The Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology, together with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center has put their heads together to create undersea warfare in form of artificial jellyfish and underwater sensors. This is the age of technology. Our ancestors once dreamed of high tech, sophisticated equipment, and here we are, their sons and daughters, making their dreams come true with a binocular zoom stereoscopic microscope, sensors, expert ocean engineering and creative ideas to match. Things our forefathers have never heard of, but these are the things we take for granted today.

The idea of attaching sensors to artificial jellyfish was first concocted by researchers at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, as they studied numerous methods on how to place sensors on the ocean floor. They then asked the collaboration of the Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology at the University to explore the idea. Before doing anything else, they had to study real jellyfish under a binocular zoom stereoscopic microscope to find out how they move and behave. By adapting how real jellyfish manage to stay on the ocean floor without being relocated by the current and tide, they can make the artificial jellyfish in a similar way.

This kind of experiment is a perfect example of how biology and defense can work hand in hand. Although the concepts are still in its infancy, the idea is a novel one and has great potential in the near future. With so many marine and defense companies along Rhode Island and New England ready to consult with defense departments, we may see more of these innovations to be put to actual use within this lifetime. This area is touted to be the ‘hub’ of undersea technology in the country.

The undersea artificial jellyfish with sensors are not the only project in the works. Researchers state that they are developing a chemical sensor that can detect very small amounts of explosives under the sea. This can be useful in detecting enemies with a mine on the hull of a ship or a bomb that is being carried by a diver. Also in progress is a battery that uses chemical reactions from a binocular zoom stereoscopic microscope type of bacteria that reside on the ocean floor to produce electricity to be used by offshore sensors. In line with using natural resources to generate power, an emergency radio beacon that is powered by a seawater battery is also in development. It uses the waves as an energy source to prolong the signal. The researchers are also taking pollution into consideration and are exploring a non-toxic way to prevent organisms from messing up equipment and vehicles that are placed underwater, often for long periods of time, for surveillance and detection.

The Ocean Response Coastal Analysis System, a project that is well underway and involves an intricate system of underwater sensors and data management tools to determine the capacity to monitor dissolved oxygen levels will be completed in about five years. It should provide the researchers data, analysis and a picture of the coastal conditions and developments.  More on this topic