Welcome!

    My research interests focus on developing sensing systems and methods for acoustic and photographic seafloor mapping. This work involves underwater vehicle mechanical and control system design, navigation data processing, acoustic instrumentation and signal processing, image processing and mapping algorithm development. I work in a variety of application areas in marine science, with the goal of finding novel new engineering solutions for interesting science questions. This work takes place in the lab, at sea and around the world.

      News


      8/1/2011
      We are out for another field season on the EV Nautilus. From August to November we'll be mapping the sea floor for various field programs in marine archaeology and geology. Visit the Nautilus Live web site to see streaming video and information about the cruise in real time.
        4/10/2011
        We are heading back from Georges Bank on the RV Endeavor after a successful test of our shallow water float. We couldn't have asked for better weather in April. We followed the float with the ship looking for the spring plankton bloom.
          3/5/2011
          Our Oceanography Magazine supplement summarizing the 2010 E/V Nautilus field program is now out. It is available at The Oceanography Society site, TOS . Higher resolution versions of the articles are listed on our publications page.
            11/10/2010
            We've recently combined our Lagrangian float and some stereo cameras to make a Lagrangian imaging system. Our initial tests look good. We are getting nice images drifting just 1.2 meters off the seafloor.
              8/4/2010
              Bryan McGilvray just defended his masters thesis on designing and testing a new feedback linearized depth controller for our shallow water Lagrangian float. Soon he'll be off to Lockheed Martin, to work on things he can't tell us about..
                7/22/2010
                Our summer cruise in progressing well and we've just wrapped up several weeks doing archaeological surveys in the Aegean Sea. We'll be processing the data for a while and have some nice imagery, multibeam sonar and structured light laser data. Take a look at the live website for the ship as it continues to work over the summer, Nautilus Live.
                  5/30/2010
                  We are back from IEEE Oceans Sydney. Gabrielle's poster was awarded third place in the student poster competition. She is staying in Sydney for bit to work with the Australian Center for Field Robotics (ACFR) before heading out on our summer cruise to the Aegean Sea.
                    5/20/2010
                    We just received word our second wire flying vehicle grant has been funded by NSF. During this new 3 year project we'll build and test a 1000 M rated version of the flyer.
                      5/10/2010
                      Our generation II Lagrangian float finally hit the test tank. We'll be testing it, implementing a new control systems and installing our science sensors over the next few weeks.
                        4/19/2010
                        Gabrielle Inglis defended her Masters Thesis on constraining stereo correspondence with acoustic bathymetry data.
                          4/14/2010
                          Gabrielle Inglis has been awarded a Link Fellowship in ocean engineering. She'll be continuing her work in stereo vision and using our new Lagrangian float.
                            4/1/2010
                            Chris, Bryan and Gabrielle will be heading to Sydney Australia in May to present two student posters and a paper at IEEE OCEANS.