Researchers from across Memorial will showcase the latest oceans research and technology at an international conference in St. John’s this week.

The Oceans ‘14 Marine Technology Society/Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (MTS/IEEES) Conference will bring together leading experts from around the world to address challenges and identify solutions related to oceans. The conference is taking place Monday, Sept. 15, to Thursday, Sept. 18, at the Delta St. John’s Hotel, St. John’s Convention Centre and Mile One Centre, and will feature hundreds of sessions and exhibitors from around the globe.

Memorial University will have a significant presence at the conference, with 44 presentations by, or in collaboration with, the university’s researchers, students and staff on topics including ocean observation systems, ocean safety and survival, underwater vehicles, education and training for offshore workers, environmental approaches for sustainable fisheries and more. A list of these conference presentations is included below; for the full conference agenda, please visit here.

Delegates also have the opportunity to discover Memorial’s contributions to oceans research through the conference exhibition at Mile One Centre. The Memorial booth (Nos. 76-79) will feature researchers and experts with specialties in oceans research. The booth will provide demonstrations of the Seaformatics Pod, a self-power generating ocean platform system as part of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science’s Seaformatics Project, designed to monitor the subsea and seabed environment. The pod is targeted at applications such as geological imaging and earthquake detection, among others.

The Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science will also be featuring a demonstration of the Inspirus Project. The Inspirus Project is developing intelligent sensors that increase the autonomy of unmanned vehicles, including sensors that will have the ability to interpret the environment around them. The project will demonstrate a head-slaved camera, one that will synch the motion of a remote camera to the movement of the user’s head, while displaying video from the camera in a pair of video goggles worn by the user. It also features a quad-copter with integrated camera for pose estimation. The two demonstrations will convey three of the project’s technologies and include a display of the other technologies developed. The Inspirus Project will assist businesses in becoming more efficient in their operations, from helping oil and gas service companies inspect underwater assets, to ensuring wind farmers can examine their turbines.

“The history and culture of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is deeply anchored in our relationship with the ocean, and so is our future,” said Dr. Richard Marceau, vice-president (research). “Memorial researchers contribute significantly to identifying and discovering methods for harnessing, preserving and protecting ocean industries that have substantial global impacts, including the fishery, offshore oil and gas, and the study of the ocean environment.”

“Oceans ‘14 provides an incredible opportunity for Marine Institute researchers and technical personnel to exchange knowledge and forge new collaborations with scientists, engineers, responsible ocean-users and decision-makers worldwide,” said Glenn Blackwood, vice-president, Memorial University (Marine Institute). “We are also pleased to be able to share this event with local educators through our Ocean Innovation 2014: Youth and the Oceans conference, which will bring together educators, students, policy-makers and ocean scientists this week in St. John’s and Lewisporte to discuss the challenges and opportunities pertaining to ocean literacy in the current education system.”

Memorial University is also sponsoring this year’s Student Poster Competition (SPC), a competition open to engineering and science graduate and undergraduate students of any tertiary-level university or college worldwide. The technical posters submitted will be on display in the exhibition area and prizes will be awarded during the conference.

During the conference, delegates will have the opportunity to sign up for one of two tours of Memorial’s Ocean Sciences Centre (OSC) in Logy Bay on Wednesday, Sept. 17. The tour of the OSC will include the Dr. Joe Brown Aquatic Research Building (JBARB), which houses state-of-the-art facilities for research and training related to marine aquaculture, as well as the Cold-Ocean Deep-Sea Research Facility (CDRF), which makes possible the study of freshwater and marine organisms, among other features. 

List of Memorial Presentations:

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1:30–3 p.m.

Samareh Attarsharghi, Memorial University (Presenting); and Vlastimil Masek, Memorial University (Author), Ocean Current Monitoring via Cross-Correlation Technique and Node Synchronisation

Kaniz Sultana, Memorial University (Presenting); Kevin Pope, Memorial University; Debashish Saha, Memorial University; and Yuri Muzychka, Memorial University (Authors), Counter-Rotating Hydrokinetic Turbine Arrays for Ocean Energy Conversion 

Gregory Walsh, Memorial University (Presenting); Richard Keough, Memorial University; Vicky Mullaley, Memorial University; Hilary Sinclair, Memorial University;  Michael Hinchey, Memorial University (Authors): Cross-Flow Helical Turbine for Energy Production in Reversing Tidal and Ocean Currents

M.A. Rahman, Memorial University (Presenting); S.F. Rabbi, Memorial University; and Stephen Butt, Memorial University:  Modeling and Operation of An Interior Permanent Magnet Motor Drive for Electric Submersible Pumps

Wenjie Ren, Memorial University (Presenting); Gholamreza Shomalnasab, Memorial University; and Lihong Zhang, Memorial University: Acoustic Underwater Positioning on FPGA

Truong Nguyen, Memorial University, Fisheries and Marine Institute (Presenting); Philip Walsh, Memorial University, Fisheries and Marine Institute; George Legge, Memorial University, Fisheries and Marine Institute; Kelly Moret, Memorial University, Fisheries and Marine Institute; Jan Klein, VÓnin Canada Ltd.; Paul Winger, Memorial University, Fisheries and Marine Institute (Authors):  Drop Chain Footgear: A New Approach to Environmentally Friendly Inshore Northern Shrimp Fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 3:30–5:15 p.m.

