The project
LORELEI-X is a transformational coordination and support action aiming to enhance the science and innovation capacity of Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute (CMMI), and Europe in large-scale autonomous marine area search during emergency situations.
Progress will be demonstrated via the implementation of a joint research and innovation project going beyond the state of the art in long-endurance marine autonomous vessels design and development.
DTU is one of the two advanced partners that will support CMMI to
- Improve excellence capacity and resources in Cyprus
- Raise reputation, research profile and attractiveness of CMMI and its staff
- Strengthen research management capacities and admin skills of CMMI
This capacity building of research and innovation management at CMMI is anchored in the project. In this regard DTU will lead the research on cyber-physical resilient navigation of autonomous surface vehicles to achieve safe and secure operations at sea.
In particular, DTU will collaborate with CMMI in the design, development and testing of solutions that improve the robustness of the autonomous surface vehicle with respect to physical faults and cyber threats as well as solutions enabling collision avoidance at sea.
The research collaboration builds on DTU knowledge and expertise on technologies for safe autonomous operations at sea. In particular, our research is rooted in our knowledge of fault-tolerant systems, multimodal sensing for situational awareness, and dynamic path planning for collision avoidance.
The research collaboration with CMMI will be built through knowledge transfer, research visits at the respective institutions, joint development and experimentation, and co-authorship of scientific publications.
Applications
The overall research outcome of LORELEI-X is an integrated heterogeneous marine robotic system for target localisation at sea. The system has clear potential in many marine operations, including environmental monitoring, restoration of marine ecosystems, surveillance of coastal areas, search and rescue missions.
In the light of current geopolitical situations, decades-long challenges connected with people fleeing from war and poverty through the Mediterranean leading to countless human tragedies, and the global climate challenges connected with the pollution and eutrophication of marine areas, the technology developed in LORELEI-X is seen as potential force multiplier to enable regional and European authorities to increase the security of our seas, to respond faster to emergencies at sea, and to re-establish healthy oceans.
Expectations
The team expects that LORELEI-X will support the strengthening of DTUs international leadership on autonomous marine systems, particularly in the areas of safe and secure autonomous navigation. LORELEI-X has the ambition to demonstrate the autonomous navigation capabilities of the developed unmanned surface vessel at sea. This will further prove the robustness, readiness and maturity of some of the technologies for safe autonomous marine operations that DTU has researched over the past two decades.
Looking beyond the research perspective, the team hopes to build a strong collaboration with CMMI, already now sharing the passion for robotic technologies and the sense of urgency of using such technologies for protecting our oceans and supporting the sustainable exploitation of the marine environments. LORELEI-X also gives us an opportunity to consolidate our longstanding partnership with NTNU, which is a strategic collaborator of ours.
Overall the aim is to boost science and innovation in widening countries by modernizing research systems, attracting talent, leveraging resources for strategic investments, enhancing success in Horizon Europe, strengthening academia-business ties, and improving international collaboration.
