NEW ORLEANS, La. - The University of New Orleans is the recipient of a three-year $937,000 award from the Office of Naval Research to design and build a robotic "eel" capable of operating in shallow water environments. Researchers will attempt to confirm an aquatic swimming motion theory that involves a swimming motion that has very low drag and high efficiency. The Navy is interested in operations in shallow water areas such as rivers and coastline. One important mission is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, which sometimes involves monitoring and data collection in harsh or dangerous conditions. The Navy has a strong interest in developing autonomous underwater vehicles that can carry sensors into perilous environments without being detected. (Source: UNO, 08/03/11) Note: NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center has multiple operations involved in gathering ocean and littoral data.