Andry Ratsimandresy, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Presenting); Sebastien Donnet, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada; Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University; Brian Claus, Memorial University; Pierre Goulet, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (Authors): Variation In The Structure Of The Water Column as Captured By Slocum Glider CTD and By CTD From a Research Vessel and Assessment of Internal Waves

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 8:30 a.m.–10 a.m.

Kevin Pope, Memorial University (Presenting); Daniel McLean, Memorial University; Yuri Muzychka, Memorial University (Authors), Thermal Energy from Transcritical C02 Heat Pumps for Small Marine Applications

Zhi Li, Memorial University (Presenting); Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University (Authors): Modelling and Identification of a Robust Autonomous Surface Craft for Deployment in Harsh Ocean Environment

Wei Wang, Memorial University (Presenting); Eric Gill, Memorial University (Authors): Comparison of Spectrum Estimation Methods for Current Estimation by an HF Surface Radar

Len Zedel, Memorial University (Presenting Author), Noise in Coherent Doppler Sonar Velocity Measurements: Where Does It Come From and What Can You Do About It

Levi MacNeil, Memorial University – Autonomous Ocean Systems Lab (AOSL) (Presenting); Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University (AOSL); and Brian Claus, Memorial University (AOSL), (Authors): Design and Testing of a Magnetically-Geared Underwater Propulsion System for Autonomous Underwater and Surface Craft

Joe Singleton, Memorial University (AOSL),(Presenting); Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University – AOSL; and Brad DeYoung, Memoiral University (Authors): Development of a New Autonomous Underwater Moored Mobile Profiler

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.

Christina Robinson, Memorial University (Presenting); Trevor Bell, Memorial University; Ariel Pollard-Belsheim, Memorial University; and Marc Storey, Memorial University (Authors): The CARRA Project: Developing Tools to Help Heritage Managers Identify and Respond to Coastal Hazard Impacts on Archaeological Resources

Akhilesh Mishra, Memorial University (Presenting) and Oscar Meruvia-Pastor, Memorial University (Authors): Robot Arm Manipulation using Depth-Sensing Cameras and Inverse Kinematics

Khalid El-Darymli, C-CORE, (Presenting); Eric Gill, Memorial University; Cecilia Moloney, Memorial University; Peter McGuire, C-CORE; Desmond Power, C-CORE (Authors): On Circularity/Noncircularity in Single-Channel Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery 

Wei Wang, Memorial University (Presenting); Chen Li, Memorial University; Weimin Huang, Memorial University (Authors): Simulation Based Tropical Cyclone Sensing Using Space-based GNSS-R

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 1:30–3 p.m.

Andrew Cook, Memorial University (Presenting); Vlastimil Masek, Memorial University; Adam Press, Memorial University; Geoff Holden, Memorial University; Robert Boyd, Memorial University (Authors): The Seaformatics Technology Demonstration Project

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 3:30–5:15 p.m.

Mingxi Zhou, Memorial University (Presenting); Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University – AOSL;  Brad DeYoung, Memorial University (Authors): Initial Performance Analysis on Underside Iceberg Profiling with Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

Paul Stuckey, C-CORE (Presenting Author): Evaluating Iceberg Towing Operations with Respect to Impact Avoidance

Leonard Lye, Memorial University (Presenting); Heri Sulistiyono, Memorial University; Faisal Khan, Memorial University, Ming Yang, Memorial University;  Dan Oldford, American Bureau of Shipping, John Dolny, American Bureau of Shipping (Authors): Estimating Design Temperatures in Arctic Environments: A New Approach 

Tony Bastin, Memorial University (Presenting); Abir Zubayer, Memorial University; Ayhan Akinturk, National Research Council Canada – OCRE; Jungyong Wang, National Research Council Canada – OCRE; Randy Billard, Virtual Marine Technology; Brian Veitch, Memorial University (Authors): Propeller Wake Wash for Ice Management

Trevor Bell, Memorial University (Presenting); Robert Briggs, C-CORE; Shuo Li, Memorial University; Rodd Laing, Nunatsiavut Government; Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University; Joey Angnatok, Nunatsiavut Government (Authors): Augmenting Inuit Knowledge for Safe Sea-Ice Travel – the SmartICE Information System.

