Associate Laboratory Institute For Systems and Robotics

ASSOCIATE LABORATORY
INSTITUTE FOR SYSTEMS AND ROBOTICS

LISBON
ISR-LISBON
IMAR - Azores
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CREMINER
ACTIVITIES REPORT
2003
ISR – Torre Norte,

IST Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, PORTUGAL
Fax: 351-21-8418291
Tel: 351-21-8418289
E-mail: jjss@isr.ist.utl.pt
ISR-Lisbon Associate Laboratory
Introduction
2003 was the second year of activities of the Associate Laboratory ISR-Lisbon. The
activities were developed in cooperation by the four research units that integrate the
ISR-Lisbon.
This was a very difficult year for the institution. In fact, the financing problems faced
by this Associate Laboratory in 2002 were not solved but aggravated during 2003. For
nearly one year and a half (from February 2002 to November 2003) the FCT did not transfer
any programmatic funds as prescribed in the contract signed with ISR-Lisbon.
During this period the ISR direction (together with the direction of other Associate
Laboratories) has met several times with the authorities responsible for the funding,
namely the President of FCT and the manager of POSI (Operational Program for the
Information Society), in order to solve the problem that was being faced. By demand of
FCT and POSI, ISR-Lisbon has produced several budgets, cost statements and reports
according to formats that were successively changed. Despite having always satisfied the
increasing bureaucratic demands we are still far from having at ISR a normal and stable
research atmosphere.
Along this long and painful process we do not seem to have been successful explaining the
Ministry of Science and Higher Education that the new bureaucratic methods are not
appropriate to deal with scientific institutions. The uncertainty and unpredictability of
this whole process of funds transfer led the institution and, in particular, the young
researchers to a state of disbelief that is having very damaging consequences on the
usual institutional atmosphere and certainly in our ability to attract new research
students and to strive for excellence.
To understand the serious financial situation the ISR-Lisbon was pushed into, we display
in Table 1, below, the programmatic funds that have been contracted with FCT and the
funds that were in fact transferred with the corresponding dates of transfer.
Year
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Programmatic
funds contracted 678 365 882 872.3 1 087 379.42 1 182 151 1 386 658
with FCT (in
euros)*
Programmatic 20 000
funds 364 122.47 (Sept.
transferred by (Feb.2002) 2003)
FCT +
and 212 770.31
correspondent (Nov.2003)
dates
Table 1
* According to the contract signed by FCT, ISR-Lisbon and IST.
We recall that the programmatic funds contracted with FCT include the funds allocated to
ISR-Lisbon, when it was awarded the Associate Laboratory status, directed specially to
hiring new researchers and technicians considered necessary to ensure the fulfillment of
the additional activities assumed as an Associate Laboratory.
In particular, the contract involved a scheduled plan for the hiring of researchers and
technicians as displayed in the following table:
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Year
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 TOTAL
Human
Resources
Researchers
With a 1 3 3 4 3 14
Ph.D.
degree
Technicians 2 2 4
Table 2
The breach of contract by FCT, regarding the transfer of funds patent in Table 1, led to
the impossibility of pursuing the plan for hiring researchers and technicians.
Consequently, it inhibited, up to now, the fulfillment of the activities as planned.
As a matter of fact, the President of FCT himself has suggested postponing the hiring of
new researchers.
This process severed the institutional trust required for medium and long term
commitments regarding hiring human resources and blocked the possibility of ISR-Lisbon
contracting potential young researchers of top quality. We look forward to the return of
regularity in the institutional honoring of the contracts.
It is also important to emphasize that, in opposition to the previous practice, now the
funds are only transferred after expenses have been made and justified with documents
(invoices). Since research institutions have not in general extra resources to
accommodate this type of procedure, institutions reduce their expenses and consequently
the transferred funds reduce accordingly. This process tends to converge to zero.
Despite this abnormal situation, the direction and the thematic areas managers have
encouraged young researchers to keep their enthusiasm and energy focused on the research
activities. The activities reported ahead are the result of this institutional culture
and effort.
However renewal of research students is showing now to be more difficult not only because
the institutions do not have grants to offer, but also because students are aware of the
instability the scientific research institutions are going through.
This Activities Report provides a summary of the research activity of faculty and
research students developed during 2003.
The activities are described for the 4 thematic areas:
A –Technologies for Ocean Exploration

B – Monitoring and Surveillance using Robotic Agents
C – Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Systems
D – Signal Processing for Communications Networks and Multimedia
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Thematic Area A: Technologies for Ocean Exploration
Introduction
This Activity Report summarizes the work carried out at the Laboratório Associado ISR,
under Thematic Area A – Technologies for Ocean Exploration, during the year of 2003. The
research and development efforts undertaken in the scope of this thematic area aim at
bridging the gap between marine science and technology by exploring fruitful
collaboration links among engineers and marine scientists. This symbiosis is instrumental
in providing engineers with complex, challenging problems in the field of marine
technologies. Conversely, it will steadily afford marine scientists increasingly
efficient technologies to explore the ocean frontier, especially in hazardous conditions.
The activity pursued in 2003 was well rooted in previous collaborative links established
among the three institutions below:
A. Institute for System and Robotics – Lisbon Pole, Instituto Superior Técnico
(ISR/IST), including the unit at the University of the Algarve.
B. Center for Mineral Resources, Mineralogy, and Crystallography of the Faculty of

Sciences of the University of Lisbon (CREMINER-FCUL, abbv. CREMINER)
C. Center of IMAR of the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University

of the Azores (IMAR-DOP/UAçores, abbv. IMAR).
ISR/IST brought to the core of this cooperative research effort its expertise in
dynamical systems theory, marine robotics, sensors and actuators, signal processing,
acoustics, and computers. CREMINER and IMAR provided the scientific counterpart with
their interests and expertise in a number of areas that include hydrothermal venting
activity, submarine methane production, accumulation, and dispersion, deep biosphere
studies, marine volcanology, marine biology, scientific instrumentation. and
oceanography.
A summary of the various research programs of ISR/IST, CREMINER, and IMAR is included in
this report, together with some of the actions foreseen for 2004. Some of the programs
were carried out in the scope of lines of research defined by each individual
institution. Others were the result of cooperative efforts among them and show that very
positive steps have been taken to bring marine science and technology together. Namely,
in what regards the development and operation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and their use in Marine Habitat Mapping and Seabed
Surveying through joint research work and tests at sea in the Azores.
In 2003, representatives from the three institutions were nominated as members of the
Strategic Commission for the Oceans and its Advisory Board, two bodies in charge of
submitting to the Portuguese Government an integrated document that will serve as a road
map for future activities on a wide range of ocean related issues, including marine
science and technology. A member of ISR was also elected as one of the Portuguese
Representative to EurOcean, an Internet Portal for Marine Science and Technology in
Europe that is sponsored by FCT of Portugal and IFREMER, France.
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A. Institute for System and Robotics – Lisbon Pole, Instituto Superior

Técnico (ISR/IST). Research carried out at the Dynamics Systems and Ocean
Robotics Lab of ISR.
A.1. Scientific Activity
The key objectives of the research and development work carried out at the Dynamical
Systems and Ocean Robotics Laboratory (DSORL) of ISR are fourfold:
• Contributing to furthering the knowledge in the general area of dynamical systems

theory, with a special focus on nonlinear robotic systems modeling as well as
robust and adaptive control.
• Developing new analysis and design tools in the fields of navigation, guidance,
and control (NGC), and applying them to the development of highly performing
systems for autonomous air and marine robots.
• Advancing the development of software and hardware for the development of

prototypes equipped with real-time operating systems for Mission Control.
• Developing tools for acoustic and scientific equipment interfacing; performing

actual missions at sea to transition from the laboratory to the real world and to
foster the symbiosis between marine science and technology.
In 2003, and as a natural continuation and expansion of the main lines of research
adopted over the past few years, the research work done at the DSORL targeted the
following areas:
i. advanced linear and nonlinear system theory with applications to the development
of new methods for autonomous vehicle navigation, guidance, and control.
ii. nonlinear control theory with applications to coordinated control of multiple

autonomous vehicles in the presence of severe inter-vehicle communication
constraints.
iii. modeling and parameter estimation of air and marine robots with a view towards the
development of integrated plant-controller optimization methods.
iv. study of hybrid systems and related hardware and software architectures for
mission control of robotic vehicles.
So far, the development work has led to the construction of the robotic ocean vehicles
DELFIM (an autonomous surface Catamaran), INFANTE (an autonomous underwater robot), and
CARAVELA (an autonomous oceanographic vessel). Currently, DSORL participates in the
development of the DREAM ROV (remotely operated vehicle), the miniaturized MAYA AUV
(autonomous underwater vehicle), and the IRIS (automatic surveying tool). These vehicles
and tools play the dual role of i) advanced testbeds, to field test new system
theoretical concepts and hardware / software architectures for autonomous vehicle
control, and ii) platforms for actual operations at sea, effectively paving the way for a
fruitful symbiosis between marine science and technology.
The DSORL is involved in a number of projects and concerted actions with national and
foreign institutions with the objective of advancing engineering methodologies and
equipments to the point where they can be used as versatile tools to expand our
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understanding of the oceans. Representative institutions include the following:
• Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Naval Postgraduate School,

Monterey, CA (USA).
• Istituto Automazione Navale, Genova (Italy).
• National Institute of Oceanography, Goa (India) – a memorandum of understanding
has been signed by NIO and ISR.
• Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
• IFREMER (French Institute for Ocean Exploitation), France.
• Department of Electrical Engineering of the University of Genova (Italy).
• Department of Innovation Engineering, Univ. Lecce (Italy).
• IMAR/DOP/UAçores - Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University of
the Azores (Portugal).
• CREMINER – The Geology Center of the Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de
Lisboa (FCUL).
• Instituto Geológico e Mineiro (IGM-Geological Survey of Portugal)
• Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil (Portugal).
Privileged links have been established with the IMAR-DOP/UAçores and CREMINER/FCUL, under
Theme A (Techniques for Ocean Exploration) of the Laboratório Associado (Associated
Laboratory) that is coordinated by ISR. At a technological level, this concerted effort
is in line with the current trend worldwide, aimed at the development of ocean sampling
networks (OSN) providing a nested ocean observation capability through the coordinated
control of many, mobile, networked sensor platforms. This trend shows clearly that
advancements in marine robotics, communications, and information systems are steadily
being brought to bear on the development of technologies to enable safer, better, faster,
and far more efficient methodologies for the study of the oceans. At the same time, the
plethora of engineering problems that must be tackled and solved in the context of ocean
research pose considerable challenges to theoreticians and system designers.
This concerted effort aiming at the symbiosis between marine science and technology
culminated with the successful realization of a mission in the Azores during the Summer
of 2003, over a period of three weeks, that witnessed the operation of the INFANTE AUV in
the Pico Canal in cooperation with the IMAR-DOP/UAçores, which provided the scientific
expertise required and the logistic means. The pictures and diagrams below illustrate
different phases of the mission, together with high-resolution bathymetric maps of
selected marine reserve areas obtained with the acoustic data acquisition / navigation
systems developed at ISR/IST.
The INFANTE Autonomous Underwater Vehicle during a mission at sea in the Azores - in cooperation
with the IMAR-DOP/University of the Azores (summer of 2003)
Region B
FAIAL
Region A
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PICO
The PICO Canal, between the islands of Faial and Pico, Azores Surveyed areas are marked in blue
A- Northern Seamount B – “Piedade” Seamount
Bathymetric Maps of Regions A and B (seamounts) obtained with one mechanically scanning pencil beam
sonar
Over the past two years, as a natural consequence of a longstanding collaboration program
with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of the Naval Postgraduate School of
Monterey, California, USA, the DSORL has started to apply some of the methodologies and
technologies developed for ocean vehicles to the control of air robots (helicopters).
This is justified in view of the increasing interest worldwide in the use of unmanned
aerial robotic vehicles to perform airborne surveying tasks. As part of this effort, the
DSORL has been instrumenting an unmanned robotic helicopter that will serve as an
advanced platform for NGC (navigation, guidance, and control) system design,
implementation, and testing. The platform is based on an industrial radio controlled
helicopter that was equipped with a distributed real time computing network, a reliable
wireless communication system, and sensing devices. The activity pursued in this area is
well rooted in scientific applications that require the use of autonomous air robots to
accurately map coastal areas subjected to erosion, using airborne laser altimetry. In
particular, project ALTICOPTER funded by the FCT envisions the use of a helicopter to map
sand dunes along the Portuguese coast.
The work reported touches upon theoretical and practical issues. The balance between the
two factors is often hard to strike and requires the concerted action of many researchers
/ engineers, with expertise that runs across a number of technical fields. In 2003, 12
MSc, PhD, and Postdoc students, as well as 3 members of the technical staff of ISR were
involved in the study of theoretical problems related to air and marine robotics; 5 hired
Research Engineers, among which 3 (Luis Sebastião, Manuel Rufino, and J. Alves) are
senior researchers, have contributed very positively to the research and development
program of DSORL by tackling more practically oriented problems in the fields of vehicle
and system development, as well as operations at sea.
At a theoretical level, the main lines of research that are being pursued at the DSORL
are the following:
1. Linear and Nonlinear Systems Theory: Navigation, Guidance, and Control.
1.1 Robust Multiple-Model Adaptive Control (RMMAC): A New Paradigm for Robust
Control System Design
The work of doctoral student Sajjad Asl, supervised by Profs. Michael Athans and António
Pascoal, has led to a novel Robust Multiple-Model Adaptive Control (RMMAC) architecture
that explores an interesting and fruitful set of ideas set forth by Prof. Michael
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Athans. The new structure for robust control combines and integrates sophisticated
identification methods and the state-of-the-art in robust control synthesis, using the
mixed - methodology for robust control of linear time-invariant systems subject to
structured and unstructured uncertainty. The proposed RMMAC method does not seem to
suffer from some of the ad-hoc design choices associated with the recent literature of
using switching controllers using multiple-models. Moreover, RMMAC focuses upon robust-
stability and robust-performance. So far, the performance of RMMAC has been evaluated
using non-trivial simulation examples.
The RMMAC architecture differs from traditional MMAC approaches, because the local state-
estimate generated by each Kalman filter (in a Multiple Model Adaptive Estimation – MMAE
– setting) is not used in the robust compensator implementation. Only the posterior
probabilities reflect the system identification. The probabilistic weighting of the
“local” robust control signals, based upon the numerical results obtained so far, appears
to cause the RMMAC algorithm to work in a far more predictable manner and to
significantly improve disturbance-rejection (if at all possible) over non-adaptive robust
designs. From an engineering point of view, the work carried out has suggested procedures
to quantitatively predict the potential performance improvements that come from using
RMMAC, both in the frequency and time domains, by using variance analysis completely off-
line, and without any Monte Carlo simulations. Such a capability provides extremely
valuable insight because an engineer must always trade-off increased controller
complexity with potential performance improvement.
It is important to point out that the field of nonlinear control lacks a general theory
for global stochastic stability theory for nonlinear time-varying systems with unmodeled
dynamics, such as the RMMAC. Until such a theory is developed, no global stability
guarantees for the RMMAC (or any other available adaptive algorithm) can be given. This
is a topic of considerable interest that warrants future research efforts. Future work
will also address the application of the RMMAC methodology to the control of marine
vehicles subjected to large parametric uncertainty.
1.2 Control of Marine Vehicles using Output Feedback Techniques
The importance of output feedback control strategies cannot be overemphasized: in

