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In a collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute) has started the world's first major research program on autonomous floating vessels in metropolitan areas. Roboat will be conducted by researchers from MIT, Delft University of Technology (TUD) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR). The five-year program has a budget of €25 million and is set in Amsterdam.

Football-size robot can skim discreetly along a ship's hull to seek hollow compartments concealing contraband.

An international research collaboration led by ETH Zurich and MIT has developed a mathematical method that can speed up search and rescue operations at sea. The new algorithm accurately predicts locations to which objects and people floating in water will drift.

Professor Thomas PEACOCK is a member of the UN Global Compact Task Force urging coordinated international response for offshore and shipping industries.

Study shows a need to identify domestic and international pollution sources in policy design.

Ammonia could be a nearly carbon-free maritime fuel, but without new emissions regulations, its impact on air quality could significantly impact human health.

This paper investigates how an airborne node can eavesdrop on the underwater acoustic communication between submerged nodes. Conventionally, such eavesdropping has been assumed impossible as acoustic signals do not cross the water-air boundary. Here, we demonstrate that underwater acoustic communications signals can be picked up and (under certain conditions) decoded using an airborne mmWave radar due to the minute vibrations induced by the communication signals on the water surface. We implemented and evaluated a proof-of-concept prototype of our method and tested it in controlled (pool) and uncontrolled environments (lake). Our results demonstrate that an airborne device can identify the modulation and bitrate of acoustic transmissions from an uncooperative underwater transmitter (victim), and even decode the transmitted symbols. Unlike conventional over-theair communications, our results indicate that the secrecy of underwater links varies depending on the modulation type and provide insights into the underlying reasons behind these differences. We also highlight the theoretical limitations of such a threat model, and how these results may have a significant impact on the stealthiness of underwater communications, with particular concern to submarine warfare, underwater operations (e.g., oil & gas, search & rescue, mining), and conservation of endangered species. Finally, our investigation uncovers countermeasures that can be used to improve or restore the stealthiness of underwater acoustic communications against such threats.

Thanks to the growing shore power infrastructure in Northern Europe, AIDA Cruises has reached another milestone on its decarbonization path. With AIDAsol, the first cruise ship in the AIDA fleet could already be connected to shore-side facilities in four out of five ports during its voyage from April 16 to 21, 2023, in Rostock-Warnemünde, Aarhus (Denmark), Kristiansand (Norway) and Hamburg.