High school students were presented with technological achievements in underwater sensor networks - DEMO OPEN MONUSEN

Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Montenegro, as the coordinator of the MONUSEN project and partner institutions, have organised demo workshops in Kumbor on the 27^th and 29^th of September 2023 in the framework of Breaking the Surface 2023 – BTS, an international interdisciplinary field workshop on maritime robotics and application. Under the patronage of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development, as a part of Festival Days of Science and Innovation, demo workshops were conceived to promote the power of science and the importance of technology in solving the challenges of coastal protection, the authenticity of underwater acoustic communications, as well as the design of algorithms for guiding the movement of vessels.

Secondary school students from Gimnazija Kotor and High School “Mladost” from Tivat participated in the interactive demo workshop regarding underwater acoustic sensor networks for detection and monitoring. Researchers from the University Newcastle Upon Tyne (UNEW) have shown how a network of small underwater sensors can detect and track small boats by "listening" to the underwater sound generated by their propeller. As the propeller moves in the water, tiny air bubbles are formed that "collapse" under the pressure of the surrounding water. On the shore, participants could hear and visualise underwater sounds and information sent by sensors about detected boats and their position. A network of small underwater sensors could be helpful in the safety and protection of marine habitats by preventing illegal fishing.

The researchers from the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) - Institute of Marine Engineering (INM) demonstrated to the students from Naval Secondary School a new way of thinking about research activities from a data perspective, i.e. show how to get FAIR data in maritime robotics on the example of an autonomous surface vehicle that follows a straight line while moving using the SWAMP autonomous surface vehicle designed at CNR INM. SWAMP is an electric, modular, portable, light and highly controllable vehicle - a catamaran characterised by an unsinkable hull structure with high modularity and a flexible hardware/software architecture. Algorithms for directing the SWAMP to move in a straight line, jointly designed by scientists and collaborators from CNR INM and ETF within the MONUSEN project, were applied to illustrate the proposed procedures for repeating the experiment calculating the performance index and FAIR data storage. The students were particularly interested in managing SWAMP and observing its performance.

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb researchers enabled students from High School “Ivan Goran Kovačić” from Herceg Novi to drive small, multifunctional and autonomous surface vehicles. The functionality of vehicles such as  H₂OMNIX – an unmanned surface Vehicle (USV) was demonstrated live at sea as a part of the blockchain communication mission. The mission included three H2OMNIX vehicles and one underwater drone that acoustically communicate messages between them in real-time while following the predefined path. The demonstration enabled experience in manual control of the USV, looking into the multiple ways to achieve autonomous navigation and testing available communication and programming interfaces for mission execution, navigation and control.

DEMO OPEN MONUSEN workshops were organised in Montenegro for the first time to promote and popularise scientific research and innovative activities in underwater sensor networks, encouraging a research approach among young people.