practice, it is often impossible, difficult, or simply too costly to measure the full
state vector of a given plant. This motivates the development of controllers that rely on
output variables only, effectively increasing the simplicity and thus the reliability of
the control laws adopted. In the case of the INFANTE AUV, for example, it is difficult to
measure the angle of sideslip and the angle of attack in the horizontal and vertical
planes, respectively. However, it is crucial to achieve stabilization and high vehicle
performance in both planes. Thus, the use of output feedback control to meet tight
stability and performance criteria is warranted. This motivated the study of control
techniques for the INFANTE AUV using Gain Scheduled Static Output Feedback in the scope
of joint research activity by Profs Carlos Silvestre and António Pascoal. The methodology
adopted for controller design was nonlinear gain scheduling control, whereby a set of
linear finite static output feedback controllers was designed using Linear Matrix
Inequality (LMI)-based techniques and scheduled on the vehicle's forward speed. Linear
control system design built on static output feedback (SOF) techniques. This procedure
led naturally to control laws with a very simple structure, since the controllers do not
exhibit any dynamics except those introduced by appended integrators that aim at reducing
steady state tracking errors to zero. Experimental tests with the actual vehicle at sea
confirmed the type of performance that was predicted using numerical simulations. Future
work will address yet unsolved theoretical questions in the area of output feedback
control systems design.
1.3 Integrated Guidance and Control Systems Design.
Guidance and Control are the basic systems that enable an autonomous platform to maneuver
along pre-defined paths. Research at ISR/IST in the area of integrated guidance and
control systems was initiated years ago, leading to a sequence of results that were
published in the literature. The publications illustrate the application of the
techniques developed to both aircraft and marine vehicles. In 2003, work along these
lines was carried out by doctoral student Rita Cunha under the supervision of Prof.
Carlos Silvestre, and led to an Integrated Guidance and Control strategy for Autonomous
Helicopters. The strategy developed builds on the definition of an adequate generalized
error space where the dynamics and kinematics of the Helicopter are expressed. The path
following problem is then cast and solved in the framework of gain scheduling
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control theory, using the so-called D-methodology. The resulting control law ensures
that: i) the path following system achieves zero steady state tracking error about
trimming trajectories, and ii) the linearizations of the nonlinear gain scheduled
feedback system and the corresponding linear designs present the same internal as well as
input-output characteristics. Controller performance was evaluated in simulation, using
the helicopter nonlinear dynamic model SimModHeli, conveniently parameterized for the
Vario X-treme model-scale helicopter.
1.4 Terrain Tracking Systems
Terrain tracking is a challenging problem and one of utmost importance for the safe
operation of both air and underwater vehicles. In 2003, a new methodology for terrain
tracking guidance and control strategies with application to autonomous helicopters was
developed under a cooperative research effort by G. Libório, MSc student N. Paulino, PhD
student R. Cunha, and Profs C. Silvestre and M. I. Ribeiro. This methodology amounts to
augmenting the discrete state space model of the plant with terrain preview data. The
terrain information is obtained by applying a 2D reconstruction technique to the
measurements taken by a forward looking laser range scanner. The resulting control
problem was solved using the discrete time Stochastic Linear Quadratic Regulator where
the particular structure of the augmented system is explored to simplify the computation
of a feedforward gain matrix. This methodology was successfully applied in simulation to
the full nonlinear dynamic model of the Vario X-Treme acrobatic helicopter. Future work
will aim at extending the methodology derived to terrain tracking (also called bottom
following) of underwater vehicles, using acoustic sonar data.
1.5 Navigation and Positioning Systems
Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and, more recently, Autonomous Underwater Vehicles
(AUVs) have shown to be extremely important instruments in the study and exploration of
the oceans. Free from the constraints of an umbilical cable, AUVs are steadily becoming
the tool par excellence to acquire marine data on an unprecedented scale and, in the
future, to carry out interventions in undersea structures. Central to the operation of
these vehicles is the availability of accurate vehicle navigation and/or positioning
systems. Navigation refers to the problem of computing the linear position and the
attitude of an underwater platform and the respective linear and rotational rates. By
positioning it is simply meant the problem of computing the position of an underwater
platform.
Navigation is probably the hardest and most complex task underwater. In fact, once a
platform submerges, it ceases to have GPS fixes and accurate navigation can only be
achieved by resorting to either a true inertial system or to the integration of moderate
cost attitude and heading reference units with complementary systems that rely on the
propagation of acoustic waves (long and short-baseline systems, Doppler units, etc.). The
first option is prohibitive and clearly not an option if one is to develop underwater
robots with a strong impact on a wide range of scientific and commercial operations. The
second option requires fusing data from different sources, dealing with multipath effects
and drop-outs, and addressing explicitly the problems that arise because data are
available with variable latency (due to the finite speed of propagation in the water) and
at different sampling frequencies (multirate characteristics).
At ISR/IST, navigation system design has been typically approached using the theory of
multi-rate, polytopic, and linear parametrically varying systems, as set forth in the PhD
thesis of Prof. Paulo Oliveira. The main goal is to develop methodologies that can afford
system designers with frequency-like design / analysis tools, thus extending to the time-
varying and nonlinear setting the highly practical and intuitively appealing
complementary filtering structures. The applications envisioned fall in the areas of
marine and even air robotics. Some of the algorithms developed have been tested at sea
during missions with the Delfim autonomous surface craft. In 2003, and on order to
bridge the gap between theory and practice of navigation, work continued on the
improvement of a moderate cost heading and attitude reference to test advanced navigation
algorithms. This development work, carried out by José Vasconcelos and Guilherme Libório
under the supervision of Profs Paulo Oliveira and Carlos Silvestre, proved quite valuable
in terms of evaluating different types of accelerometers and mechanical / fiber optic
gyros, as well as hands on experience on the design and development of a unit that will
equip future platforms, using hardware for real time distributed systems that is
proprietary of ISR/IST. At the same time, the work focused also on the design and
implementation of a series of methods (“Kalman smoothing” algorithms) for post-
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processing of data obtained at sea, using navigational information. This proved

instrumental in the geo-referencing of the bathymetric data acquired during the sea
missions performed with one of the autonomous vehicles of ISR/IST and the research
surface vessel of the Univ. Azores. This work was carried out by Research Engineer Luis
Sebastião and Prof. Paulo Oliveira.
Positioning.Classical approaches to underwater vehicle positioning include the use of

Long Baseline (LBL) and Short Baseline (SBL) systems, to name but a few. More recently, a
number of methods have been proposed to "reproduce" the idea of GPS in the underwater
environment. For example, a system consisting of surface buoys equipped with DGPS
receptors that broadcast satellite information underwater, via acoustic telemetry. The
underwater vehicle receives these messages from the buoys and computes its own position
locally. Due to the technical difficulties inherent to acoustic communications, this
concept has not yet materialized in the form of a commercial product. A different, yet
related approach to acoustic underwater positioning has actually been implemented and is
available commercially: the so-called GIB system (GPS Intelligent Buoy system), which was
purchased by ISR/IST. This system consists of four surface buoys equipped with DGPS
receptors and submerged underwater hydrophones. Each of the buoys receives the acoustic
impulses emitted periodically by a synchronized pinger installed on-board an underwater
vehicle and records their times of arrival. The buoys communicate via radio with a
central station (typically on-board a support vessel) where the position of the
underwater vehicle is computed. Due to the fact that position estimates are only
available at the central station, this system is naturally suited for tracking
applications. Unfortunately, the algorithms for target tracking available with the
commercial unit exhibit poor performance. In view of this, and given the very good
quality of the hardware purchased, it was decided to re-do the algorithms to obtain a
system capable of yielding precise estimates of the position of an underwater vehicle
given a set of ranges from the UV to known buoy locations. Classically, this problem is
solved by resorting to triangulation techniques, which require that at least three range
measurements are available at the end of each acoustic emission-reception cycle. This is
hardly feasible in practice, due to unavoidable communication and sensor failures. It is
therefore of interest to develop an estimator structure capable of dealing with the case
where the number of range measurements available is time-varying. This was done by
tackling the problem in the framework of Extended Kalman Filtering (EKF), whereby the
vehicle-to-buoy range measurements drive a filter (tracker) that relies on the kinematic
model of the underwater vehicle. It is important to recall that due to the finite speed
of propagation of sound in water, the range measurements are obtained at the buoys with
different latencies. To overcome this problem, a methodology was developed that utilizes
the measurements as they arrive, by incorporating a backwards and forward fusion
approach. Simulation, as well as preliminary experimental results obtained in the scope
of work carried out by the research engineer Alex Penas, together with Profs Paulo
Oliveira and António Pascoal, illustrate the performance of the filter proposed. Its
practical implementation and full testing at sea will take place in 2004. Future work
will address the integration of the modified GIB system with the dead reckoning
navigation system existent on-board the underwater vehicle. In this configuration,
position estimates will be periodically transmitted to the underwater platform via an
acoustic modem.
Landmark Based Navigation. In the two above problems, navigation and positioning are done
with respect to an inertial reference frame. In that case, the navigational accuracy
achieved is directly related to the quality of the equipment used. Unfortunately, there
simply is no remedy to this situation when the vehicles execute missions in open water,
far away from the seabed and the sea surface, that is, with no clear landmarks “on
sight”. The situation is completely different when the vehicle is asked to repeatedly
survey an area where there are conspicuous landmarks (e.g. conspicuous terrain features,
strong magnetic or gravimetric signatures, etc.). In this case, it is best to try and use
this information to develop navigation system capable of correcting for the drift that is
inherent to “inertial navigation-like” systems. In line with these comments, during 2003
the doctoral student Francisco Teixeira carried out research on the subject of underwater
vehicle navigation using bathymetric (that is, seabed depth) information by exploring key
concepts that borrow from the field of SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping). In
his work, he has derived a special type of particle filter that effectively merges
information provided by a Doppler log, an attitude unit, and an echosounder. Encouraging
simulation results obtained with a digital terrain map of the D. João de Castro seamount
show the potential of the filter to the development of terrain based navigation systems.
Future work will address the use of more than one echosounder or multibeam sonar to
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explore spatial diversity, as well as the magnetic signature of the terrain being covered
for local navigation.
2. Coordinated Motion Control
In recent years, there has been widespread interest in the problem of coordinated motion
control of fleet of autonomous vehicles. Applications include aircraft and spacecraft
formation flying control, coordinated control of land robots, and control of multiple
surface and underwater vehicles. The work reported in the literature addresses a large
class of topics that include, among others, leader/follower formation flying, control of
the "center of mass" and radius of dispersion of swarms of vehicles, and uniform coverage
of an area by a group of surveying robots. At ISR/IST, there has been considerable
research activity in this vibrant area towards the development of algorithms for
coordinated motion control of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and an autonomous
surface craft (ASC). In this scenario, an autonomous surface craft (ASC) is required to
follow a desired path accurately while an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operating
at a fixed depth is required to follow exactly the same horizontal path (shifted in the
vertical coordinate), while tracking
the ASC motion along that path. See the
joint figure.
Combined autonomous surface craft / autonomous

underwater vehicle control.
In this example, the AUV serves as a mobile sensor suite to acquire scientific data,
while the ASC plays the role of a fast communication relay between the AUV and a support
ship. Thus, the ASC effectively explores the fact that high data rate underwater
communications can best be achieved if the emitter and the receiver are aligned along the
same vertical line. Notice how both vehicles are required to follow exactly the same type
of path (shifted in the vertical), which is imposed by the scientific missions at hand.
This and similar problems have been posed for the first time and tackled in the scope of
the PhD thesis of former student Pedro Encarnação and more recently by post-doctoral
students Didik Soetanto and Lionel Lapierre, using Lyapunov and Backstepping-based
designs. To distinguish it from other coordinated motion control problems studied in the
literature, we refer to it as the Coordinated Path Following Control problem.
To the best of our knowledge, previous work on coordinated path following control has
been restricted to the area of marine robotics. However, the solutions developed so far
for underactuated vehicles are restricted to two vehicles in a leader-follower type of
formation and lead to complex control laws, as is clear in the joint publications of
Didik Soetanto, Lionel Lapierre, and António Pascoal that appeared in 2003. Related work
is also coming out of the group of Prof. Thor Fossen at the NTNU, Norway. However, the
control laws derived apply to fully actuated vehicles only and are still quite complex to
implement. There is therefore a need to re-examine this problem to try and arrive at
efficient and practical solutions for wheeled robots in the hope that the solution
derived for this simpler case will shed some light into the problem of coordinated path
following for the more complex case of air and marine robots. In an attempt to do this,
the work of PhD student Reza Ghabcheloo supervised by Profs António Pascoal and Carlos
Silvestre, addressed the problem of steering a fleet of wheeled robots along a set of
given spatial paths, while keeping a desired inter-vehicle formation pattern.
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This problem arises for example when multiple vehicles are required to scan a given area
in cooperation. In a possible mission scenario, one of the vehicles acts a leader and
follows a path accurately, while the other vehicles follow paths that are naturally
determined by the formation pattern imposed. However, other inter-vehicle coordination
schemes are allowed. His work provides a solution to these problems using a simple
algorithm that builds on linearization techniques and gain scheduling control theory.
Using this set-up, path following (in space) and inter-vehicle coordination (in time) are
almost decoupled. Path following for each vehicle amounts to reducing a conveniently
defined error vector to zero. Vehicle coordination is achieved by adjusting the speed of
each of the vehicles along its path, according to information on the position of some of
the other vehicles only. No other information is exchanged among the robots. The set-up
adopted allows for a simple analysis of the resulting coordinated path following control
system. Furthermore, it provides guidelines to evaluate the behavior of the formation as
a consequence of certain vehicle failures or loss of inter-vehicle communications. His
future work will aim at extending the results obtained to marine vehicles and the 3D
space. The results obtained are expected to provide some insight into the development of
nonlinear control laws so as to ensure global results.
3. Modeling, Parameter Estimation and Identification, and Integrated Plant-

Controller Design for Marine Vehicles.
3.1 Integrated Plant-Controller Optimization with Applications to Marine

