PNNL

PNNL-Sequim launched a new autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) in April 2022 that provides a flexible, mobile platform for research in marine energy, autonomy, and environmental monitoring. The self-navigating catamaran named Jonesy opens valuable new opportunities to test advanced sensors and future integration with and around marine energy or offshore wind device installations.

At 3 meters long with a top speed of 6 knots, the ASV is a fast, high-capacity research platform that can be used to deploy multiple sensors and custom hardware. It can run for 6 hours continuously or for up to a day of intermittent use on each deployment, covering a large spatial area.

The ASV will serve as an important testbed for remote docking and charging at marine energy devices, automated environmental monitoring of critical coastal habitats, and advanced autonomy and edge computing research. It is already being used in multiple projects, including:

• Autonomously detecting and mapping carbon dioxide uptake in shallow, coastal ecosystems, which play an important role in carbon storage but are difficult to map using conventional vessels or underwater vehicles (Autonomous Mapping of Carbon Dioxide Removal in Coastal Environments, contact: Emma Cotter)
• Testing and developing energy efficient, onboard artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to process complex, multi-sensor data in support of port and maritime security as well as search and rescue efforts in remote areas (US-UK Collaboration on Resilience and Security (COLORS), contact: Theodore Nowak)

The ASV is available to support programmatic needs. Please reach out to Rob Cavagnaro at asvjonesy@pnnl.gov to find out more about this resource.