Xsens congratulates the top three teams at the 5th annual Student Autonomous Underwater Challenge – Europe, held in July 2010 at the NATO Research Centre located in La Spezia, Italy. All three teams were using Xsens MTi’s to stabilize their AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle).
The Challenge was won by the University di Girona from Spain with the Sparus, by outperforming 8 other teams in the final runs. Nessie V from Heriot Watt University (UK) came in second and the AUV from ENSIETA (France) finished 3rd.
The first SAUC-E was organized in 2006 to encourage young engineers and scientists to think about underwater technology. The second goal was to bring underwater technology organizations and students together, for future possibilities and career opportunities. Vehicles and equipment are often sponsored by commercial companies, such as Xsens, Seabotix and Tritech. Since 2006 many teams have competed, and since the beginning most of the successful teams have been using Xsens attitude estimation to rely on during the many difficult challenges that the Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) face during the mission. The missions can vary from Search and Rescue (SAR), navigation and attitude control.
This year, the competition was held in a sheltered harbour with salt water and limited visibility, part of the NATO research centre in La Spezia. The environmental conditions meant a significant change with previous editions of SAUC-E, where the AUV’s were deployed in ocean basins and swimming pools. Because of the wish for a more realistic and challenging environment, the choice for outdoor water with waves and tides was made.
Xsens will continue to support SAUC-E teams for the 2011 edition of this important competition.
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