Vehicles Design
The problem of marine vehicle system design to meet desired performance requirements in
the presence of stringent energy constraints is basically unsolved. To better grasp the
complexity of this problem at hand, consider the situation where one is required to
design a marine vehicle with a specified speed and range of operation, to carry
scientific instrumentation, and perform data acquisition in 3D. The volume of scientific
instrumentation and hotel payload, together with a slack volume for battery and buoyancy
arrangements, set a minimum on the enclosed volume of the vehicle. Starting with this
value, it is then necessary to define the hydrodynamic shape of the platform and the
placement / dimension of the actuators so that: i) vehicle frontal drag is minimized, ii)
open loop performance (as evaluated by the location of the eigenvalues of the vehicle´s
linearization about selected forward speeds) is adequate, and iii) the actuators have
enough authority to allow for the design of closed loop controllers to yield adequate
behaviour in response to input commands in depth and yaw, external disturbances (currents
and sea waves while operating close to the surface, etc.), and sensor noise. It is
important to remark that the final volume enclosed by the AUV must allow for the
installation of enough battery power to steer the vehicle through the required maneuvers.
Thus, we are clearly in the presence of a design cycle that spirals down to a final
(hopefully satisfactory) solution.
The difficulty of the problem lies in the fact that the design of the plant and
controller should be interwoven, lest a poor mechanical design impose unduly restriction
on what can later be achieved with control, thus the importance of integrated plant-
controller design. Similar problems have been addressed in the aeronautics industry,
where the reduction of an airplane’s weight while preserving its capability to perform
desire missions is of paramount importance. Meeting the above objectives for both marine
and air vehicles is indeed a challenging problem that has not even been properly
formalized yet. Preliminary steps in this direction have been taken in the marine field
for the case where the form of the vehicle has been fixed and only the size of the
actuators (deflecting surfaces) is allowed to vary (PhD thesis of Prof. Carlos
Silvestre). Clearly, one needs to build a long term research plan to tackle and solve the
problem posed above. However, in view of the complexity of the problem at hand, it is
wise to start by addressing the “simpler” problem of predicting the open loop performance
that can be achieved with a marine vehicle, given its geometry and mass distribution.
The above considerations were instrumental in defining a line of research that has
received renewed energy during the stay of Prof. Ettore Barros from the Univ. São Paulo,
Brasil, at the DSORL. His research program addresses the general problem of autonomous
underwater vehicle (AUV) modeling and parameter estimation as a means to predict the
expected dynamic performance of AUVs and thus guide their design phase well before they
can be tested at sea. This will shorten the time of vehicle design and development and
reduce drastically the costs associated with intensive hydrodynamic tank tests.
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The short term goal of this research effort is to bring together different techniques for
AUV parameter estimation that include analytical and semi-empirical methods (ASE) and to
use them to predict the hydrodynamic derivatives of a large class of AUVs with
conventional, streamlined bodies, in the vertical (dive) and horizontal planes. The long
term plan is to complement these approaches with CFD techniques and to evaluate the
accuracy of the different parameter estimation methods through a restricted number of
tests with reduced or full scale vehicles in hydrodynamic tanks or at sea, respectively.
To meet the abovementioned goals, cooperation agreements have been established with the
Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, and the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona Paula,
Goa, India. The NTNU has the facilities required to run hydrodynamics tank tests, while
NIO has agreed to run AUV CFD analysis using parallel computing facilities available in
India. So far, the research work carried out has led to a systematic way of predicting
the main hydrodynamic derivatives of torpedo shaped AUVs and evaluate their expected open
loop performance. An application has been done to the prediction of the hydrodynamic
derivatives of one the MAYA AUVs. In the near future, CFD tests will be run in India. A
mock-up of the vehicle will be shipped to Norway in 2004 to estimate the derivatives
using classical tank testing procedures. Tests with a real vehicle will be carried out by
ISR/IST in Portugal. See the diagram below for the interaction among the institutions
involved and their expertise.
The outcome of this work will be comparison and calibration of the methods proposed for
hydrodynamic parameter estimation against measured data. Indeed, building confidence on
the above methods and evaluating their complementary are important steps towards the
development of true plant-controller optimization schemes.
ISR / IST, Portugal USP, Brasil
Parameter Analytical and

Identification: Semi-Empirical
Tests at Sea Methods
AUV: CAD file model;

Scaled model; prototype
Parameter
CFD Analysis
Identification:
Tank Tests
NTNU, Norway NIO, India
Collaborative research programme on AUV modeling and parameter estimation / identification
3.2 Modeling of Air Vehicles
The work of PhD student Rita Cunha in the scope of modeling of air vehicles led to the
development of an Autonomous Helicopter Dynamic Simulator, named SimModHeli. The
simulator is based on an accurate self-contained helicopter dynamic model, derived from
first-physics principles, that is specially tailored for model-scale
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helicopters. The simulation model includes the rigid body, main rotor flapping, and Bell-
Hiller stabilizing bar dynamics. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of the
stabilizing bar and on the evaluation of its impact on the overall helicopter dynamics.
The model is parameterized for the Vario X-Treme acrobatic helicopter, within the scope
of the ALTICOPTER project, and solutions for a set of trimming trajectories are
identified and discussed. Different simplifications, needed to derive models for control
system design, were computed, and their influence on the resultant dynamics evaluated.
The effect of changing the physical parameters of the stabilizing bar was also studied.
The resulting model has proved a valuable tool for control system design and closed loop
performance evaluation.
4. Multiple Vehicle Mission Control
At the mission control level, work continued on the development of software and hardware
tools for mission programming and mission execution of autonomous vehicles, including
cooperative control of surface and underwater vehicles, that is, multiple vehicle mission
control. The work built on previous development efforts that led to CORAL, a Petri Net
software application that is proprietary of ISR/IST and allows for mission programming
and running in real-time. In 2003, the main focus of the research work in this area,
carried out by MSc student Rudolfo Oliveira under the supervision of Prof. Carlos
Silvestre solidified the extension of CORAL to deal with multiple vehicle operation. At
the same time, hardware architectures continued to be developed for distributed real-time
control of ocean robotic vehicles.
The work on Multiple Vehicle Mission Control tackled the problem of autonomous robotic
vehicles mission design and execution in distributed environments. All computational
phases from mission plan edition and mission program generation to real time mission
execution in each of the systems on board the vehicles were addressed. A multi-vehicle
mission editor, that composes the mission plan and automatically generates the mission
program, is a fundamental tool to autonomous vehicles system designers who strive to
develop vehicles that can be programmed and operated by end-users that are not
necessarily familiarized with the engineering details of vehicle technology. The mission
program is automatically generated from the mission plan and is written in the CORAL
Petri Net description language and execution system.
In the solution proposed for Multiple Vehicle Mission Control, all the responsible
mechanisms for the interaction among the systems onboard the vehicles, the modeling
entities, and the mission plan supervisors are embodied in hierarchical Petri nets.
Designing a controller that limits the original Petri net reachable state space then
enforces the required behavior of each Petri net building block. The controller, that is
itself a Petri net, is synthesized by resorting to the well know concept of place
invariant. This technique, together with the hierarchical structure proposed for the
mission program, leads to deadlock free mission control strategies, insures liveliness,
and enforces direct and indirect conditions on allowable events during the mission
execution.
The work pursued was the basis for the implementation of the Infante autonomous
underwater vehicle mission control system, which was thoroughly tested at sea in the
Azores, in 2003 using a Real Time Distributed Computing Network developed at ISR/IST and
installed on-board the vehicle and the support vessel.
Cooperation with other ISR Laboratories
During the year 2003, DSORL has continued to explore collaboration links with other Labs
of ISR. Namely, the DSORL has participated in the following lines of research:
• Landmark Based Underwater Navigation – the VISLAB contribution focused on video

mosaicking from video images acquired around the island of Faial, in the Azores.
• Terrain Following of Unmanned Air Vehicles (with the Mobile Robotics Lab) – joint
work on “Terrain following preview controllers for model-scale helicopters”.
• Underwater Communication Systems (with the Signal Processing Lab) –
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the DSORL Lab is responsible for the integration and testing at sea of the
acoustic modems that were developed by the French company ORCA for the INFANTE
AUV, by exploring a fruitful partnership with the Signal Processing Lab of ISR.
During the tests in the Azores in 2003, an extensive series of tests were carried
out to determine the effective range of communications achievable in coastal,
shallow water environments.
A.2 Representative Projects
Project name: FREE SUB – AUTONOMOUS UNDERWATER VEHICLE FOR SUBSEA INTERVENTION
Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (IST/ISR)

Project Coordinator: Cybernetix Offshore Department, France.
Project Description: The “FREESUB” network addresses the exchange of human resources that
are essential to the development of autonomous unmanned sub-sea vehicles (AUVs) for
remote intervention on fixed underwater structures. The network’s goal is to aid mobility
of scientific researchers, technology transfer, and dissemination of information. The
“FREESUB” network fosters the exchange of young doctoral and post-doctoral researchers
among various EU universities and research institutes. The main technical objective of
the project is to contribute to the development of general tools that will in the near
future allow autonomous vehicles to navigate to target sites with great precision and to
carry out intervention tasks on underwater fixed structures.
In 2003, the work of IST/ISR was focused on the issues of Navigation, Guidance, and
Control (NGC) of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). Preliminary steps were also taken
towards the development of expertise in the field of Concurrent Mapping and Localization.
This research effort led to strong cooperation links with other partners in the network
that materialized in two joint publications in which the Young Researcher of IST, Lionel
Lapierre, was stated as an author. Also fruit of these cooperation links was the
organization of two work sessions in Lisbon with the Young Researcher Zoran URSULOVICI in
February 2002 and with the Young Researchers David LABBE, Tien TRAN, and Peter WEISS in
June 2002 to discuss issues on Concurrent Mapping and Localization and on a general
architecture for Navigation, Guidance, and Control of Intervention AUVs, respectively.
Lionel Lapierre and Alex Penas of IST cooperated also actively with David Labbe towards
the development of an integrated computer-based simulator to assess the expected
performance of NGC algorithms. The participation of IST in this endeavour focused on
controls. In the course of the work carried out, Lionel Lapierre prepared and submitted 3
papers to international conferences. Some of the papers are currently being reviewed and
will be submitted for possible publication in peer reviewed journals.
In the summer of 2003, IST/ISR organized an expedition to the Azores with the objective
of executing tests with an AUV at sea. The Young Researchers Lionel Lapierre and Alex
Penas played an actively role in the tests, actually witnessing the different phases of
system design, development, and launching of an AUV at sea. During the test, visitors
from Italy (Istituto Automazione Navale, Genova), UK (System Technologies), and India
(National Institute of Oceanography) were present. This afforded the Young Researchers a
unique opportunity not only to get their hands on real experiments but to interact with
well established researchers in the fields of marine robotics, underwater communications,
and ocean instrumentation. It is felt that the participation of the Young Researchers in
the tests was a quantum leap that changed their perception of the area and imparted a
solid push to their scientific careers.
Research Areas: Navigation, Guidance, and Control of Marine Vehicles

Laboratories: Dynamical Systems and Ocean Robotics Lab (DSORL)
External Partners: CEA Teleoperation and Robotics Department (F), Democritus
University of Thrace (Gr), The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (I),
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Instituto Superior Técnico (P), University of Southampton (UK), IFREMER (F).

Initiated: October 2000
Conclusion : October 2004.
Classification: Human Potential Research Training Network No. HPRN-CT-2000-00032
Project name: MAROV – MAPPING OF MARINE HABITATS IN THE AZORES USING ROBOTIC VEHICLES

Project Coordinator: Prof. António Pascoal (IST/ISR)
Project Description: This project puts forward the concept of marine habitat mapping
using an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)
equipped with acoustic and vision systems. The ASV allows for the mapping of large areas
of the seabed (albeit with low resolution) using acoustic sensors. Furthermore, it acts
as an interface between the AUV and a support ship. The AUV is used for higher resolution
acoustic mapping, ocean data acquisition, and video and photo image taking closer to the
seabed. Data obtained by the two vehicles and other complementary “classical” sources
(for example, divers or towed systems) will be geo-referenced, analyzed by marine
geologists and biologists, and processed to generate composites of benthic ecosystems
using a Geographic Information System (GIS). The project brings together marine science
and technology and aims at building habitat maps in marine reserve areas around the
islands of Pico and Faial in the Azores.
Research Areas: Marine Habitat Mapping Techniques

Laboratories: Dynamical Systems and Ocean Robotics Lab (DSORL), VISLAB
External Partners: IMAR and Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, Univ. Azores, IGM –
Geological Survey of Portugal.
Initiated: December 2000
Conclusion: November 2004
Classification: PDCTM, FCT (PT)
▬▬
Project name: DREAM – DEVELOPMENT OF A “SEMI-DEEP” ROV FOR SCIENTIFIC APPLICATIONS AND
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING.

Project Coordinator: IMAR / Laboratório da Guia, Cascais, Portugal.
Project Description: The objective of the present project is the development of a

Remotely Operated Vehicle capable of “semi-deep” intervention (down to the 1000m range)
to be used by the Portuguese scientific community in a variety of ocean research
missions. Such a vehicle will allow for the investigation of a group of poorly known
environments, including the Portuguese continental shelf, where the large majority of
national fisheries are deployed, and the upper “levels” of the different canyons that cut
into the Portuguese platform and that condition the Portuguese bathial environments to a
high extent. “Off the shelf” vehicles can be found, capable of operating down to the
proposed depth range, but none with the type of specifications needed for environmental
observation and monitoring, namely in what relates to accurate positioning and work
capacity – sensors and probe installation, sampling gear, video signal processing, etc.
The key technical contribution of the project is the enhancement of a basic ROV
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structure to enable precise vehicle navigation, guidance, and control as well as acoustic
and vision data acquisition, pre-processing, and transmission to a support ship. This
will enable maneuvering the ROV along pre-determined searching paths without tight human
supervision. Furthermore, it will endow scientific end-users with the capability to
survey the ocean floor with great precision by acquiring, among other, side-scan, video,
and photo images that are accurately time and position tagged, allowing for mapping of
the sea-floor. The user is thus relieved from the tedious and often unsuccessful task of
trying to achieve precise vehicle control, namely in the presence of sea currents,
effectively shifting the focus of the whole operation to scientific data assessment and
overall mission control.
Another objective of the project is the possibility of applying a new concept by

developing a “modular” vehicle, capable of being reconfigured for different purposes and
mission scenarios. Indeed, no vehicle will meet directly the need of different
“configuration” levels, enabling its use from different vessels and at a variety of depth
ranges – from “shallow” intervention (c.a. 400m) onboard light vessels of “opportunity”
to “deep” diving (down to c.a. 1000m) from a dedicated ship – and a quick “response time”
to solicitations such as unpredictable environmental phenomena (e.g. submarine eruptions,
spills or other accidents).
The proposing team brings together to the core of the project complementary expertise:
i) the technical competence to develop such a vehicle from a brand system (ISR-
IST);
ii) the experience of operation of ROV´s in the Portuguese environments (IMAR-LMG,

CREMINER); and
iii) the capacity to operate the vehicle at sea under a wide range of different
conditions (IH).
This is an important step in the development of collaborative ventures between science

and technology, where either of the two components directly depends on the contribution
from the other. The concept also opens the possibility of addressing specific needs of
end-users, including social concerns, namely relating to natural resources management.
Finally, the proposal includes the execution of specific surveys at sea. This will allow
for the actual testing and demonstration of the vehicle capacities, both in its original
configuration and after project development.
Research Areas: Marine Habitat Mapping Techniques

External Partners: IMAR/Laboratório da GUIA, CREMINER, Faculdade de Ciências da
Universidade de Lisboa.
Initiated: December 2000
Conclusion: November 2004
Classification: PDCTM, FCT (PT)
▬▬
Project name: ALTICOPTER
Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. Carlos Silvestre (ISR / IST)

