Invited Speakers
Prof. Tamaki Ura
Tamaki Ura is the Professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Director, Distinguished Professor of Center for Socio-Robotic Synthesis, Kyushu Institute of Technology, and Director of Underwater Technology Center of National Maritime Research Institute, since his retirement of the University of Tokyo in 2013.
He works as one of the Top-leaders of development of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in the world.
He has developed various types of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and related application technologies including navigation methods, a new sensing method using a chemical sensor, precise seafloor mapping methods, a precise seabed positioning system with a resolution of a few centimeters, a new sensing system of the thickness of cobalt-rich crust, etc. Finally, he exemplified using these technologies that AUVs are practicable and valuable tools for deep-sea exploration.
Dedicating himself to international societies’ activities, establishing IEEE/OES Japan Chapter, he served it as its first chair from 1995 to 2000. He organized international symposium on underwater technology: UT'98, UT2000, UT'02, UT’07, UT’11, UT’13 at Tokyo and UT'04 at Taipei, UT’09 at Wuxi and UT15 at Chennai with co-sponsor IEEE/OES and realized the international symposium on OCEANS/Techno-Ocean 2004, Kobe in November 2004, which is the first OCEANS conference held in Asia.
Not only for the academic fields but also for the public, he has been contributing to the Ocean related themes. He works as a cabinet consultant for ocean policy since 2007. He was a Commissioned Judge of the High Marine Accidents Inquiry Agency from 1984 to 2008, and he was the chairman of the Ocean Technology Committee of the Society of Naval Architects of Japan from 1998 to 2000 as well.
Based on these activities, he has received awards:
- 2013: Technical Achievement award (Robotics and Mechatronics Division) from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
- 2012: AUV “TUNA SAND” was awarded the 5th Robot Award from METI (Japan)
- 2010: IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Distinguished Technical Achievement Award (USA)
- 2007: Nominated as IEEE Fellow, for contributions to autonomous underwater vehicle technologies. (USA)
- 2006: Distinguished Service Award from IEEE Japan Chapter (Japan)
- 2000: Award from Agency for science and technology (Japan)
- 1999: Award from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (Japan)
- 1998: Award from High Automation Technology Association (Japan)
- 1995 and 1997:Awards on Invention from the Society of Naval Architects of Japan (Japan)
- 1982: Houkou Award on the significant contributions to safety of moored ship (Japan)
- 1979: Award from the Society of Naval Architects of Japan (Japan)
Dr Sergey Sukonkin
EDBOE RAS,
Russia
The Federal State Unitary Enterprise Experimental Design Bureau of Oceanological Engineering of Russian Academy of Sciences (EDBOE RAS), Director.
Sergey Sukonkin works in the EDBOE RAS since 1974. He designed, built tested and trial-operated underwater manned vehicles, remotely operated and autonomous unmanned vehicles, hyperbaric deep-sea diving systems etc. He dived in all the oceans and the lake Baikal, participated in the preservation protecting of the nuclear submarine "Komsomolets" in the Norwegian Sea. Is one of the leading experts in the field of deep-water technics. Currently work on creation a new generation of underwater equipment for the ocean exploring
Prof. Akira Asada
Akira Asada is Director, Professor of Underwater Technology Collaborative Research Center at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS) of the University of Tokyo.
Underwater Technology Collaborative Research Center is dedicated to the development, and application of underwater technology to achieve a greater understanding of the ocean. Based on collaboration with external partners, the center will act a node for the development of advanced acoustic, electromagnetic, and chemical sensing technologies and establish a practical framework for integrated data analysis. By emphasizing rapid dissemination of industrial grade instruments and data processing techniques, the activities of this center are expected to act as a driving force for the next generation of marine industry.
As a Director of Underwater Technology Collaborative Research Center, he and his laboratory aims at the most advanced Underwater Acoustic Network System Engineering in the world. Only one part of his achievements, he has been working for ‘Program for the development of fundamental tools for the utilization of marine resources’ of the Ministry of Educations, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan since 2014. In this program, he and his group is working towards the development of systematic protocols to characterize hydrothermal massive sulfide and manganese crust deposits.
