The Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE Competition Impact on the Development of Ocean Mapping Possibilities

Karolina Zwolak 1, Yulia Zarayskaya 2, Rochelle Ann Wigley 3, Christina Lacerda 4, Tomer Ketter 5, Robert Anderson 6, Evgenia Bazhenova 7, Aileen Bohan 8, Wetherbee Dorshow 9, Mohammed Elsaied 10, Andres Fitzcarrald 11, Robin Falconer 12, Timothy Kearns 13, Alison Proctor 14, Jaya Roperez 15, Ivan Ryzhov 16, Hadar Sade 17, Seeboruth Sattiabaruth 18, Benjamin Simpson 19, Masanao Sumiyoshi 20, Neil Tinmouth 21

1Polish Naval Academy, Gdynia, Poland

2Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

3University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA

4GEBCO Project Member

5University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA

6University of Texas at Austin, Texas

7Saint Petersburg State University, Russia

8Geological Survey of Ireland, Ireland

9Earth Analytic, Inc., USA

10Matrouth University, Egypt

11Directorate of Hydrography of the Peruvian Navy

12Robin Falconer Associates Ltd., New Zealand

13Numurus LLC, USA

14Ocean Floor Geophysics

15 National Mapping and Resource Information Authority, Philippines

16Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Saint Petersburg, Russia

17Yam-Yafo Ltd., Israel

18Ministry of Housing and Land, Republic of Mauritius

19Hushcraft Ltd., West Mersea, United Kingdom

20Hydrographic and Oceanographic Dep., Japan Coast Guard

21Stellenbosch University, South Africa

DOI: DOI: 10.1515/aon-2018-0009

ABSTRACT

The paper presents the impact that the XPRIZE Foundation competition, the Shell Ocean
Discovery XPRIZE, has had on the development of current ocean mapping possibilities.
A race for the prize has accelerated the development of innovative seabed mapping
approaches that concentrated on new systems engineering or cutting-edge and innovative
methods of existing equipment exploitation. The GEBCO – Nippon Foundation (NF) Alumni
Team’s entry is presented in details as a state of the art example of mature and robust oceanmapping solution utilizing a high degree of autonomy and providing the possibilities of deepocean mapping that were unattainable before.

KEYWORDS

ocean mapping, bathymetry, AUV/USV, echosounder, hydrography

REFERENCES

[1] https://arggonauts.de/, access 10.07.2018.
[2] http://www.km.kongsberg.com, access 13.09.2018.
[3] https://seabed2030.gebco.net/, access 12.09.2018.
[4] http://www.sea-kit.com/, access 14.09.2018.
[5] https://team-kuroshio.jp/en/technology/, access 11.09.2018.
[6] http://www.team-tao.org, access 09.07.2018.
[7] Lacerda C., Ketter T., Dorshow W., Anderson R., Falconer R., Kearns T.,
Simpson B., Proctor A., Bohan A., Bazhenova E., Elsaied M., Fitzcarrald
A., Roperez J., Ryzhov I., Sade H., Sattiabaruth S., Sumiyoshi M.,
Tinmouth N., Wigley R., Zarayskaya Y., and Zwolak K., Innovative cloud
technologies for global ocean exploration. The GEBCO-NF Alumni concept
for the Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE competition, 16th Forum for the
Exchange of Mutual Multibeam Experiences (FEMME) in Bordeaux,
France, 2018, poster presentation.
[8] Proctor A., Zarayskaya Y., Bazhenova E., Sumiyoshi M., Wigley R.A.,
Roperez J., Zwolak K., Sattiabaruth S., Sade H., Unlocking the power of
combined autonomous operations with underwater and surface vehicles:
success with a deep-water survey AUV and USV mothership, OCEANS
2018 – Kobe, Kobe, Japan, 2018, pp. 1-8.
[9] Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE Competition Giudelines, available at:
https://oceandiscovery.xprize.org/sites/default/files/shell_ocean_discovery_
xprize_final_guidelines.pdf, access: 08.05.2018.
[10] Wigley R., Zarayskaya Y., Bazhenova E., Falconer R., and Zwolak K.,
„Nippon foundation / GEBCO ocean mapping training program at the
university of New Hampshire: 13 years of success and alumni activities,”
OCEANS 2017 – Aberdeen, Aberdeen, 2017, pp. 1-5.
[11] Zwolak K., Felski A., Current state of deep ocean bathymetric exploration,
Annual of Navigation 24/2017, p. 257-267.
[12] Zwolak K., Simpson B., Anderson R., Bazhenova E., Falconer R., Kearns
T., Minami H., Roperez J., Rosedee A., Sade H., Tinmouth N., Wigley R.,
Zarayskaya Y., „An unmanned seafloor mapping system: The concept of an
AUV integrated with the newly designed USV SEA-KIT,” OCEANS 2017 –
Aberdeen, Aberdeen, 2017, pp. 1-6.