Project Coordinator: Prof. Carlos Silvestre (ISR / IST)
Project description: Today, some Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) exhibit a high degree of
reliability in operation in the presence of dynamic and uncertain environments and
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challenging operating scenarios. Among the many UAV configurations available today,
helicopters are one of the most maneuverable and versatile platforms. They can takeoff
and land without a runway and can hover in place. These capabilities have brought about
the use of unmanned helicopters as highly maneuverable sensing platforms, allowing for
the access to remote and confined locations without placing human lives at risk. For
these reasons, there is currently great interest in using unmanned robotic helicopters in
a wide range of applications that include crop spraying, hazardous spill inspection, fire
surveillance, pollution monitoring, overhead power cables inspection, bridge and building
construction inspection, etc.
The major stumbling blocks that have prevented UAVs from executing successfully the
aforementioned missions are: i) the unavailability of reliable on-board navigation
systems capable of integrating the information from sophisticated sensor suites; ii) the
absence of efficient and easy to program mission control systems; iii) the lack of simple
and effective controllers for precise 3-D trajectory tracking and path following.
The main thrust of the project is the development of an unmanned robotic helicopter that
can serve as an advanced platform for system design, development, and testing. The
project will use an industrial radio controlled helicopter that will be equipped with a
distributed real time computing network, a reliable wireless communication system, and
sensing devices. To give the work greater focus, the research and development effort will
be aimed at performing realistic missions that consist of accurate monitoring of beaches
and dunes using airborne laser altimetry. The nature of the envisioned missions will
require the use of a 3-D perception system onboard the helicopter. This system will
include a highly accurate GPS, a Laser Range Finder, and a Digital Camera. The resulting
platform will have the potential for being used in a variety of applications, and will
provide subject matter for further research and development.
Underlying the development of unmanned helicopters are their on-board real time
navigation, flight control, and mission control systems. These systems will stabilize the
platform and implement the different vehicle operation modes. Research will also focus on
the development of sensor based control strategies for critical flight conditions, such
as automatic landing. Furthermore, to improve the accuracy of the airborne laser
altimetry, special emphasis will be placed on developing 3-D path following and
trajectory tracking controllers.
The X-treme model helicopter of the DSORL
Research Areas: Nonlinear Dynamic Modeling, Guidance and Control, Inertial Navigation,
laser and vison mapping.
Laboratories: DSOR, VISLAB
External Partners: Instituto Geológico e Mineiro, Lisbon, Portugal
Initiated: May 1, 2002
Expected conclusion: April 30, 2005
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Classification: FCT - Sapiens

Project name: MEDIRES
Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. Carlos Silvestre (ISR / IST)

Project Coordinator: Dr. João Alfredo Santos (LNEC)
Project description: The cost of a rubble-mound breakwater, its expected behaviour, as

well as the consequences of its failure, do justify the existence of a monitoring
programme which helps in the decision making process relative to the timing of the
maintenance, or even repair, works. However, the continuous monitoring of the status of
any given breakwater stretch is not yet feasible. That is why the most common procedure
consists of the periodic inspection of these structures. The goals of the MEDIRES
project are two fold:
i) To use the latest technological breakthroughs in positioning, navigation, and

control of surface autonomous vehicles to develop new techniques for accurate and
efficient inspection of the geometry of semi-submerged structures with application
to rubble mound breakwaters. This activity will end up with the development of a
tool, named IRIS, for high accuracy surveying of both the above water and
submerged parts of the armour layer of rubble-mound breakwaters (or semi-submerged
structures, in general). This tool that can be used in autonomous mode or equip
an Autonomous Surface Craft to produce tri--dimensional surveys with the spatial
regularity required for this kind of structures;
ii) To condense the large volume of data from the periodic inspections into a small
set of parameters that enables the characterization of the structure’s status and
evolution. The definition of the parameters thresholds, needed for the structure’s
diagnosis, will be based on LNEC’s past experience as well as on results from
scale model tests.
The tool (IRIS) will be designed to equip the autonomous catamaran DELFIM, property of
IST/ISR. Within the framework of this project, accurate path following control and
navigation systems will be developed in order to guarantee the repeatability of the
maneuvers so as to ensure the quality of the survey data sets obtained. Nevertheless, the
IRIS can be used in a standalone mode without the autonomous vehicle.
The autonomous catamaran, named DELFIM, is capable of following pre-assigned trajectories
with a high level of accuracy. It is equipped with two back electrical thrusters and can
travel at a maximum speed of 5 knots. In order to determine its position and speed it
uses differential GPS and an attitude reference unit. Using the information available
from its motion sensor suite the catamaran DELFIM computes its actual position and
orientation and respective velocities.
The IRIS tool Simultaneous above and underwater surveying

A real time computer network developed at the Institute for Systems and Robotics is used
in the autonomous vehicle DELFIM. This network was specially designed for multi-
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vehicle robotic applications, uses wireless modems, and implements TDMA (Time Division
Multiple Access). The network will effectively allow an operator to supervise the IRIS
tool during the survey. Figure 2 depicts the concept of the Catamaran DELFIM equipped
with the IRIS, during a typical breakwater survey. Figure 1 shows how the tool is placed
in the Catamaran and also how the 2D laser range finder and the sonar profiler can be
used in a breakwater survey mission.
The inspection techniques to be developed within the framework of this project will be
tested in Sines’ West breakwater and in the breakwater of the Avilés port (in Astúrias,
Spain). Several surveys will be conducted during the project, to identify and tune the
algorithms and tools for online data set acquisition and off-line processing.
Research Areas: Real Time Architectures, Inertial Navigation, Laser and Acoustic Mapping.
Laboratories: Dynamical Systems and Ocean Robotics Lab (DSORL)
External Partners: Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil, Lisbon, Portugal;
Administração do Porto de Sines, Sines Portugal; Autoridade do Porto de Avilez, Avilez,
Espanha.
Initiated: March 1 2003
Expected conclusion: February 28 2006
Classification: AdI (Agência de Desenvolvimento e Inovação).
▬▬
Project name: MAYASub-Development of a Small AUV for Scientific and Comercial Applications
Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (ISR / IST)

Project Coordinator: Prof. António Pascoal (ISR / IST)
Project description: The key objective of the project is to develop and demonstrate the
performance of a small, modular, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for scientific and
commercial applications. Envisioned missions include geological and oceanographic
surveys, marine biology studies, marine habitat mapping for environmental management,
inspection of harbours and estuaries, and marine pollution assessment, to name but a few.
Vehicle miniaturization will be achieved by resorting to small embedded processors,
miniaturized sensors, and high performance actuators. Modularity will allow for easy
vehicle reconfiguration according to different mission scenarios. Reduced weight will
make it possible to launch and retrieve the vehicle by resorting to small ships of
opportunity. The ultimate goal of the project is the development (by a Portuguese-Indian
consortium) of two copies of a highly reliable mobile platform that will act as a natural
extension of its support ship, effectively allowing an operator to probe the surrounding
3D environment from the comfort of his/her lab at sea.
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The MAYA AUV – Mechanical Design of the NIO, India
Research Areas: Marine Vehicle Design, Hydrodynamic Parameter Estimation and

Identification, Navigation, Guidance, and Control, Acoustic Marine Sensors, Underwater
Positioning and Communications.
External Partners: RINAVE (PT), IMAR/DOP/Univ. Azores (PT), National Institute of
Oceanography (NIO) , Dona Paula, Goa, India, System Technologies (ST), Ulverston, UK.
Initiated: January 2003
Expected conclusion:July 2006.
Classification: AdI (Agência de Desenvolvimento e Inovação).
▬▬
Project name: AUTONOMOUS VEHICLE DESIGN AND CONTROL

Project Description: The objective of this research program is threefold: i) to
investigate the technologies required for the development of small autonomous underwater
vehicles (AUVs), ii) to develop methods for integrated design of underwater vehicles and
dynamic controllers, and ii) to study new methodologies for the design of path following
control laws for autonomous vehicles as well as for coordinated control of marine
robots.
i) Integrated design of underwater vehicles and controllers – the key objective is to
study the problems of AUV modeling and parameter estimation in conjunction with control
system design, as a means to predict the expected dynamic performance of underwater
vehicles under closed feedback control, and thus guide their design phase well before
they can be tested at sea. AUV modeling and parameter estimation requires a combination
of analytical and semi-empirical methods, together with actual testing of scaled version
of vehicle models in hydrodynamic tank facilities. The methodologies explored for control
system design are firmly rooted in the field of control systems theory and borrow heavily
from the areas of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs) and Convex Optimization, which are
the subject of current research.
ii) AUV control under wave disturbances - the main theoretical tools used are stochastic
linearization and linear matrix inequalities. The first allow for the computation of the
"linear simplified model" of a full stochastic model for the AUV; the latter is specially
suited to address multiobjective design criteria such as minimizing the effect of wave
action while maintaining sufficient control authority for depth maneuvering and
robustness against plant uncertainty.
iii) Path following in 3-D – the key issues in this research topic are the control of
ocean vehicles for accurate path following in 3-D and the control of vehicles working in
cooperation. The methodologies being used borrow from Lyapunov stability theory.
iv) Technologies for the development of small AUVs – this initiative was started
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in cooperation with the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) in Goa, India, with the
objective of investigating basic technological issues that will play a key role in the
development of a future breed of AUVS. The long term objective is for the ISR and the NIO
to design and actually build two identical copies of a small AUV that will be used in
oceanographic missions in Portugal and India. This is currently being pursued in the
scope of the MAYA project.
Research Areas: AUV Dynamics, Hydrodynamics, Parameter Estimation, Control Theory,

Combined Plant / Controller Optimization, Coordinated Motion Control of Multiple
Vehicles, Distributed Control Architectures, Guidance and Navigation Systems.
Laboratories: DSORL
External Partners: Dept. Mechanical Engineering and Dept. Aeronautics and Astronautics,
Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, USA; National Institute of Oceanography
(NIO), Dona Paula, Goa, India, Dept. Mechatronics of the University of São Paulo, Brasil.
Initiated:1996.
Conclusion: on going
Classification: Memorandum of Understanding between the ISR/IST and the NPS of Monterey,
California. Memorandum of Understanding between the National Institute of Oceanography
and the ISR/IST. Research work has been supported by NATO scholarships, funding from
GRICES through the Portuguese-India Cooperation Programme and institutional funding for
travel and accommodations.
A.3 Special Events
INFANTE SEA TRIALS, Faial Island, Azores, Portugal, July 24 – August 15, 2003
During a period of approximately 22 days, the DSORL of ISR carried out missions with the
INFANTE autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and the ÁGUAS VIVAS Research Vessel at sea,
in the Azores, in cooperation with the IMAR-DOP/Univ. Azores in the scope of the MAROV
project. In the course of the mission, bathymetric data were acquired (that complements
that obtained in 2002) with the objective of obtaining accurate maps of the seabed near
Fail Islands, and in particular in the Pico Channel. The INFANTE AUV was again operated
in a fully autonomous mode and carried out transects in the canal between the islands of
Faial and Pico, at varying depths, under the supervision of its on-board resident Mission
Control System. The AUV was equipped with an array of sensor suites that included an
attitude unit, an echousounder, a Plankton Sampler, a Fluorometer, and a CTD. Acoustic
communications tests were also carried out with two different kinds of equipment. The
mission provided an excellent opportunity to bring together marine scientists and system
designers. Visitors from India, Italy, and the UK had the opportunity to witness the
operation of the INFANTE AUV.
Participation in the Exhibit “ENGENHO E OBRA”, Jan. 8 – March 2, 2003.
During the exhibit, full scale models of the INFANTE AUV and the DELFIMx ASC were on
display, together with a video illustrating the development and operation of autonomous
marine vehicles at sea. The activities carried out at the ISR were further disseminated
through a video that was prepared by the exhibit organization and shown on a national TV
Channel.
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The INFANTE AUV and the DELFIMx ASC at the Exhibit “Engenho e Obra”,
Cordoaria Nacional, Lisboa, 2003
A.4 Graduate and Postgraduate Studies
A.4.1 Post-docs
Ettore BARROS – Modeling, Parameter Estimation, and Combined Plant-Controller

Optimization of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs);
Lionel LAPIERRE – Coordinated Motion Control of Wheeled and Marine Robots;
A.4.2 PhD Students
Sajjad ASL – Robust Multiple-Model Adaptive Control (MMAC) Based on m-Synthesis;

Rita CUNHA – Sensor-Based Guidance and Control of Robotic Vehicles;
Reza GHABCHELOO – Coordinated Path Following Control of Autonomous Vehicles;
Francisco TEIXEIRA – Feature Based Navigation of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs);
A.4.3 MSc Students
João ALVES – Real Time Architectures for Autonomous Vehicles;

Pedro ALVES – Nonlinear Target Tracking;
José LUCAS- a DSP Multiprocessing Architecture for Autonomous Vehicles;
Rodolfo OLIVEIRA – Supervision and Mission Control of Autonomous Vehicles;
Nuno PAULINO - Tracking Strategies for Autonomous Vehicles with application to Unmanned
Helicopters;
Luella WONG - Marine Craft Control using Image and 3D Shape Matching;
A.4.4 Thesis concluded
Rodolfo OLIVEIRA, “Supervision and Mission Control of Autonomous Vehicles,” MSC Thesis,
Instituto Superior Técnico, October 2003, Portugal. Thesis supervisor: Prof. Carlos
Silvestre.
A.5 Publications
International Journals: accepted for publication
C. Silvestre and A. Pascoal, “Control of the Infante AUV using Gain-Scheduled Static Output
Feedback,” to appear in the IFAC Journal Control Engineering Practice, 2004.
J. Hespanha, O. Yakimenko, I. Kaminer, and A. Pascoal, “Linear Parametrically

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Varying Systems with Brief Instabilities: An Application to Integrated Vision/IMU

Navigation,” to appear in IEEE Electronics, 2004.
Conference Proceedings
L. Silva, J. Santos, M. Neves, C. Silvestre, P. Oliveira, and A. Pascoal, “Tools for

the diagnosis and automated inspection of semi-submerged structures, “Proc. 13th
International Harbour Congress, Antwerpen, Belgium, March-April 2003.
C. Silvestre and A. Pascoal, “Control of the INFANTE AUV Using Gain Scheduled Static
Output Feedback”, Proc. IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles,
Newport, South Wales, UK, April 2003.
L. Lapierre, D.Soetanto, and A. Pascoal, “Nonlinear Path Following Control of Autonomous

Underwater Vehicles,“ Proc. IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles,
Newport, South Wales, UK, April 2003.
P. Oliveira and A. Pascoal, “On the Design of Multirate Complementary Filters for Marine
Vehicle Navigation: New Tools using Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs),“ Proc. IFAC
Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, Newport, South Wales, UK, April
2003.
D. Labbé, P. Wilson, P. Weiss, L. Lapierre, and A. Pascoal, “FREESUB Navigation,

Guidance, and Control System for an Intervention AUV,“ Proc. Thirteen Ship Control System
Symposium (SCSS), Orlando, Florida, 7-9 April, 2003
S. Fekri, M. Athans, and A. Pascoal, “Identification of Mass-Spring-Dashpot Systems using

Multiple-Model Adaptive Estimation (MMAE) Algorithms,” Proc. 11th Mediterranean
Conference on Control and Automation – MED’2003, Rodes, Greece, June 2003.
R. Cunha and C. Silvestre, “SimModHeli: A dynamic simulator for model-scale helicopters”,