He also serves as a vice president of the Marine Acoustics Society of Japan and devotes himself to be forwarding and promoting the research and development of marine acoustics.
Based on these activities, he has received these awards:
- 2012: Award from Techno-Ocean Network (Japan)
- 2010: Award from the Seismological Society of Japan (Japan)
- 2007: InterRidge Photo Competition Winners 2007 (China)
- 2005: Award from the Marine Acoustics Society of Japan (Japan)
Prof. Rajendar Bahl
Rajendar Bahl has a B.Tech (Honours) in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur (1974) and Ph.D (EE) from IIT Delhi (1982). He has been a past Head of the Centre for Applied Research in Electronics at IIT Delhi during 1996-99. He has participated in various national bodies of the Department of Electronics, Ministry of Information Technology, and the Defence Research & Development Organisation. He won a Senior Fellowship award of the US National Research Council during 1989-90 at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey. He has also been a Visiting Professor in the field of bio-acoustics at the Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo, Japan during 2002-2004. His major expertise is in sonar design and he has implemented a number of projects in this area.
Research InterestProfessor Bahl has authored a concept called "Comprehensive Ocean Area Surveillance Technology" (COAST) that consists of a network of autonomous underwater observatories that collect and process acoustic data and communicate over acoustic wireless links with a base station, or through RF link to an overhead aircraft or satellite. Several techniques and technologies to realise COAST have been developed by his team at IIT Delhi. His other ongoing research interests are:
- Sensor System Design and Simulation
- Acoustical Imaging
- Bio Sonar
Dr. S. Satheesh Chandra Shenoi,
Director, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS)
Dr. Shenoi has more than 32 years of research experience in Physical Oceanography. He worked at National Institute of Oceanography, Goa during 1983 to 2009 and contributed significantly to the understanding of physical oceanography of the waters around India during the last two decades. His work particularly stands out in the areas of study of processes internal to the ocean that influence SST and hence the coupling between the ocean and monsoon, development and validation of SST retrieval algorithms using satellite data, and the coastal currents around India.
Considering his contributions in understanding the physical oceanography of the waters around India, in 2007, he was elected as Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences and as a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India in 2009. In 2011, Indian Geophysical Union awarded him with Dr. H.N. Sidique Memorial Lecture Award. Andhra Pradesh Akademi elected him as a Fellow in 2014.
He has authored/co-authored more than 70 research papers in journals of international repute.
His professional Interests include Observational oceanography, ocean currents, impact of oceans on monsoons and satellite oceanography.
In May 2009, he joined Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad as its Director and currently leading the unique operational oceanography institute in the world that provides information on oceans to the general public as well as to the researchers. The services from INCOIS include the daily advisories to fishermen on where to find fish in the ocean, regular forecasts of ocean waves, currents, temperature, tides, early warnings on tsunami, etc.
He is also a member/chair of several national and international committees like Early Career Scientists Award Committee of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG), Sectional Committee of Indian Academy of Science on Earth & Planetary Scinces, Executive Committee of International Association for Physical Sciences of Ocean (IAPSO)/IUGG, Executive Committee, Indian Geophysical Union, Editorial Board, Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences, Research Advisory Committee, C-MACS, Bangalore, Steering Group, Intergovernmental Coordination Group of Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning Services (ICG/IOTWS), Indian Delegation to IOC Executive Committee and General Assembly, etc.
He also chairs the Working Group -2 on “Tsunami Detection, Warning and Dissemination (ICG/ITOWS/IOC/UNESCO). He is the National Vice-President of Vijnana Bharati, India and Vice-president of Indian Geophysical Union, India and Indian Society for Remote Sensing, Hyderabad Chapter.
Shri. S. Anantha Narayanan,
Outstanding Scientist and Director,
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL)
Shri S Anantha Narayanan Outstanding Scientist and Director, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi has been promoted to the grade of Distinguished Scientist.
