Press and media

With modern non-destructive test methods, scientist of Fraunhofer IKTS and the research group Smart Ocean Technologies (SOT) analyze the battery state of underwater robots, so-called Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV). Such underwater vehicles are being used more and more frequently and for longer periods of time: they inspect drilling platforms, maintain underwater gas pipelines, search for cracks in offshore wind turbines, collect marine data or map the fauna and flora on the seabed. Better battery management should now reduce deployment costs and ensure that these underwater robots can dive for longer.

Rostock, July 9, 2021: With almost 1500 turbines and a capacity of 7500 megawatts, offshore wind power in the North Sea and Baltic Sea is increasingly becoming a mainstay of the energy transition in Germany. However, the turbines must also be regularly inspected and controlled underwater. New approaches to this are being developed in the interdisciplinary research group "Smart Ocean Technologies" in Rostock.

The maintenance of underwater infrastructure is anything but trivial. Until now, industrial divers have often been deployed in dangerous environments. Based on the BlueROV2 underwater robot, Fraunhofer researchers now want to develop a technical solution that can support and simplify these missions.

A new Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft research group at the Baltic Sea is developing underwater applications for more sustainable use of the ocean by humans. In their first project, researchers are exploring the issue of microplastics in the ocean.

A multidisciplinary research group with members from four Fraunhofer institutes recently began work at the OTC basecamp located at the Rostock Fishing Port in a further step toward developing the “Ocean Technology Campus Rostock“ (OTC), whose vision is supported and driven by the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft together with numerous partners.

Things are happening at Rostock’s fishing port: Standard Aggregatebau Evers GmbH & Co. KG (SAB) in Bramow has constructed a new office building at the edge of the wharf and have just started work on a new, approx. 4,100 m² multipurpose building. What’s special about this new building is that SAB isn’t building it just for its own purposes, it’s also taking the first players of the Ocean Technology Campus (OTC) under its wing.

Starting in May, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD and ISC Training und Assembly GmbH will be leasing premises on site and lay the cornerstone for the OTC Basecamp. Fraunhofer IGD is planning an underwater ocean engineering testing ground for research purposes in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Nienhagen that will allow partners from science and commerce to test new technologies under real-life conditions.

In the position paper “Smart Ocean Technologies“, which you can download via the link on the right, Fraunhofer formulates approaches to solutions and recommendations for action for the responsible use of the oceans.