Proc. 11th Mediterranean Control on Control and Automation – MED’2003, Rodes, Greece,
June 2003.
D. Soetanto, L. Lapierre, and A. Pascoal, “Adaptive Nonsingular Path Following Control

of Dynamic Wheeled Robots,“ Proc. 11th International Conference on Advanced Robotics,
ICAR 2003, Coimbra, Portugal, June-July 2003.
G. Libório, N. Paulino, R. Cunha, C. Silvestre, and M. I. Ribeiro, “Terrain following

preview controller for model-scale helicopters”, Proc. 11th International Conference on
Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2003, Coimbra, Portugal, June-July 2003.
P. Weiss, J. Mascarell, M. Badica, D. Labbe, L. Brignone, L. Lapierre, “FREESUB: Modular

Control system for Intervention AUVs (IAUV),” Proc. 13th International Symposium on
Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology (UUST03), Durham, New Hampshire, USA, August
24-27, 2003.
R. Cunha and C. Silvestre, “Dynamic Modeling and Stability Analysis of Model-Scale

Helicopters with Bell-Hiller Stabilizing Bar”, Proc. AIAA Guidance Navigation and
Control Conference, Texas, USA, August 2003.
R. Cunha, C. Silvestre, and A. Pascoal, “A Path Following Controller for Model-Scale

Helicopters”, Proc. European Control Conference ECC2003, Cambridge, UK, September 2003.
L. Lapierre, D.Soetanto, A. Pascoal, “Adaptive Vision-Based Path Following Control of a

Wheeled Robot”, Proc. European Control Conference ECC2003, Cambridge, UK, September
2003.
L. Lapierre, D. Soetanto, and A. Pascoal, “Coordinated Motion Control of Marine Robots”,

Proc. 6th IFAC Conference on Manoeuvering and Control of Marine Craft (MCMC2003), Girona,
Spain, September 2003.
L. Lapierre, D. Soetanto, and A. Pascoal, “Nonlinear Path Following with Applications to
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the Control of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles,” Proc. IEEE CDC03, Hawai, December 2003.
D. Soetanto, L. Lapierre, and A. Pascoal, “Adaptive Nonsingular Path Following Control of

Wheeled Robots”, Proc. IEEE CDC03, Hawai, December 2003.
R. Quartau, F. Teixeira, S. Bouriak, J. Monteiro, and L. Pinheiro,”Characterization of

the continental shelf of Faial and Pico islands (Azores) using chirp echo character,”
Proc. 4th Symposium on the Iberian Atlantic Margin, Vigo, Spain.
R. Quartau, F. Teixeira, J. Monteiro, T. Cunha, L. Pinheiro, and F. Cardigos,” Sand

resources on the continental shelf of Faial Island (Azores)” Proc. 4th Symposium on the
Iberian Atlantic Margin, Vigo, Spain.
Technical Reports
A. Alcocer, P. Oliveira, A. Pascoal, “Study and Implementation of an Acoustic-Based

Positioning System for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report,
October 2003.
J. Alves, C. Silvestre, “A Reliable Datagram Protocol for Distributed Vehicular

Aplications,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, September 2003.
P. Alves, C. Silvestre, “Nonlinear Optimal 2D Radar Target Tracking Techniques,” DSORL-

ISR Technical Report, November 2003.
E. Barros and A. Pascoal, “AUV Dynamics: Modeling and Parameter Estimation using
Analytical and Semi-Empirical Methods,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, October 2003.
D. Carvalho, T. Filho, and A. Pascoal, “Development of a Simulator for a Remotely

Operated Vehicle (ROV),” joint DSORL-ISR/UFES Technical Report, September 2003.
R. Cunha, C. Silvestre. “Dynamic Modeling and Stability Analysis of Model-Scale

Helicopters with Bell-Hiller Stabilizing Bar,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, March 2003.
R. Cunha, C. Silvestre, “A Dynamic Simulator for Model-Scale Helicopters,” DSORL-ISR

Technical Report, May 2003.
S. Fekri, M. Athans, and A. Pascoal, “RMMAC: A new Robust Adpative Control Strategy “
DSORL-ISR Technical Report, November 2003.
R. Ghabcheloo, A. Pascoal, C. Silvestre, and I. Kaminer, “Coordinated Path Following

Control of Multiple Wheeled Robots using Linearization Techniques,” DSORL-ISR Technical
Report, November 2003.
L. Lapierre, D.Soetanto, and A. Pascoal, “Nonlinear Coordinated Path Following Control of

Multiple Marine Vehicles,“DSORL-ISR Technical Report, July 2003.
L. Lapierre and A. Alcocer, “Contributions to the Development of a Simulator for

Intervention AUVs,” joint DSORL-ISR/FREESUB Team Technical Report, October 2003.
G. Libório, N. Paulino, C. Silvestre, R. Cunha, “Hardware in the Loop Simulation

Techniques for Autonomous Helicopters,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, November 2003.
R. Oliveira, C. Silvestre, “Petri Net based Supervision Techniques for the Design of
Mission Control Systems for Autonomous Vehicles,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, November
2003.
R. Oliveira, C. Silvestre, “A Mission Programming Environment for Multiple Autonomous

Vehicles,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, October 2003.
N. Paulino, C. Silvestre, R. Cunha, “LMI Based H_2 Terrain Tracking Preview Controller
for Unmanned Helicopters,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, November 2003.
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F. Teixeira, “Concurrent Mapping and Localization using Geophysical Navigation with

application to the navigation of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle - Part 1 : Geophysical
Navigation,” Report INGMARDEP 07/FCT/2003 - 10/03/2003.
F. Teixeira, “Concurrent Mapping and Localization using Geophysical Navigation with

application to the navigation of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle - Part 2 : Concurrent
Mapping and Localization,” Report INGMARDEP 08/FCT/2003 - 10/03/2003.
J.F. Vasconcelos, J. Calvário, P. Oliveira, C. Silvestre, “GPS Aided IMU for Unmanned Air
Vehicles,” DSORL-ISR Technical Report, December 2003.
A.6 Invited Talks
Carlos Silvestre –
“On the Design of Gain Scheduled Static Output Feedback Controllers for Autonomous
Underwater Vehicles”, National Intitute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, India, April,
2003.
“Mission and Vehicle Control of Autonomous Ocean Robots, International Workshop on

Marine Technologies,” a keynote lecture given in the scope of a workshop organized by the
Alfred-Wegener-Institut (AWI), Bremen University, Max-Planck-Institut (MPI), Hochschule
Bremernhaven, Bremerhaven, Germany, 17 and 18 of March 2003.
António M. Pascoal -
“Marine Robots: Instruments for Ocean Exploration,” PLENARY SESSION, 5th IFAC
International Symposium on Intelligent Components and Instruments for Control
Applications, Aveiro, Portugal, July 9 - 11, 2003.
“Marine Robots: from Theory to Practice,” PLENARY SESSION, 11th International

Conference on Advanced Robotics, ICAR 2003, Coimbra, Portugal, June 30 - July3, 2003.
“Marine Robots for Ocean Exploration: Theoretical Challenges and Practical Issues,”
PLENARY SESSION, IFAC Workshop on Guidance and Control of Underwater Vehicles, Newport,
South Wales, UK, April 2003.
“Navigation, Guidance, and Control of Ocean Robots,” DII, University of Lecce, Italy,
January 2003
“Autonomous Marine Robots: Tools for Ocean Exploration,” DII, University of Lecce, Italy,
January 2003
A.7 Distinguished Visitors
Dr. Elgar de Sa – Research Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona

Paula, Goa, to participate in sea tests with the INFANTE AUV in the Azores, August 2003.
Dr. Prabhu Desai – Research Scientist, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Dona
Paula, Goa, to participate in sea tests with the INFANTE AUV in the Azores, August 2003.
Dr. Massimo Caccia – Research Scientist, Istituto Automazione Navale, CNR, Genova, Italy,
to witness sea tests with the INFANTE AUV in the Azores, August 2003.
Marcus Cardew – System Technologies, a leading expert in the design and manufacturing of
acoustic systems, to participate in tests of underwater communications equipment in the
Azores, August 2003.
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A*. Institute for System and Robotics – Lisbon Pole, Instituto Superior
Técnico (ISR/IST). Research carried out at the Signal Processing
Laboratory (SiPLAB) of the University of the Algarve.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
1 - RESEARCH PROJECTS
Project name: "Acoustic Tomography MOnitoring System (ATOMS)"
Project leader: Sérgio M. Jesus

Project Web page: www.ualg.pt/siplab/proj/atoms/atoms.html
Project description: The ATOMS project aims at developing an integrated system for
large-scale ocean monitoring, using acoustic tomography. In order to demonstrate the
feasibility of the approach, an experimental test will be performed to characterize the
upwelling filament structure off the Cape São Vicente.
Objectives:
• To study the feasibility of a tomographic acoustic network to monitor the entire
Portuguese EEZ. That network will be composed of 4/5 acoustic emitters/receivers
located in the Azores, continental Portugal and Goringe bank and/or Madeira
island. The modeled network will use archived data of temperature/salinity
profiles (from NODC and BODC data bases). The main characteristics of the network
will be determined in order to achieve a given performance in terms of temperature
and current resolution.
• To develop an integrated system for Ocean Acoustic Tomography (OAT) and perform a
test at sea.
• To develop a preliminary application of the integrated system to monitor a

particular area off the Portuguese EEZ. The test target will be the Cape São
Vicente filament area, which is one of the most developed and recurrent filaments
observed and has important implications in the biological and chemical exchanges
between the coastal and offshore ocean.
Research areas: ocean acoustic tomography/environmental monitoring

Laboratories: SiPLAB
External Partners: CINTAL, EST (UALG), CIMA, IH
Initiated: 1/October/2000
Expected Conclusion: 30/Setembro/2004
DOCUMENTS PRODUCED IN 2003
Felisberto P., Lopes C., Carmo A. and Jesus S.M., "Um sistema autónomo para tomografia
acústica oceânica", (abstract) submitted to Tecno Visão, EST, Universidade do Algarve,
November.
Soares C. and Jesus S.M., ``Range-dependent acoustic tomography: modeling an upwelling
filament using an asymmetric Gaussian function'', 05/03-SiPLAB Report, University of
Algarve, November.
Felisberto P., Lopes C., Carmo A., Jesus S.M. and Barbagelata A., "An autonomous system
for ocean acoustic tomography", accepted to Sea Technology, October.
Felisberto P., Jesus S.M., Stephan Y. and Demoulin X., "Shallow water tomography with a
sparse array during the INTIMATE'98 sea trial", Proc. MTS/IEEE Oceans'2003, San Diego
(USA), September.
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., "Blind Ocean Acoustic Tomography with Source Spectrum
Estimation", Int. Conf. on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, Honolulu,
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Hawaii (USA), August.

Corré V. And Jesus S.M., "Tracking of cold water upwelling filaments in the ocean using
matched field inversion", ACTA ACUSTICA united with ACUSTICA, Vol.89, pp. 604-613,
August.
Soares C. and Jesus S., ``Broadband Matched-Field Processing: coherent vs. incoherent
approaches'', Journal of Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 113(5), pp. 2587-2598, May.
Felisberto P., Lopes C. and Carmo A., "Ultra Light Vertical Array / Remote Data
Acquisition System", Rep. 03/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, April.
▬▬
Project name: "Source Localization with a Random Field of Sonobuoys in shallow water
(LOCAPASS)"
Project leader: Sergio M. Jesus

Project Web page: www.ualg.pt/siplab/proj/locapass/locapass.html
Project description: The LOCAPASS project aims at developing an integrated system for
passive source localization using a single or a small number of acoustic sensors. The
principle is based on using the environmental information as modelled by an acoustic
propagation model to discriminate a perturbation introduced by an active source. Previous
results have shown that: i) if the sound source has a relatively large time-bandwidth
product and ii) the environment is sufficiently known and stable, it is indeed possible
to obtain single sensor source localization in range and depth. Actual improvements on
the receiving system to provide some horizontal aperture and provide rough bearing
estimation as well.
Objectives:
• To study the feasibility of a single sensor source localization system.

• To develop a real system based on sonobouys.
• To experimentaly test the developed system prototype at sea.
Research areas: underwater signal processing/communications

External Partners: CINTAL, IH
Initiated: July 2001
Conclusion: July 2003
Jesus S.M., Soares C. and Silva A.J., “Acoustic Oceanographic Buoy testing during the
Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment 2003 sea trial” , Rep. 04/03, SiPLAB Report,
University of Algarve, October.
Martins N. and Jesus S.M., “A Time-Frequency blind channel estimator” , submitted to the
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, July.
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Project name: "Tomografia Passiva Costiera (TOMPACO)"
Project leader: Sergio M. Jesus

Project Web page: www.ualg.pt/siplab/proj/tompaco/tompaco.html
Project description: The main objective of this project is to develop a new method for
underwater acoustic tomography that uses as source signal the noise emitted by ships of
opportunity, received on vertical arrays distributed along the coast, with the objective
of measuring the water temperature and currents of oceanographic interest.
Research areas: ocean acoustic tomography

External Partners: DUNE(Italy), OGS (Italy), ENEA(Italy)
Initiated: 1/May/1999
Conclusion: 30/March/2003
De Marinis E., Crise A., Gasparini O., Jesus S., Picco P. and Salon S., “Passive Ocean
Acoustic Tomography: results from the INTIMATE'00 and TOMPACO projects”, EGS-AGU-EUG
Joint Assembly, Geophysical Research Abstracts, vol. 5, 01211, European Geophysical
Society, Nice, France, April.
Jesus S.M., “Model-based correlators: interesting cases in shallow water acoustics”, New
Acoustics Selected Topics, Ed. Ranz-Guerra and Gallego-Juarez, CSIC, Madrid (book
chapter), March.
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., “Tomografia Passiva Costiera (TOMPACO) - Inversion results with
passive data - Phase 3”, Rep. 02/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, March.
2 - THESES
THESES IN PROGRESS
DOCTORAL THESES
Student: Cristiano Soares

Research Area: Array Signal Processing in Underwater Acoustics
Title: Array processing for ocean acoustic tomography on range-dependent environments.
Advisor: Sergio M. Jesus
Initiated: February 2002
Expected conclusion: 2005
Current status: on going
Grant: Research Assistant fellowship under project ATOMS
Soares C. and Jesus S.M., “Range-dependent acoustic tomography: modeling an upwelling

filament using an asymmetric Gaussian function”, 05/03-SiPLAB Report, University of
Algarve, November.
Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment 2003 sea trial”, Rep. 04/03, SiPLAB Report,
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., “Tomografia Passiva Costiera (TOMPACO) - Inversion results with
passive data - Phase 3”, Rep. 02/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, March.
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., “Blind Ocean Acoustic Tomography with Source Spectrum
Estimation”, Int. Conf. on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, Honolulu,
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Hawaii (USA), August.
Soares C. and Jesus S., “Broadband Matched-Field Processing: coherent vs. incoherent
approaches”, Journal of Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 113(5), pp. 2587-2598, May.
▬▬
Student: Nelson Martins