Shri Anantha Narayanan obtained BTech in Electronics Engineering from IIT-Madras in 1975 and MTech in Electronics from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, in 1985 with Gold Medal. He is an alumnus of the National Defence College, New Delhi, where he underwent training on National Security and Strategy in 2003.
Shri Anantha Narayanan joined DRDO in 1975 as Junior Scientific Officer at Defence Research and Development Laboratory, Hyderabad. Subsequently he was transferred to NPOL, Kochi, in 1978. He was appointed Director, NPOL, on 1 January 2007 and was promoted as Outstanding Scientist in July 2009.
Shri Anantha Narayanan has made seminal contributions to the development of sonar systems for the Indian Navy. He was part of the development team of the first frigate sonar project. He was the Team Leader for the project APSIM established in ASW School, Naval Base in 1985. During 1993-98, Shri Anantha Narayanan was the Project Director for India’s first indigenously developed submarine sonar project, which paved the way for self-reliance in this field. As Director (Systems) he was instrumental in streamlining the production andinduction of several Sonar Systems during 2000-2006. As Director, NPOL, he was instrumental in realising a new generation surface ship sonar in a very short span of time. He has guided the development work on towed array and airborne sonar systems in NPOL. Shri Anantha Narayanan is a recipient of the DRDO Scientist of the Year Award in 1995 for his outstanding contributions in development of Naval Systems.
He is a fellow of IETE and a member of Ultrasonic Society of India and Acoustical Society of India.
Dr.M.A.Atmanand,
Director, NIOT
Dr.M.A.Atmanand, currently the Director of National Institute of Ocean Technology and Project Director of Integrated Coastal and Marine Area Management has done pioneering work in the area of deep sea technologies in India. An Instrumentation and Control Engineer by profession, he took his undergraduate degree from University of Calicut, Master’s and doctorate degrees from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
He led a team of Engineers for the design and development of underwater crawler for deep sea operation. He and his team developed the in-situ soil tester which was tested at a depth of 5200 m in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. It was under his supervision that the design of Electrical, Instrumentation and Control system of the India’s first Remotely Operable Vehicle was done. This was later tested at a depth of 5289 m water depth. He streamlined India’s Ocean Observation programme, which lead to improvement in weather forecasting models. He spearheaded many indigenisation programmes like Autonomous underwater profiling drifter, data buoys and drifter with INSAT communication.
Some of the areas he contributed are :
- Technologies for the extraction of Poly Metallic Nodules from deep sea, to retain 'pioneer investor' status for India, granted by International Sea Bed Authority of United Nations
- Development of Deep sea vehicles and systems for Observation, Mining, drilling and similar operations
- Development of allied technologies for Underwater vehicles, which have become mainstay all such projects in India
- CO2 sequestration
Dr.M.A.Atmanand has published 64 papers including International Journals, International conferences, National Conference and others. He received National Geoscience award 2010 from Ministry of Mines and the International Society for Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE) Ocean Mining Symposium award in the year 2009. He has widely travelled in capacities like technology transfer, as part of delegations etc. to countries like Russia, USA, UK, Germany, Portugal, Korea, Japan, Taiwan etc. He received United Nations fellowship in 1985 – 86.
He is member of many bodies and a Founding Chairman of IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society of India and has served in various capacities.
Prof. Gopu Potty
Gopu R. Potty earned a B.S in Civil Engineering in 1985 from University of Kerala, India, a Masters in Ocean Engineering in 1987 from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai, India and a Ph. D in Ocean Engineering in 2000 from University of Rhode Island. He was on the faculty of the Department of Naval Architecture and Ship Technology at the Cochin University of Science and Technology from 1987 to 1995. After Ph. D he worked as Assistant Marine Scientist (2000-2004) and Assistant Research Professor (2004-2014) and Associate Research Professor (since 2014)at the Department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island. He has also worked as Signal Processing Engineer at Farsounder, Inc., a marine electronics company during the period 2008-2009.
