Introduction The Ocean Technology Lab takes on a variety of research topics related to underwater vehicles, cabled underwater observatories, and subsea instrumentation. This page provides an introduction to all of the past and present projects undertaken by the OTL.

MANO: BF-12 Saab SeaEye Falcon OTTB MACO- Hybrid AUV HD Camera Underwater GPS

MANO – Bluefin-12 AUV

MANO is Bluefin-12 AUV that has been specially designed to faciliate AUV research into sensor development and advanced guidance and navigation algorithms. <more>

Saab Sea-Eye Falcon Research

The OTL has been working with other researchers at the University of Victoria to develop new technologies for the Saab SeaEye Falcon that is employed as a work vehicle on the OTTB. The diverse research on this vehicle includes customized hardware and new command and control concepts. <more>

Ocean Technology Test Bed – An Undersea Laboratory

The ocean technology test bed (OTTB) will be an engineering laboratory, located on the sea floor. It will enable scientific instrument prototyping, ocean technology development and systems engineering. More specifically, it will facilitate research into the technologies required to extend the reach of cabled ocean observatories using underwater vehicles, autonomous instrumentation, and acoustic networks. <more>

MACO - Hybrid AUV Project

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) MACO was developed at the University of Victoria, in partnership with FlexMet Technologies Inc. The vehicle was tested in collaboration with DRDC to investigate the use of an AUV to support rapid deployment of acoustic element arrays. The requirements on the AUV to stop and hover, while triggering a low frequency sound source, lead to the multiple thruster, hybrid design of MACO.<more>

Undersea Window – High Definition Video Online

The Undersea Window project is a collaboration between McGill University and the University of Victoria (UVic) to create a facility to transmit live full broadcast standard high definition video from a camera on the undersea VENUS network, 100m below the surface of the Saanich Inlet on Vancouver Island, to scientists, educators and the public throughout Canada and around the world via CA*net 4 and inter-connected broadband networks.<more>

Underwater GPS System

The underwater GPS (UGPS) takes it name from the similarities that it shares with its terrestrial cousin. Traditionally, underwater vehicles use either a long, short, or ultra-short baseline system for navigation. These systems all require two-way communication between the components. This can become prohibitively complicated and expensive for large fleets of underwater vehicles. The purpose of the UGPS is to provide a low-cost solution for providing positioning data to a large number of vehicles simultaneously. <more>