Research Area: Signal Processing
Title: Oceanic parameter estimation using multi-dimensional representations of acoustic
signals
Date: September 2002
Grant: FCT doctoral fellowship
Martins N. and Jesus S.M., “A Time-Frequency blind channel estimator”, submitted to the
IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, July.
▬▬
Student: Antonio João Silva

Research Area: Underwater Acoustic Communications
Title: Environmentally robust methods for underwater acoustic communications
Date: July 2003
Grant: Teaching Assistant (PRODEP fellowship)
▬▬
Student: Paulo S. Felisberto
Research Area: Tomographic Data Assimilation
Title: Data Fusion Applied to Ocean Acoustic Tomography
Date: June 2000
Grant: Teaching Assistant (PRODEP fellowship)
Felisberto P., Lopes C., Carmo A. and Jesus S.M., “Um sistema autónomo para tomografia
acústica oceânica”, (abstract) submitted to Tecno Visão, EST, Universidade do Algarve,
November.
Felisberto P., Lopes C., Carmo A., Jesus S.M. and Barbagelata A., “An autonomous system
for ocean acoustic tomography”, accepted to Sea Technology, October.
Felisberto P., Jesus S.M., Stephan Y. and Demoulin X., “Shallow water tomography with a
sparse array during the INTIMATE'98 sea trial”, Proc. MTS/IEEE Oceans'2003, San Diego
(USA), September.
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Felisberto P., Lopes C. and Carmo A., “Ultra Light Vertical Array / Remote Data
Acquisition System”, Rep. 03/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, April.
3 - SERVICE ACTIVITIES
Programme and Technical Committees
S.M.Jesus - Int. Conf. on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, Honolulu, Hawaii

(USA), August.
Chairperson
S.M.Jesus - Int. Conf. on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, Honolulu, Hawaii

(USA), August.
Reviewers
S.M.Jesus -
• Journal of Acoustical Society of America
• IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering
• ICASSP'04
4 - ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES
S.M. Jesus - member of the Ph.D board of João Pedro Gomes (July 2002)
5 - DISTINGUISHED VISITORS
Dag Tollefsen, Norwegian Defence Res. Establishment, 9 Oct 2003.
6 - SPECIAL EVENTS
Field experiment: participation in the Maritime Rapid Environmental Assessment'03 sea

trial, organized by the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC), La Spezia (ITALY), from 18-
26 June, 2003, off the west coast of Italy, north of Elba I. This participation is made
under the AOB-Joint Research Project involving SiPLAB, NURC, ULB (Belgium) and RNLNC (The
Netherlands).
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7 – PUBLICATIONS
In International Journals
Felisberto P., Lopes C., Carmo A., Jesus S.M. and Barbagelata A., "An autonomous system
for ocean acoustic tomography", accepted to Sea Technology, October.
Corré V. and Jesus S.M., "Tracking of cold water upwelling filaments in the ocean using
matched field inversion", ACTA ACUSTICA united with ACUSTICA, Vol.89, pp. 604-613,
August.
Soares C. and Jesus S., ``Broadband Matched-Field Processing: coherent vs. incoherent
approaches'', Journal of Acoust. Soc. Am., vol. 113(5), pp. 2587-2598, May.
In International Conferences
Felisberto P., Jesus S.M., Stephan Y. and Demoulin X., "Shallow water tomography with a
sparse array during the INTIMATE'98 sea trial", Proc. MTS/IEEE Oceans'2003, San Diego
(USA), September.
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., "Blind Ocean Acoustic Tomography with Source Spectrum
Estimation", Int. Conf. on Theoretical and Computational Acoustics, Honolulu, Hawaii
(USA), August.
De Marinis E., Crise A., Gasparini O., Jesus S., Picco P. and Salon S., "Passive Ocean
Acoustic Tomography: results from the INTIMATE'00 and TOMPACO projects", EGS-AGU-EUG
Joint Assembly, Geophysical Research Abstracts, vol. 5, 01211, European Geophysical
Society, Nice, France, April.
Internal Reports (with international distribution list)
Soares C. and Jesus S.M., “Range-dependent acoustic tomography: modeling an upwelling

filament using an asymmetric Gaussian function”, 05/03-SiPLAB Report, University of
Algarve, November.
Felisberto P., Lopes C. and Carmo A., "Ultra Light Vertical Array / Remote Data
Acquisition System", Rep. 03/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, April.
Jesus S.M. and Soares C., "Tomografia Passiva Costiera (TOMPACO) - Inversion results with
passive data - Phase 3", Rep. 02/03, SiPLAB Report, University of Algarve, March.
8 - LABORATORY FACILITIES AND SERVICES
8.1 Common Facilities
University of Algarve common infrastructures:

*internet direct access (web and ftp servers, firewall, mail, etc...)
*computing facilities (Alpha 4 CPU midframe)
8.2 Laboratory Facilities
1 room with 7 research desks + electronics testing bench internal 100/1000 Mb computer
network w/router, NFS, printers, automatic backups, RAID5, etc...
1 vertical line array (16 hyd) + radio buoy + acquisition system + wireless lan
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1 remote buoy with vertical line array and wireless lan

1 260-900 Hz high power acoustic sound source (tomography)
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B. Center for Mineral Resources, Mineralogy, and Crystallography of the

Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (CREMINER-FCUL, abbv.
CREMINER)
B.1. Scientific Activity
Introduction
The year of 2003 was difficult for Creminer for a variety of reasons, some general and/or
well-known, others more specific. Among the latter we wish to mention, with great
pleasure and hope, that all Geology structures in the Faculty of Sciences of the
University of Lisbon, our institution, moved recently from various places to a new
building (named C6) where we now have laboratory and office spaces much better than ever
before in the whole history of the University of Lisbon. In a time of great difficulties,
this constitutes an invaluable opportunity to develop research in the future. However,
this represented a considerable burden to several researchers, especially Jorge MRS
Relvas. His effort was determinant in the successful completion of the labs and other
spaces. We are now actively involved in assembling labs and other research structures.
The much awaited re-equipment funding is our next target in this infrastructure effort.
B.1.1 The Prestige sinking and oil spill
In the framework of our contractual obligations as part of a Laboratório Associado,

Creminer paid maximal attention to the Prestige sinking and oil spill, given our
expertise in deep sea science. We followed the news with great attention and participated
in workshops on the case, (Faculty of Sciences, Lisbon and University of Porto, Faculty
of Engineering – in January and May respectively) analyzing the mitigation proposals and
testing the hypothesis that deep sea hydrothermal fauna (especially microbes) could be
useful to destroy the Prestige fuel oil, given its high sulphur content. This is being
done in the framework of project Seahma. Final results are not yet available.
B.1.2 Hydrothermal activity in the Azores area (MOMAR area) and Deep Sea Research
Work continued in the framework of project Seahma (see publications) hindered by

difficulties in obtaining ships and geophysical equipment for the Seahma-2 cruise at sea,
dedicated mostly to geophysics. This cruise had to be postponed to 2004. Meanwhile, we
were actively involved, in close co-operation with our partners at IMAR-DOP/UAçores, in
efforts to maintain and develop national and international interest in assembling a deep-
sea observatory in the MOMAR area. This resulted in international agreements to develop
an Eurocores project (under the auspices of the European Science Foundation). Nationally,
much effort was dedicated to the subject in the framework of a Working Group on Deep Sea
Research (Grupo de Trabalho em Investigação em Mar Profundo, GT-IMP) created in the
framework of Comissão Oceanográfica Intersectorial. As a result, the concept of a
permanent observatory is gaining supporters and there are reasons to believe that the
VIIth Framework Program (EU) will include provision for this.
Deep Sea research is also active in the field of gas hydrates – Creminer is beginning to
participate in this field as well, with a perspective related with the methane-
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producing hydrothermal fields such as Rainbow and Saldanha.
Also of great interest is the preparation of a workshop on the strategic development of

deep sea research in Portugal. These aspects (MOMAR, Gas Hydrates and Deep Sea Research
in general) have been included in the documents produced by the National Strategic
Commission on the Oceans (inaugurated in July 2003).
B.1.3 Integrated Ocean Drilling Program
Creminer continues to be actively involved in ODP/IODP, not only through publications

related to ODP Leg 193 (see list) but through participation in ESSAC (European Science
Support & Advisory Committee).
B.1.4 Research Exchanges with Japan
Creminer is actively involved in exchanges with Japan, in the areas of deep sea research
(deep biosphere and observatories) and on a more remote connection, that of the study and
remediation of sediment trapping in river dam reservoirs. Creminer research has shown
that sediments accumulated in the bottom of reservoirs can be extracted and used as soil
fertilizers; future research will also exploit the possibility of transferring the coarse
fraction of such sediments to the coast (directly or indirectly). The UNESCO Geological
Correlation Programme has approved the project. Partcipating countries are Portugal,
Brazil, Canada, Japan and China.
B.2 Research Projects

Research projects continuing from before are Seahma and Dream. Archymedes, was approved
in 2003, following an appeal against the negative decision of the original evaluation
panel.
B.3 Articles in international refereed publications
Published
Dias R., Mateus A., Ribeiro A. (2003). Strain partitioning in transpressive shear zones
in the southern branch of the Variscan Ibero-Armorican Arc. Geodinamica Acta, 16: 119-129
Fonseca RM, Fernando JAS Barriga, WS Fyfe, 2003. Dam Reservoir Sediments as Fertilizers
and Artificial Soils. Case Studies from Portugal and Brazil. Proc. International
Symposium of the Kanazawa University 21st Century COE Program, pp 55-62
Jesus A., Mateus A., Waerenborgh J.C., Figueiras J., Cerqueira Alves L., Oliveira V.
(2003). Hypogene titanian, vanadian maghemitic in reworked oxide cumulates in the Beja
layered gabbro complex (Odivelas, Southeastern Portugal). Canadian Mineralogist 41:1105-
1124
Michel JL, M Klages, FJAS Barriga, Y Fouquet, M Sibuet, PM Sarradin, P Siméoni, JF

Drogou, 2003. Victor 6000: design, utilization and first improvements. Proceedings Isope,
I:7-14
Miranda J. M., P. F. Silva, N. Lourenço, B. Henry, R. Costa and Saldanha Team. Study of
the Saldanha massif (MAR, 36º34'N): Constrains from rock magnetic and geophysical data
(2003). Marine Geophysical Research (incl. FJAS Barriga and AS Dias)
Rosa DRN, Romberger SB, 2003. Fluid evolution in the Jales gold district, northern
Portugal. International Geology Review, v. 45, 7, p. 646-658
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Accepted for publication
Gonçalves, M. A. and Figueiras, J. – Cu adsorption kinetics onto illite surfaces: a flow

through reactor study. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 11(S1): A133
Gonçalves, M. A., Nogueira, J. M. F., Figueiras, J., Putnis, C. V. and Almeida, C. -

Base-metals and organic content in stream sediments in the vicinity of a landfill.
Applied Geochemistry, 19: 137-141
Pinto, A.M.M., Barriga, F.J.A.S., and Scott, S.D. Data report: Sulfide and oxide mineral
chemistry of an active backarc hydrothermal system: PACMANUS, ODP Holes 1188A, 1188F,
1189A, and 1189B. In Barriga, F.J.A.S., Binns, R.A., Miller, D.J., and Herzig, P.M.
(Eds.), Proc. ODP, Sci. Results, 193, 1–31 [Online]. Available from World Wide Web:
<http:// www-odp.tamu.edu/publications/ 193_SR/VOLUME/CHAPTERS/ 203.PDF>
Relvas, J.M.R.S., Barriga, F.J.A.S., Ferreira, A., Noiva, P.C., Pacheco, N. Barriga, G.
Hydrothermal alteration, replacement ore-forming mechanisms, chemical evolution and syn
and post-ore deformation in the Corvo orebody, Portugal, Economic Geology.
Rosa DRN, Inverno CMC, Oliveira VMJ, Rosa CJP. Geochemistry of volcanic rocks, Albernoa
area, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Portugal. International Geology Review, v. 46, 4, p. 366-383
Silva P.F., Marques F.O., Henry B., Mateus A., Lourenço N., Miranda J.M. (2003).
Preliminary results of a study of magnetic properties in the Foum-Zguid Dyke (Morocco).
Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. (in press)
Tornos F., Inverno C.M.C., Casquet C., Mateus A., Ortiz G., Oliveira V. Metallogenic
evolution of the Ossa Morena Zone. Journal of Iberian Geology.
B.4 Articles in national refereed publications
Published
Mateus A., Gonçalves M.A., Marques F.O., Monteiro Santos F. (2003). Multi-scale
geometrical analysis of fracture networks in granite massifs and its application to
landfill site selection. “A Geologia de Engenharia e os Recursos Geológicos”, Coimbra
2003, Homenagem ao Professor J. M. Cotelo Neiva, Vol. 1 Geologia de Engenharia, Imprensa
da Universidade, 79-91
Rosa DRN, Romberger SB, 2003. Isotopic constraints on the classification of the Jales Au
district, northern Portugal, in: Ferreira, M.P., A Geologia de Engenharia e os Recursos
Geológicos, vol. II, Universidade de Coimbra, p. 31-43
Accepted for Publication
Barriga F. J.A.S., 2004. Hydrothermal Activity at The Mid-Atlantic Ridge In The Azores
Region: Lessons Concerning Old Massive Sulphide Deposits. Revista Univ. Açores
Lourenço J., Mateus A., Coke C., Ribeiro A. - The Penacova-Régua-Verín fault zone in the
Telões region (Vila Pouca de Aguiar); some determinant features of its evolution in late
Variscan times. Comunicações do IGM
Extended abstracts in conference proceedings
Asada R, K Tazaki, H Kimura, A Masta, FJAS Barriga, 2003. Transmission Electron

