Navy research center at URI <br> developing underwater sensors

KINGSTON – The Center of Excellence in Undersea Technology at the University of Rhode Island, which was established last January in partnership with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, is developing a covert network of underwater sensors, among other projects.
Researchers, including two URI oceanographers and a Providence College expert in jellyfish locomotion, are exploring the idea of distributing underwater sensors by attaching them to artificial jellyfish that could maintain their place in the water while passing information from one sensor to the next.
“To maximize the utility of these sensor systems and deploy a large number of them, it’s important to put them on an inexpensive platform,” said Malcolm Spaulding, director of the research center and a URI professor of ocean engineering. “That’s where the jellyfish idea came from.”
An artificial jellyfish would need to be made of simple materials and be acoustically transparent. Researchers for the project are now working to understand how jellyfish move and whether they can stay in one place despite tidal currents and waves, Spaulding said.