Most of Prof. Gopu Potty’s research work for the last 25 years has been supported by the Office of Naval Research. He has participated in a number of research cruises including the Shelfbreak Primer study (1996 and 1997), Asian Seas International Acoustic Experiment (ASIAEX- 2001) and the Shallow Water (SW06) experiment (2006). His research has been documented in over 200 research publications in the area of Acoustical Oceanography, Underwater Acoustics and Acoustical Signal Processing.
Prof. Gopu Potty is a Fellow of Acoustical Society of America (ASA). He served as the co-chair of the Acoustical Society of America Providence, RI meeting in 2014. He also serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. He is a member of the Acoustical Oceanography Technical Committee and represents it in the ASA Committee on Standards (ASACOOS). Prof. Gopu Potty is an active member of the ISO working group - ISO/TC 43/SC 3/WG 3 (Underwater acoustics – Measurement of radiated noise form marine pile driving). He is also a member of IEEE- Oceanic Engineering Society (OES) and Institution of Engineers (India). He is a member of the international advisory committee of the International Symposium on Ocean Electronics (SYMPOL) organized by the Department of Electronics, Cochin University of Science and Technology. He maintains close research collaboration with NIOT, Chennai and participated in the two Indo-US Workshops on Shallow Water Acoustics (at NIO, Goa in 2010 and at NIOT, Chennai in 2011). He developed and offered a 5 day course on "Fundamentals of Ocean Acoustics" to scientists in India at National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, 2-8, February, 2011
Dr. Elgar Desa,
Chief Scientist, National Institute of Occeanography
This talk presents a synopsis of Marine Robots developed at N.I.O. Goa since its inception as a Millenium Project in 2000. We consider two developments namely the AUV –Maya, and the Autonomous Vertical Profiler (AVP) , and a third on-going project on the SeaBed Resident Event Driven Profiling System (SREP) . The unstated aim is to not to claim any major achievements but to present our developmental experiences as lessons that have been learned from ground zero.
There are some unexpected conclusions that we can draw from this review:
- Marine robots are mostly based on simple physical concepts –force (acceleration) , buoyancy, lift, drag and torque. This encourages one to maintain simplicity in design.
- When the technology is tied to a specific science problem there is ample scope for innovation.
- Different robots, in general, can be constructed from basic building blocks of hardware and software.
- Navigation algorithms, acoustic communications, and simulation apart from control will always be the primary tools to building field worthy marine robots.
- Strategic applications in the ocean are a natural offshoot of marine robot technology .
- Lastly, there is an element of unexpected surprises in using robots for Oceanography. Our presentation will touch upon aspects of design, implementation and the discovery/ exploration of processes detected in reservoirs and coastal waters. We shall also float ideas on how marine robotics can be used in understanding the ocean.
Prof. Manell E. ZAKHARIA,
Specialist in: Underwater Acoustics, Sonar Systems and Signal Processing
- International Technical Expert, French Embassy in India, Project officer Indo-French collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur since 2013
- Professor at ENSAM, September (2011- 2013)
-
Visiting Scientist at NATO/NURC and Director of CORALL:
- Center for Ocean Research and Advanced Learning in Liguria (2009-2011)
- Professor at the French Naval Academy (2001-2009)
- Founder and Director of LASSSO laboratory, CPE Lyon (1990-2001)
- Honorary Fellow of the ASI, Acoustical Society of India (2012)
- Award of the EAA, European Acoustics Association (2011)
- National Medal of the SFA, French Acoustical Society (2010)
- Fellow Member of the IOA, Institute of Acoustics (UK, 2010)
- Senior Member of the IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (2005)
- Fellow Member of the ASA, Acoustical Society of America (2004)
- Co-chair of Acoustics 2013 New Delhi (joint Indo-French Conference)
- Co-chair of ACOUSTICS’08 PARIS (joint SFA-EAA-SFA conference)
- IEEE/OES: Technology Committee co-chair (underwater acoustics, since 06)
- 02-07: Program Director of ERASM, French network on education and research in underwater acoustics
- 02-06: Responsible of imaging & inversion for ”waves” Research group of the National Research Centre
- 01-03: Deputy-Director of IRENAV and head of Underwater Acoustics Group
- 90-00: Head of Laboratoire d’Acoustique, Systèmes, Signaux et Sonar LASSSO/CPE, Lyon
- EAA, European Acoustics Association, Past Director: 99-01, Executive Director: 96-99
- SFA, French Acoustical Society, President (92-94, 94-96), Vice-President (91-92)
- DIPLOMAS, QUALIFICATIONS
- HDR: Habilitation diploma, November 2000, INSA Lyon.