Microscopic Observation of Drilling Microbiological Core Samples from a Deep Seafloor
Hydrothermal Vent Field. Proc. International Symposium of the Kanazawa University 21st
Century COE Program, pp 294-299
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Barroso M., Figueiras J., Alves L., Mateus A. - Chemical nature of Ag-bearing
tetrahedrites from the Enfermarias prospect (Moura, Portugal) revealed by EPMA and micro-
PIXE analysis. III Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica.
Barroso M., Figueiras J., Cerqueira L., Mateus A. (2003). Chemical nature of Ag-bearing
tetrahedrites from the Enfermarias prospect (Moura, Portugal) revealed by EPMA and micro-
PIXE analysis. IV Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica, Coimbra (Portugal): 50-52
Barroso M., Mateus A., Figueiras J., Martins R., Oliveira V. (2003). Mineralogy and
geochemical characteristics of different superimposed mineralisations at the Enfermarias
prospect (Moura, Portugal). VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia, Lisboa (Portugal),
Ciências da Terra (UNL), Lisboa, nº esp. V, CD-ROM: F9-F12.
Costa IA, FJAS Barriga, Y Fouquet, 2003. Hydrothermal alteration of the basalts from
Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen hydrothermal fields (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Azores). VI
Congresso Nacional de Geologia.
Fonseca R, FJAS Barriga, 2003. Assoreamento de albufeiras e utilização agrícola dos

materiais depositados: uma estratégia ambientalmente correcta para recuperar e fertilizar
solos pobres/degradados. VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia.
Fonseca R, FJAS Barriga, 2003. Dos solos para os lagos artificiais: transformações
mineralógicas e químicas dos materiais depositados. VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia.
Jesus A., Mateus A., Gonçalves M.A., Oliveira V. (2003). Cu anomaly separation by
multifractal modelling of soil geochemistry data from Ferreira do Alentejo to Serpa
(Alentejo, Portugal). IV Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica, Coimbra (Portugal): 205-207
Jesus A., Mateus A., Oliveira V. - Geological setting and magnetite-ore genesis at the
Corujeiras prospect (Beja, Portugal). VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia. Martins R.,
Mateus A., Figueiras J., Barroso M., Oliveira V. - Post-metamorphic evolution of the
Lower Cambrian section at Enfermarias (Moura, Portugal): its record and metallogenic
implications. VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia.
Jesus A., Mateus A., Oliveira V., Munhá J. (2003). Ore-forming systems in the layered
gabbroic sequence of the Beja Igneous Complex (Ossa-Morena Zone, Portugal); state of the
art and future perspectives. SGA Meeting Mineral Exploration and Sustainable Development,
Atenas (Grécia), Demetrios G. Eliopoulos et al. eds., Millpress, Rotterdam, vol. 1: 591-
594
Jesus A., Mateus A., Oliveira V. (2003). Geological setting and magnetite-ore genesis at
the Corujeiras prospect (Beja, Portugal). VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia, Lisboa
(Portugal) , Ciências da Terra (UNL), Lisboa, nº esp. V, CD-ROM: F45-F48.
Martins R., Mateus A., Figueiras J., Barroso M., Oliveira V. (2003). Post-metamorphic
evolution of the Lower Cambrian section at Enfermarias (Moura, Portugal): its record and
metallogenic implications. VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia, Lisboa (Portugal) ,
Ciências da Terra (UNL), Lisboa, nº esp. V, CD-ROM: B60-B63.
Martins R., Mateus A., Figueiras J., Oliveira V. (2003). Geochemistry of the polyphase
metasomatism recorded by volcanic-sedimentary rocks adjoining base metal ores at the
Enfermarias prospect (Moura, Portu-gal). IV Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica, Coimbra
(Portugal): 202-204.
Marques AFA, FJAS Barriga, Y Fouquet, 2003. Co: Ni ratio variation throughout the Rainbow
hydrothermal system. 7th Biennial SGA Meeting - Mineral Exploration and Sustainable
Development - Athens 2003.
Mateus A., Conceição P., Figueiras J., Oliveira V. - Carbonate dissolution and
precipitation during hydrothermal processes in Palaeozoic marbles of the Moura region and
its relation to the "owl-eye" facies development. III Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica.
Mateus A., Conceição P., Figueiras J., Oliveira V. (2003). Carbonate dissolution and
precipitation during hydrothermal processes in Palaeozoic marbles of the Moura region and
its relation to the “owl-eye” facies development”. IV Congresso Ibérico de Geoquímica,
Coimbra (Portugal) pp 53-55.
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Mateus A., Figueiras J., Oliveira V., Matos J.X. (2003). Recrystallised (Fe-)Zn-Pb ores
of the Portel-Ficalho region (Ossa Morena Zone, Portugal) VI Congresso Nacional de
Geologia, Lisboa (Portugal) , Ciências da Terra (UNL), Lisboa, nº esp. V, CD-ROM: F86-
F89.
Mateus A., Matos J.X., Rosa C., Oliveira V. (2003). Cu-ores in quartz-carbonate veins at
Estremoz-Alandroal and Barrancos-Sto Aleixo regions (Ossa Morena Zone): a result of Late-
Variscan hydrothermal activity. VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia, Lisboa (Portugal) ,
Ciências da Terra (UNL), Lisboa, nº esp. V, CD-ROM: F90-F93.
Matos JX, FJAS Barriga, VMJ Oliveira, 2003. Alunite veins versus supergene
kaolinite/halloysite alteration in the Lagoa Salgada, Algares and S. João (Aljustrel) and
S. Domingos massive sulphide deposits, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Portugal. VI Congresso
Nacional de Geologia.
Pinto AMM, FJAS Barriga, SD Scott, S Roberts, 2003. PACMANUS: The subsurface
sulfide/oxide/gold mineralization. 7th Biennial SGA Meeting - Mineral Exploration and
Sustainable Development - Athens 2003.
Ribeiro da Costa I, FJAS Barriga, R Taylor, 2003. Late seafloor carbonate precipitation
in serpentinites from the Rainbow and Mount Saldanha sites, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. VI
Congresso Nacional de Geologia, In: Ciências da Terra, Special Volume V - VI Congresso
Nacional de Geologia, p. 23. Dept. Ciências da Terra, Fac. Ciências e Tecnologia,
Universidade Nova de Lisboa.
Rosa DRN, 2003. Evolução do fluido mineralizante no distrito aurífero de Jales. Ciências
da Terra, Volume Especial 5 (VI Congresso Nacional de Geologia), B97-B100.
Extended abstracts in conference proceedings – Accepted
Barriga FJAS, Binns R, Miller J, Shipboard Scientific Party, 2004. Leg 193: The Third
Dimension Of A Felsic-Hosted, Massive Sulphide Hydrothermal System In A Back-Arc Basin
(Pacmanus, Papua New Guinea). 32nd International Geological Congress, Florence (includes
A. Pinto)
Marques A.F.A., F.J.A.S. Barriga, 2004. Geology, mineralogy and chemistry of a modern
ultramafic rock-hosted massive sulfide deposit Rainbow Vent Field, (36º14’N; 33º54’W).
SEG 2004, Perth, Australia.
Pinto A, JFW Bowles, M Benzaazoua, P. Marion, A. Ferreira and FJAS Barriga, 2004. Gold
Mineralization at the Neves Corvo Ore Deposit, Portugal. 32nd International Geological
Congress, Florence.
Abstracts in conference proceedings
Ribeiro da Costa, I., Barriga, F.J.A.S., Viti, C., Mellini, M. & Wicks, F.J. (2003) -
Complex Serpentine Textures In Serpentinites From The Mid-Atlantic Ridge: A Transmission
Electron Microscopy Study. . Résumés des Journées Thématiques Serpentines, Mével C.,
Baronnet A., Boullier A.M., Devouard B., Fuchs Y. & Guillot S. (eds.), SFMC et SGF.
Paris, 20-21 Nov. 2003.
Silva P., Marques F.O., Henry B., Coelho S., Mateus A., Miranda J.M. (2003). Detailed
AMS study of a major tectonic contact in the Variscides (Morais Massif, NW Iberia). 3º
Simpósio de Meteorologia e Geofísica, Associação Portuguesa de Meteorologia e Geofísica,
4º Encontro Luso-Espanhol de Meteorologia, Aveiro (Portugal): 38.
Silva P.F., Miranda J.M., Marques F.O., Henry B., Mateus A., Lourenço N. (2003). Magnetic
properties of the Foum-Zguid dyke (South Marocco). Eos Trans. AGU, 84(46), Fall Meet.
Sppl., S.Francisco (EUA), Abstract GP11D-0285.
Abstracts in conference proceedings - Accepted
Barriga F.J.A.S., A.S.A. Dias, A. F. A. Marques, J.M.R.S. Relvas, J.M. Miranda,
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G. Queiroz, N. Lourenço, A. Ferreira, Y. Fouquet, S. Iyer and the Saldanha and Seahma1
teams, 2004. Mount Saldanha Revisited: Low-Temperature Methane Discharge Through a
Sediment-Capped Serpentinite Protrusion (MoMAR Area, Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 36º30’N).
European Geosciences Union 1st General Assembly, Nice, France, 25 - 30 April 2004
Batista M.J., Ferreira A., Rosa DRN, Martins LP, Serrano Pinto M, 2004, Geochemical
mapping in Portugal: A comparison study. Abstracts of the 32nd International Geological
Congress, Florença, Itália. (in press).
Ribeiro A., Pereira E., Dias R., Fonseca P., Mateus A., Araújo A., Chaminé H., Coke C.,
Romão J., Rosas F. (2004). Geodynamic evolution of SW Europe Variscides. EUG, Nice
(France).
Rosa DRN, Inverno CMC, Oliveira VMJ, Rosa CJP, 2004, Geochemistry of volcanic rocks,
Albernoa area, Iberian Pyrite Belt, Portugal. Abstracts of the 32nd International
Geological Congress, Florença, Itália. (in press).
Other Publications
Barriga F.J.A.S. (2003). Hidrotermalismo submarino e ambiente. Ambiente21, nº 11, pp 44-

47.
Tornos, F., Relvas, J.M.R.S., Ruiz de Almodóvar, G. (eds.) (2003): Field Trip Guide. "The
geology of the volcanic-hosted massive sulphides of the Iberian Pyrite Belt". GEODE -
Global Comparison Massive Sulphide Project. April 2003.
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C. IMAR / Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University of

the Azores – IMAR-DOP/UAçores (abbv. IMAR)
C1. Scientific Activity
Introduction
The conservation of marine life and the sustainable use of living resources in the North-
East Atlantic Ocean are the main objectives of the research and outreach activities of
the Centre of IMAR of the University of the Azores (IMAR-DOP/UAç). Those objectives are
shared with the news generations of young students and newly graduated researchers in
marine sciences that integrate IMAR-DOP/UAç.
The Northeast Atlantic, and in particular the Azores Region, is an area of international
interest for oceanographic, fisheries and biodiversity studies. The members of IMAR-
DOP/UAç have been involved on the development of different activities within these
fields, in a multidisciplinary effort to integrate the research for a better
understanding of the dynamics of this region, and its biological, physical, chemical and
geological backgrounds. The knowledge acquired aim at a sustainable management of the
ecosystems of the region.
There is an effort to emphasize the national and international capability of the

University of the Azores on ocean studies. With this objective in mind several protocols
and partnerships were signed with others institutions dedicated to marine science
research.
IMAR network and the Associated Laboratory are part of an effort of opening horizons,
framing research activities in larger partnerships. This is emphasizing with the presence
of a large set of visting scientists that visit IMAR-DOP/UAç and have worked here over
the past years.
The IMAR-DOP/UAç team grew during this period, with the integration of 11 Post-docs,
several PhD students and graduate staff, all as non-permanent. The new members of IMAR-
DOP/UAç came from different places in the world (Portugal, UK, Holland, Italy, France,
India, Russia, Belgium and Hungary) and are contributing to improve the following fields
of research: molecular genetics, eco-toxicology, satellite oceanography, physical
oceanography, fisheries dynamics, seabird ecology, behavioural ecology, etc.
IMAR-DOP/UAç has at its service the R/V “Arquipélago” (28 metres length), the L/V “Águas-
Vivas” (11 metres length) and four other small coastal outboard engine boats. These
platforms are an advantage in the organization of annual cruises and other teamwork. The
localization of the IMAR-DOP/UAç near harbour of Horta and, consequently, easy access to
the ocean, is also an advantage in oceanic studies.
In fact the research vessel, the biological, chemical and oceanographic equipment, and
local environmental data (hydrologic, biologic and from fisheries) can be easily acquired
for the validation and incorporation in models. These capacities were improved with the
acquisition of new equipment, the high-resolution satellite reception antenna (HRPT).
This satellite receives data on sea surface temperature (SST - NOAA) and ocean colour
(SeaWiFS). These improvements were a major technological and scientific
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improvement together with the implementation of a new international laboratory for the
study of hydrothermal vents – LabHorta, June 2001.
This centre supports and helps pure and applied research. It is highly involved in co-
operation activities with public and private institutions from Portugal and other
countries, including universities, research centres and institutes, enterprises and
professional associations. Since 2001 IMAR-DOP/UAç is one of the partners, together with
ISR Lx; EI - IST; IMAR-DOP/UAç and CREMINER-FCUL of the Associated Laboratory ISR-Lisboa.
IMAR-DOP/UAç also carry out services for industry and public administration. It is
maintained an effort for the promotion and divulgation of his research activities in
media (national and international newspapers, radios and televisions stations), in
museums, in school system and by internet (IMAR-DOP/UAç homepage: www.horta.uac.pt,
IntraDOP: www.intradop.info, Fórum Oceanos: www.pg.raa.pt/oceanos, and several project
projects: e.g. www.macmar.info).
Research activities are part of European programs (LIFE, DG-Fisheries, DG-Research),

national programs (FCT, PRAXIS, POCTI, PDCTM, PDCTE), regional programs (PRADIC) and
bilateral co-operation with the USA (FLAD, NASA, NSF and CoML).
This Research Unit will initiate in 2004 four new contracts in the scope of the European
Commission 6th Framework program for research: MARBEF, EXOCET/D, MoMARNET, and EMPAFISH.
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Highlights: Synthesis of Relevant Accomplishments
1. LabHorta - A Land-based Laboratory for Deep Sea Studies
The set up of a land-based laboratory at a research centre within the Azores archipelago
(LABHORTA), within close proximity to active deep-sea vent sites, which are able to be
kept supplied with live animals was a major conceptual and technical breakthrough in both
vent and deep-sea research in general and allowed to extend in vivo studies over a longer
period than the cruises themselves. This concept first proposed in the first MoMAR
workshop in 1998 (Santos et al. 1998) and made possible during the VENTOX (Sarradin et
al. 2002) project. LABHORTA has been, since then supplied with live animals from
acoustically retrievable cages (Dixon et al. 2001).
12 h
Menez Gwen
25 h
37 h
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LabHorta was planned as an onshore laboratory that allows live specimens to be

transported either from summer research cruises or from year long acoustic retrievable
devices, thus providing scientists with specimens collected from their natural
environment at different times of the year.
LabHorta proved its feasibility with respect to supporting land-based functional
facilities, and significantly contributed to the general goal of permanent land based
observatories on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MoMAR project). This facility allows work on
shore on samples from the deep-sea at different periods of the year, thus increasing the
available data and the number of scientists who can profit from the investment made for a
summer cruise. In addition, by expanding the time window, LabHorta already has allowed
new discoveries on the life history of deep sea vent organism. The installation of
LabHorta on Faial Island has tremendous socio-economic relevance to the development and
maintenance of Portuguese and International science.
It has proved to be a good facility for experiments with hydrothermal vent animals
(particularly molluscs), as well as for helping with the logistics of cruises that are
performed in the Azores area. Further, LabHorta is located less than 200 miles from Lucky
Strike and Menez Gwen hydrothermal vent fields, which are in the process of being
considered marine protected areas (MPAs) under the OSPAR framework.
Dixon D.; Dando, P.; Santos R. S.; Gwynn, J., 2001. Retrievable cages open up new era in deep-sea
vent research. InterRidge News 10 (2): 21-23.
Dixon, David R., P.M. Sarradin, L. R. J. Dixon, A. Khripounoff, A. Colaço & R. S. Santos 2002.
Towards unravelling the enigma of vent mussel reproduction on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, or when ATOS
met Cages! InterRidge News, Vol. 11(1): 14-17
Santos, R. S., J. Goncalves & F. Porteiro 1998. Appendix C: A Biological Laboratory in the island of
Faial, Azores. In: Proceedings of the InterRidge Workshop: Long-Term MOnitoring of the Mid-Atlantic
Ridge "MOMAR", Museu de Ciência, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal, 28-31 October 1998.
2. Wide operations of the R/V “Arquipélago”.
The R/V “Arquipélago” has been involved in a variety of missions.

