Water and Air Vehicles for Environmental Sensing (WAVES)

Water and Air Vehicles for Environmental Sensing or in short WAVES Lab is part of CENSAM which facilitates CENSAM with such platforms. Our key research interest is to develop platforms and sensors that enable us to acquire atmospheric data autonomously and adaptively. Our main research thrust is to develop robotic sensor networks, control algorithms, novel propulsion, and navigation and sensing tools to safely and efficiently monitor and survey the Singapore harbour and coasts.

Principal investigators of this project are Professors George BARBASTATHIS (MIT) and Nicholas PATRIKALAKIS (MIT). Other than that we have Tawfiq Taher (Senior Research Manager), Dr. Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado (Research Scientist) as the directors of research plan. The Kayaks at WAVES Lab aka Surface Craft for Oceanographic and Undersea Testing (SCOUT) were developed and build by engineers at MIT’s Department of Ocean Engineering in order to facilitate surface and undersea oceanographic monitoring. The SCOUTs use ocean kayaks equipped with computers, electronics and mechanical propulsion mechanisms. In addition, the vehicles can be equipped with various third-party and custom oceanographic, vision, navigational, and acoustic sensors. The kayaks are largely used as a test bed for robotic algorithms including but not limited to cooperative multi-vehicle operation and intelligent obstacle avoidance.