GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni Team Completes Successful Testing

The GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni Team successfully completed an extensive week of testing ahead of the final round of the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE. The team was the first to register on-site in the port city of Kalamata, Greece, where eight teams are vying to be crowned champions of the $7 million global competition that aims to advance deep sea technologies for autonomous, fast, high-resolution ocean exploration.

The GEBCO-NF Alumni Team with their SEA-KIT™ Unmanned Surface Vessel, USV Maxlimer, in the port city of Kalamata, Greece.

All technical systems involved in the team’s concept have been put through their paces, including a purpose-built Kongsberg Maritime Hugin AUV System, rated to operate at depths up to 4,500 metres, and a SEA-KIT™ Unmanned Surface Vessel, USV Maxlimer. The SEA-KIT™ vessel has been designed and built by Hushcraft in the UK, and possesses a unique remotely controlled system to launch and recover the AUV. Autonomous navigation and control is provided by Kongsberg’s K-MATE autonomy engine.

In the final, the GEBCO-Nippon Foundation Alumni team will have just 24 hours to map at least half of the 500 square kilometre competition area at a resolution of 5 metres (horizontal) by 0.5 metres (vertical). Following the latest round of testing, the team is confident that they can meet this difficult challenge.

The General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans(GEBCO) is a joint project of the International Hydrographic Organisation (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO – the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. It has its origins in the GEBCO chart series initiated in 1903 by Prince Albert I of Monaco, and aims to provide the most authoritative, publicly-available bathymetric datasets for the world’s oceans.

GEBCO partners The Nippon Foundation in the Seabed 2030 Project, which aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all.

The Nippon Foundation, a private, non-profit foundation, was established in 1962 for the purpose of carrying out philanthropic activities, using revenue from motorboat racing. The Foundation has a long history of working on key maritime issues. Its overall objectives include social innovation, assistance for humanitarian activities and global ocean management. Its philanthropic ideals embrace social development and self-sufficiency, and it pursues these principles by working to improve public health and education, alleviate poverty, eliminate hunger and help the disabled.