Al-Abbass Al-Habashneh, Memorial University (Presenting); Eric Gill, Memorial University; Cecilia Moloney, Memorial University (Authors): Performance of the Polar Fourier Transform for Ocean Wave Spectrum Estimation from Marine Radar

Weimin Huang, Memorial University (Presenting); Ying Liu, Memorial University; and Eric Gill, Memorial University (Authors): Analysis of the Effects of Rain on Surface Wind Retrieval from X-Band Marine Radar Images

Eric Gill, Memorial University (Presenting); and Weimin Huang, Memorial University (Authors): A Review of the Continuing Evolution of Coastal Ocean Radar Remote Sensing in the Eastern Canadian Context

Lihong Zhang, Memorial University (Presenting); Vlastimil Masek, Memorial University; and Nikoo Sanatdoost, Memorial University (Authors): Design of Cost-Effective Reliable MEMS Gyroscopes for Underwater/Under-Ice Applications

William Heys, Memorial University (Presenting); and Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University (Authors): Wave Profiling Using Ultrasonic Sensors

Thursday, Sept. 18, 8:30–10 a.m.

Bahareh Moshtagh, Memorial University (Presenting Author): Production of Biodispersants for Oil Spill Remediation in Harsh Environment Using Glycerol from the Conversion of Fish Oil to Biodiesel 

Nathan Brazil, Memorial University (Presenting); Sam Nakhla, Memorial University, and Shawn Kenny, Carleton University (Authors): Deployable Oil Dispersant System for Fixed Wing Aircraft 

Vlastimil Masek, Memorial University (Presenting); Mr. Javier Ortiz, Memorial University (Author): Capacitive Cyclonic Sensor for Oil Spill Remediation

Nathan Smith, Memorial University (Presenting);  Ralf Bachmayer, Memorial University; Federico Luchino, Memorial University; and Zhi Li, Memorial University (Authors): Development of a Semi-Submersible Unmanned Surface Craft

Jan Thijssen, C-CORE (Presenting); Mark Fuglem, C-CORE; Martin Richard, C-CORE Tony King, C-CORE (Authors): Implementation of ISO 19906 for Probabilistic Assessment of Global Sea Ice Loads on Offshore Structures Encountering First-Year Sea Ice

Aziz Rahman, Memorial University (Presenting) and Xin Cheng, University of Calgary (Authors): BOG Ventilation and Combustion in Re-Liquefaction Plant of LNG Carriers

Shuyan Chen, Memorial University (Presenting) and Weimin Huang, Memorial University; and Eric Gill, Memorial University (Authors): The First-Order FMCW HF Radar Cross Section Model for Ionosphere-Ocean Propagation

Katherine MacPherson, Memorial University (Presenting); & Dan Walker, Memorial University; Rodolphe Devillers,  Memorial University; Neil Kennedy, Memorial University; Peter King, Memorial University; Ron Lewis, Memorial University; James Munroe, Memorial University; Andrew Vardy, Memorial University (Authors): The Development of AUV Survey Strategies for Multidisciplinary Use

Thursday, Sept. 18, 10:30 a.m.–12 p.m.

Sam Nakhla, Memorial University (Presenting): Simplified Model for the Design of Composite Sandwich Construction

Thursday, Sept. 18, 1:30 p.m.–3:15 p.m.

Andrew House, Memorial University (Presenting);  Jennifer Smith, Memorial University; Scott MacKinnon, Memorial University; Brian Veitch, Memorial University (Authors): Interactive Simulation for Training Offshore Workers 

Francesca Kerton, Memorial University (Presenting); Kelly Hawboldt, Memorial University; Yi Liu, Memorial University; Jennifer Murphy, Memorial University (Authors): Renewable Resources From The Oceans: Adding Value to the By-Products of the Aquaculture and Fishing Industries

Ayesha Nayeem, Memorial University (Presenting); Venkatesan Ramachandran, Memorial University; Faisal Kahn, Memorial University (Authors): Monitoring Early Kick Indicators at the Bottom Hole for Blowout Prevention

Anirudh Nandan, Memorial University (Presenting); Syed Imtiaz, Memorial University; Stephen Butt, Memorial University (Authors): Robust Control of Managed Pressure Drilling.

Adedoyin Odukoya, Memorial University (Presenting); Greg Naterer, Memorial University; (Authors): Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer of Hydrate Formation in Subsea Pipelines 

Xiao Xiong, Memorial University (Presenting); Aziz Rahman, Memorial University;  Yan Zhang, Memorial University (Authors): Pressure Gradient Estimation for a Two-Phase Gas/Liquid Flow in a Deepwater Vertical Gas Production Well Using CFD

Idris Sule, Memorial University (Presenting Author): Phase Behaviour of Hydrate Formation in Oil and Gas Production in Subsea Condition