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It is a competition designed to challenge the next generation of engineers to design and build an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of performing realistic missions.
The 7th Annual Student Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge Europe (SAUC-E) was held in La Spezia, Italy, on 6 to 13 July.
The students’ project this year was to make their AUVs complete a series of tasks, including passing through a gate and tracking a pipeline. The challenges all had to be completed in just half an hour.
“Our goal is actually to try and develop cooperative AUVs, this is the future, that’s what the industry is coming to, it’s innovating, it’s cutting edge,” says participant Tamara Brizard.
Contributing to smart defence
The competition encourages students to think about underwater technology and how it can be utilized. It also fosters innovation and technology development, while encouraging cooperation among the NATO countries. SAUC-E was in fact identified as an event that matched the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation’s (CMRE) mission to use AUVs in new ways. It is also a project in the spirit of Smart Defence, encouraging better use of and cooperation with NATO’s capabilities.
Fifteen teams from universities across Europe and North America took part in the event, encouraging young people to consider careers in the field of underwater technology and related fields.
“SAUC-E is kind of a mini-NATO. We have teams coming from all over Europe and even the world,” continues Brizard. “And it’s wonderful to be able to cooperate with them, talk with them, exchange ideas with them. So it kind of marries the NATO concept,” she adds.
Testing future technology
The NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (formerly the NATO Underwater Research Centre) has hosted SAUC-E since 2010. As in the past two years, the competition took in a sheltered salt-water harbour where limited visibility further tested the ability of the AUVs’ performance in a realistic environment.
Canada’s École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) du Quebec won the competition while last year’s winners, the University of Luebeck from Germany and ENSTA Bretagne from France, took second and third place respectively.
“It is always a pleasure to see the students of today, who are the scientists of tomorrow, stretch their minds, explore new technologies and find innovative ways to solve common problems and engage challenges placed before them," said Mr. Andy Pickup, CMRE Deputy Director.