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The Splendid Summer: Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Operations at The Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping
**In collaboration with the Coastal Sediments, Hydrodynamics and Engineering Lab University of Delaware**
The UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping operates, in collaboration with the University of Delaware, a “Gavia” model AUV, manufactured by Hafmynd EHF of Reykjavik, Iceland. The Gavia will be introduced, detailing it’s many sensor suites and capabilities. Adventures from a summer of training, learning and numerous expeditions will be recounted, including missions to our own Mendum’s Pond, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Lake Tahoe and Abaco, Bahamas. Along the way many engineering and scientific challenges have been unearthed which will be discussed in detail as well as ongoing developments of new sensor modules and up coming missions.
Val Schmidt is pursuing a Ph.D. in Ocean Engineering under professors Chris d'Moustier and Larry Mayer.
Before coming to CCOM, Val served in the US Submarine Service aboard the USS HAWKBILL (SSN-666). In this capacity, Val participated in two dedicated science ("SCICEX") missions to the Arctic in 1998 and 1999. He has since worked for Qwest Communications developing applications for Voice Over IP technologies and more recently as a research engineer for the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory where he built instrumentation, installed navigation and communications systems, and designed data systems for oceanographic research ships.
Val is the lead author of the MB-System Cookbook. The Cookbook provides documentation for the open source swath mapping data processing suite. He also co-developed SWAP - the "Ship-to-Ship Wireless Access Protocol" - a wireless mesh-networking system for the UNOLS oceanographic research fleet.
Val has a terrific and beautiful wife, Alice and a mean cat, Kokua.
