations at depths greater than 2,000 meters.
TechOceanS actively contributes to scientists, industry, interest groups and resource managers by leading efforts to improve the measurement of EOVs through the development of a new generation of ocean sensors integrated into fixed and mobile autonomous observing platforms.
The new technologies developed enables more efficiently and sustainably a key data gathering, previously inaccessible, on the biogeochemistry, biology and ecosystems of the ocean.
The project envisages their integration into a multidisciplinary fleet of autonomous marine vehicles and their corresponding validation in various operational scenarios on the PLOCAN marine test site and surrounding areas.
The TechOceanS project of the EU-Horizon 2020 programme, led by the National Oceanographic Center (NOC) in the United Kingdom, brings together international ocean-technology experts from Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom to develop a new generation of autonomous sensing, vision and in-situ sampling technologies aimed at improving understanding of ocean chemistry and biology.
The highly interdisciplinary project team ensures that the technologies to be developed expand knowledge of the ocean’s interconnected systems and provide tangible benefits to sector industries within the framework of the Blue Economy.
PLOCAN, partner and member of the Executive Board of the project, contributes through its logistic and operational infrastructure (test-site, ocean observatory and fleet of autonomous marine vehicles) as leading site where TechOceanS plans to carry out throughout the first half of 2024 integration, testing, validation and demonstration activities in real operational scenarios, both coastal and open-ocean.