- PhD in acoustics, University of Aix-Marseille, June 1982
- Masters in Acoustics: University of Aix-Marseille, 1979
- Engineering degree in physics and electronics: ICPI Lyon 1978
- Fluent (reading and writing) in French, English and Arabic; beginner in Italian.
- PUBLICATION: a total of 362 publications and reports
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR AND MANAGER OF 65 RESEARCH CONTRACTS
- 11 SCIENTIFIC CRUISES: PROOF OF CONCEPT EXPERIMENTS
- SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION
- 7 PhD Thesis, 31 Master thesis & more than 70 Masters projects (masters in engineering).
- CHAIRMAN of 8 CONFERENCES
- Co-chair of Acoustics 2013 New Delhi (joint Indo-French Conference)
- Co-chair of Acoustics’08 Paris (the world’s largest meeting devoted to acoustics, 5000 persons)
- 155th ASA Meeting, 5th Forum Acusticum (EAA), and the 9th Congrès Français d’Acoustique (SFA) integrating the 7th euronoise, the 9th ecua, the 60th SFA and the 50th NURC anniversaries.
- Chair of the French workshop on underwater acoustics (JASM, Brest 2002, 2004)
- Chair of the 5th European Conference on Underwater Acoustics, (ECUA 2000, Lyon)
- Chair of the European Workshop on Parametric Arrays (Lyon, 1995)
- Chair of French Workshop on Acoustical Imaging (Lyon, 1994)
- Chair of the 1st French Conference on Acoustics, 1er Cong. Français d’Acoustique (Lyon, 1990).
- PARTICIPATIONS to 64 SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEES
Dr. S. Rajan,
Director, National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research
A Ph.D in Geology and Geophysics from the University of Hawaii, USA, Dr. Rajan has over 33 years of scientific and administrative experience in various facets of geosciences, initially in the Geological Survey of India (1979 to 1997) and since then at the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (NCAOR), Goa. He has been involved in marine geoscientifc studies and continental margin research specializing in maritime boundary delineation since 1984. Leader of the Indian Continental Shelf Program between 1999 and 2012, Dr. Rajan was responsible for collecting, processing and interpreting the geoscientific data to define the outer limits of the country’s extended continental shelf under the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). He was India’s elected representative to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, CLCS from 2007-12, and was re-elected for another five-year term (2012-17). Dr. Rajan is also the Member-Secretary of the Indian National Scientific Committee for Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), and the Vice-Chairman of the Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and Technology Cells of the Ministry of Earth Sciences at Mangalore University.
On the polar front, Dr. Rajan was a member of the four-member team which visited Antarctica during 2003-04 to identify a site for India’s new Antarctic research base. The research station named “Bharati” has since been commissioned. He has also visited the Arctic many times and till assuming the charges of Director, he had been the principal investigator of a project to study the seasonal and annual responses of an Arctic fjord to climate variabilities. His current research interests include the linkage between the Indian monsoon and the Polar Regions at different time scales, persistent organic pollutants in the Arctic, and multi-metal hydrothermal mineralization at deep-ocean spreading ridges.
Dr. Rajan is the recipient of the National Geoscience Award 2010 for his contributions in the field of Ocean Development as well as the 2014 Dr. H. N. Siddiquie Medal of the Indian Geophysical Union for his contributions in the field of Marine Sciences.