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Testing Facilities For Autonomous Technology

Our testing facilities include tanks and other controlled environments designed to minimise variable factors and produce reliable, comparable data. Starting your testing in a controlled environment allows you to identify and address potential issues early,  before progressing to real-world marine environments.

Our location in the UK’s South West provides easy access to a number of environments ranging from sheltered inland bays through to deep open water. This provides a range of conditions to conduct scenario tests and evaluate performance.

To access our open water testing sites, our research vessels are available for hire. Whether you are testing independently using our facilities or would like our expert team to assist your project, the RV Plymouth Quest and her crew are available for hire.

PML Applications’ team cover a range of disciplines and expertise, whether you need research assistants, advice from our heads of centre, marine scientists, or boat crew. For more information about vessel charter at PML Applications, see our Quest Hire information.

More Information: Plymouth Quest Hire

Discuss your project and requirements with us to help us establish the level of support you will need, from project management to equipment hire, PML Applications will create a bespoke package for your project.

If you would like to test in specific weather and sea conditions, schedule flexibility is key. By commissioning PML Applications to carry out your trials, our team can monitor conditions and carry out research at the optimum time for your chosen criteria.

Types of Autonomous Vessel Trials

Our services for autonomous vessel trials range from desk-based evaluation through to practical testing in controlled trials at sea. Whether you are an autonomous vessel company that needs access to trial sites or you would like to use autonomous technology as part of your project, PML Applications can help.

Desk-Based Reviews of Autonomous Solutions

Desk-based reviews and solutions using our practical knowledge of marine autonomy and environmental monitoring to offer advice and guidance on autonomous vessel capability for environmental monitoring tasks. During this time, when regulations are still being decided for autonomous vessels, this step can help to demonstrate the safe use of autonomous vessels in your proposed project. With our knowledge and experience, we are able to provide information and predictions based on the parameters you provide.

Lab-Based Trials of Autonomous Vessels

The next step for the development of your autonomous vessel or the use of an autonomous vessel in a project is to test it in a controlled environment. We provide a transition area for technology testing so any potential problems can be identified early and resolved.

Open-Water Trials of Autonomous Vessels

We have access to approved testing sites in the South West for autonomous vessel trials. There are several other variable factors you can choose for your autonomous vessel trial such as water depth.

For ocean-based trials:

• Testing in a variety of water depths, sea states and weather conditions
• Facilitation of sea trials, including sub-surface trials
• Easy access to offshore water depths up to 75m accessible in a working day from Plymouth
• Deployment support

Task-Specific Trials of Autonomous Vessels

Autonomous vessels have the potential to save time, costs and reduce carbon emissions when used during research projects.  PML Applications is positioned to advise and map out these uses using best practice frameworks and considering environmental impact, as well as conducting the early stages of trials. Examples of this include:

• Environmental monitoring – identification and solutions using autonomy: Currently, most trials send out research vessels with science staff and crew to collect samples or deploy equipment. Instead, PML Applications investigates the use of autonomous vessels and how they would work in principle to provide environmental monitoring solutions. For example, autonomous vessels have the potential to be programmed to collect water and samples, with future uses in more complicated sampling such as benthic sampling. Switching to using autonomous vessels can help to save staff time, reduce costs and reduce carbon emissions.
• Trialling new sensors on autonomous and non autonomous platforms: Usually, sensors are hand-deployed. We are working towards being able to use autonomous vessels to launch sensors and using timers to deploy at intervals. Our commercial projects include the use of our crewed vessel to test deploying autonomous technology and working on fixes to improve technology readiness level.

The PML Applications team is not only experienced in carrying out trials but is also available to assist or project manage the planning of autonomous vessel trials. With knowledge about the types of licences and permissions you will need, current suitable and approved locations for autonomy trials, and previous experience with setting up, deploying and troubleshooting for autonomous vessels.

National Centre for Marine Autonomy

Plymouth is the designated National Centre for Marine Autonomy in the UK. The South West coastline provides an ideal testing location for autonomous technology and is leading autonomous vessel development and use in the UK.

Article: Plymouth Designated National Centre for Marine Autonomy

This is further enhanced by the PML Group, specifically as our long-term dataset provides a means for accuracy checks on your autonomous vessel. Comparisons can be made between the well-understood data from the Western Channel Observatory and trialled systems to draw meaningful conclusions.