It is intensively used for fisheries survey cruises (monitoring, tagging and new fish
resources) in Azores and Madeira, financed by the Regional Government and INTERREG III B
program (projects ORPAM 1 and PESCPROF 1). This
activity and the resulting studies support the
stock assessment and the fisheries management
policy of the RAA. It has been involved in
exploratory fishing and international co-
operation in Cape Verde. And in the EC project
OASIS, both on fish studies and oceanographic
missions with deployment and recovery of
instrumentation on the Sedlo and Seine
seamounts.
It operated as support vessel to a series of
missions involving AUVs, namely the ARIES, from
the Naval Post Graduate School of Monterey,
USA, and the INFANTE from ISR-Lisboa.
Arquipélago was involved in several missions to
recover the deep-sea retrieval cages at Menez Gwen and fisheries at Lucky Strike,
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under the scope of VENTOX and SEAHMA (Dixon 2002).
This ship was also adapted in the summer of 2003 to accommodate a MultiBeam Sonar of the
University of Cardiff in view to study the shelves of the islands of Faial, Pico and S.
Jorge (Mitchell 2003).
In 2002 and 2004 was involved, in collaboration with IGM (National Geological Survey) in
the mapping of sand banks around Pico and S. Miguel for the project GEMAS and MARINOVA,
being adapted to accommodate the acoustics equipments CHIRP and BOOMER. It was proceed to
dredging with corers for the same projects.
In 2002 was involved in a mission to the underwater volcano of Serreta under the scope of
project STAMINA of the University of Lisbon, The operation being continued this year.
Besides this the R/V “Arquipélago” has been involved in minor missions. Like the annual
survey of shallow offshore banks as a logistic support for scuba diving and education,
training and outreach (e.g. graduate students, high school students, students of the
professional school of Horta, and visitors, including elderly). I suspect that these last
years “Arquipélago” must have been the Portuguese research vessel with higher number days
in mission at sea.
It is a platform that proves to serve a series of institution both national and
international.
Dixon D.; Dando, P.; Santos R. S.; Gwynn, J., 2001. Retrievable cages open up new era in deep-sea
vent research. InterRidge News 10 (2): 21-23.
Mitchell, N.C., T. Schmitt, E. Isidro, F. Tempera, F. Cardigos, J.C. Nunes & J. Figueiredo 2003.
Multibeam sonar survey of the central Azores volcanic islands. InterRidge News, 12(2): 30-32.
3. Installation of a SeaWiFS station together with NASA and NOAA
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protocols for satellite oceanography (Sea Surface Temperature and Ocean

Colour)
The High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) receiving and processing station for
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view
Sensor (SeaWiFS) satellite sensors installed in the Azores (HAZO station) is a key tool
to study the variability and trends of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Ocean Colour
(OC) in the NE Atlantic. Furthermore, it provides coupled physical/biological information
relevant for the sustainable development of this complex oceanographic region.
Subpolar HAZO location and

Gyre range (adapted from
<http://seawifs.gsfc.n
asa.gov/cgi/hrpt_stati
on_info.pl?S=AZO>)
Gulf Stream
HAZO
Azores Azores
Current Archipelago
Subtropical
Gyre
Antenna & HAZO Processing room

computer (IMAR-Azores)
. HAZO station location and North Atlantic
circulation patterns
(Observatório Príncipe Alberto do
Mónaco, Faial, Azores)
The HAZO station has been installed in the framework of project DETRA (RAA-SRAPA/DRP-
DETRA-2000-2003: Implemention of Remote Sensing Technics in the Azores). Since 4th April
2001, the HAZO station daily receives SeaWiFS and AVHRR images from SeaStar, NOAA-12, -14
and -16, respectively. NOAA-17 is recorded since 22nd July 2002. Image processing
routines from the reception to the delivery of geophysical data is automated (Figueiredo
et al. 2004). Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) and chlorophyll a concentrations (chl a).
Remnant cloudiness present in NOAA imagery is cleaned (Lafon et al., 2003). HAZO images
have already proven essential to understand the productivity and ocean dynamics in the
Azores region.
Under the scope of project DETRA and ORPAM 1 (INTERREG IIIb MAC/4.2/A1), SST patterns,
variability and associated dominant space and time scales in the Azores (including the
Azores Front and Azores Current) have been defined (Melo-Rodrigues et al., 2003; Lafon
et al., 2004; Martins et al., 2004). These investigations emphasise the dual influence
of the Gulf Stream and the Azores Current in this region. The SST anomaly field shows
that the Mid-Atlantic ridge forms a barrier for heat exchange between the western and
the eastern subtropical North Atlantic basins (Bashmachnikov et al., 2004). Finally, the
impact of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) forcing on SST distribution has been
demonstrated (Bashmachnikov et al., 2003).
Under the scope of OASIS project (EVK3-CT-2002-00073: OceAnic Seamounts: an Integrated

Study), HAZO imagery has been used to illustrate the biomass and distribution of
phytoplankton around Seine and Sedlo Seamounts (Couto, 2004).
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Under the scope of OPALINA (PDCTE/CTA/49965/2003: Ocean Dynamics and related Productivity
of the Northeast Subtropical AtLantIc Near the Azores region using ENVISAT, ERS, SeaWiFS,
NOAA, and in situ data), it is expected to use HAZO imagery together with altimetry data
and other OC and SST sensors to achieve the description of the circulation in the Azores,
and highlight the link between physical and biological processes. Finally, HAZO imagery
has been used for providing MAR-ECO (“Patterns and processes of the ecosystems of the
northern Mid-Atlantic”) cruise with near real-time SST maps of the North Atlantic.
The installation of HAZO HRPT satellite receiving station has wide socio-economic
repercussions and it has already demonstrated its impact on the national and
international scientific research.
Bashmachnikov, I., Lafon, V. and Martins, A., 2003. SST distribution in the Azores. Part II: Space
and time variability and its relation to North Atlantic Oscillation. Arquipélago. In review.
Bashmachnikof, I., Lafon, V. and Martins, A., 2004. SST stationary anomalies in the Azores region.
Remote Sensing of Ocean and Sea Ice, 13-17 September, 2004, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain,
Accepted.
Couto, A, 2004. Estudo da Variabilidade Superficial em Mesoscala dos Montes Submarinos Sedlo e Seine
(Nordeste Atlântico) Através da Utilização de Imagens de Satélite NOAA (SST) e SeaStar (OC).
Undergraduate Thesis (Licenciatura), University of the Azores.
Figueiredo, M. Castellanos, P., Martins, A., Mendonça, A., Macedo, L., Melo-Rodrigues, M., Lafon, V.
and Goulart, N., 2004. A software package for automated AVHRR and SeaWiFS acquisition and
processing, Interim progress report, Arquivos do DOP, Série Relatórios Interno nº3/2004.
Lafon, V., Martins, A., Bashmachnikof, I., Jose, F., Melo-Rodriguez, M., Figueiredo, M., Mendonça,
A. and Macedo, L., 2004. SST variability in the Azores region using AVHRR imagery: regional to local
scale study. Remote Sensing of Ocean and Sea Ice, 13-17 September, 2004, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria,
Spain, Accepted.
Lafon, V., Martins, A., Bashmachnikov, I., Melo-Rodriguez, M. and Figueiredo, M., 2003. Sea surface
temperature spatio-temporal variability in the Azores using a new technique to remove invalid
pixels. In Remote Sensing of Ocean and Sea Ice, Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 5233, 89-97.
Martins, A., Bashmachnikof, I., Lafon, V., Mendonça, A., Jose, F., Figueiredo, M. and Macedo, L.,
2004. Discovering the Azores Front/Current System with SeaWiFS Imagery. Remote Sensing of Ocean and
Sea Ice, 13-17 September, 2004, Maspalomas, Gran Canaria, Spain, Accepted.
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4. International new projects/ new initiatives
¾ Two CoML programs: MARECO & ChEss

¾ Tow projects under EC 5FP: OASIS, FEMES
¾ Four projects under EC 6FP: EXOCET.D, MARBEF, MoMARNET and EMPAFISH.
The scientific staff of IMAR-DOP/UAç has strengthen the involvement in international

projects. It deserves to be highlighted that this research unity will initiate in 2004
four new projects funded, under the scope of the 6 Framework Program, by the EC
Directorate Research. These are:
GLOBAL 1 – P505342 - EXOCET/D – Extreme ecosystem studies in the deep ocean:

technological developments (STREP).
GLOBAL 1 – P505446 - MARBEF – Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning

(Network of Excellence).
RTN - MoMARNET – Monitoring deep sea floor hydrothermal environments on the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge: A Marie Curie Research Training Network.
SSP3 – P006539 EMPAFISH – European marine protected areas as tools for fisheries
management and conservation.
with a relevant role in each of them.
5. Participation In several national and international commissions and

steering committees.
¾ Intersectorial Oceanographic Commission - Lisbon

¾ Consulting Council of the Strategic Commission of the Oceans - Lisbon
¾ National Commission for Ship Time - Lisbon
¾ Scientific Council for Marine Sciences and Environment – FCT/MCES - Lisbon
¾ Delegate for the Committee of Research Infrastructures 6FP - Brussels
¾ Delegate at the European Strategy Forum for Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)–
Brussels
¾ Member of the Ad-Hoc Group on Marine Research Infrastructures (ESFRI)
¾ ICCAT – President of the Group of Research and Statistics (Madrid)
¾ Member of the Steering Committee InterRidge
¾ Member of the Steering Committee MAR-ECO/CoML
¾ Member of the Steering Committee ChEss/CoML
¾ Co-opted member of the Steering Committee of MARS
¾ Chair of MoMAR/ InterRidge
¾ Chair of the Working Group of Monitoring and Observatories – InterRidge
¾ ICES – WG of Deep Water Biology and Assessment
¾ ICES - Study Group of Elasmobranches
¾ OSPAR - Committee of Biodiversity
¾ Regional Council of Fisheries
¾ Regional Council of Environment
¾ Regional Council of Fisheries Inspection
¾ Regional Council of Science and Technology
6. Activities of scientific dissemination and outreach
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IMAR-DOP/UAç is strongly involved in activities of out-reach and education.

It established and explores an Interpretation Centre on Marine Protected Areas of the
Azores. It is now preparing an up-grade of that centre that will be dedicated to the
Habitats and Biodiversity of the Azores Triple Junction.
Edits a Newsletter entitle “Mar Salgado” with 1000 copies, which will now increase to
2000 due to the high demand. Keeps collaboration with two monthly Portuguese magazines:
“Mundo Submerso” (dedicated to submarine activities and 12k copies per month) and
“Saber/Açores” (regional magazine focused in the Azores with 15k copies per month),
providing popular papers on marine life and marine research issues. Occasionally,
collaborates with other magazines like “Super-Interessante”, “National Geographic-
Portugal”, “Visão”, “Fórum Ambiente”, etc.
Collaborates with national and regional public television in programs like “Ilhas Vivas”
(1989: a six episodes series on marine life of the Azores, )“Maré-Viva” (6 programs:
2003)), “Bombordo” (4 programs: 90’s) “Planeta Azul” (3 programs: 90’s) and “Mar-à-Vista”
(15 programs: 2003-2004). In relation to this last one with advising and co-production.
It edited along the years several information and didactic material in many distinct
formats (leaflets, brochures, T-shirts, posters, flyers, etc), including a Didactic Kit
to schools (2002), a DVD on marine conservation (2004) for the general public, and users
manuals (2003).
IMAR-DOP/UAç promotes around 25 initiatives per year for high schools, professional
schools, local administration bodies (Câmaras Municipais, Juntas de Freguesia), fisheries
associations, tourist enterprises and other stakeholders. Almost 2000 persons are
directly involved in these actions.
IMAR-DOP/UAç has two people permanently allocated to outreach and education activities.
At the same time it manages the ImagDOP, a section of image and multimedia, and several
web sites: e.g. www.horta.uac.pt, www.intradop.info, www.popa.info and www.macmar.info.
7. Support to management policies of the Regional Government of the

Azores
¾ 15 proposals of management plans of the Sites of Conservation Importance

(NATURA 2000 Network)
¾ 13 proposals of management plans for the Special Protection Areas (NATURA 2000
Network)
¾ 2 proposals for the exploration and management of the sand banks around the
Island of Faial and the island of Pico. The one for S. Miguel expected to be
concluded in 2004
¾ proposals for fisheries (coastal and demersal) management
¾ assessment and advising concerning the regional impact of the Common Fisheries
Policy in the Azores.
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Mapping, Managing and Conserving the Marine Habitats, Biodiversity and

Living Resources in the Azores: A Holistic Approach
1 - Background
The Archipelago of the Azores consists of nine volcanic islands and several small islets
in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, forming three groups along a tectonic zone
running WNW-ESE between 37º and 40ºN latitude, 25º and 32º W longitude. Both the
terrestrial and marine environments of the Azores and its surrounding Economic Exclusion
Zone (EEZ) of more than 1 million square kilometres are of considerable conservation and
biological interest, mostly due to its geographical isolation and to the recent
geological age of the Archipelago.
The Azores were inhabited until the Portuguese colonization in the 15th Century. Many
endemic species of terrestrial plants are believed to have suffered from the influence of
human activities soon after the settlement, particularly from agriculture and introduced
exotic plants. On sea, and despite its isolation, the marine environment of the Azores
has also been considerably affected by the increasing human activity. The subsequent
ecological deterioration, especially during the last two decades, led to the adoption of
various isolated legislative measures for the conservation of marine species and
habitats. However, lacking an integrated approach, such measures resulted in the absence
of effective regulation, management and enforcement of the activities taking place in
protected areas. More recently, regional conservation benefited from a new strategic
perspective. With the application of the EC “Birds” and “Habitats” Directives in the
Azores and resulting designation of 18 Sites of Community Interest (SCIs) and 13 Special
Protection Areas (SPAs) in coastal and marine habitats, conservation benefited from a new
strategic perspective. With a view to prevent what has happened with previous scattered
measures, it became of paramount importance to promote and implement an integrated
management program, one which can balance conservation and management goals for the
different components of local coastal environments.
2 – The Natura 2000 and Beyond
In 1998, under the frame of an EU-LIFE project, it was possible to initiate the
elaboration of a set of management plans for a complex of areas and species that were
already favoured by disperse legal measures. Three different levels of approach were
considered: littoral habitats; seabirds; cetaceans and marine turtles.
The program followed a course of action that included (1) scientific inventory of
ecological and socio-economical features, (2) elaboration of regulation plans, (3) public
inquiry, (4) preparation of management plans and finally (5) the implementation of
specific management measures.
Five SCIs representative of different ecological and socio-economical contexts were

chosen as key case studies. The island of Corvo stands as an illustrative example for the
development of the general objectives of the project. The smallest island of the
archipelago, Corvo exhibits a well preserved coastal environment and only 400
inhabitants. Furthermore, this small population is highly receptive to proposals for
environmental conservation that can promote local development and maintain local
traditions as to the sea use. Therefore, Corvo gathers unique conditions for the
development and implementation of a sustainable management plan. On the contrary, SCIs
located on the coastal and marine environment in the island of Faial are subjects of
strong pressure from tourism, fishing and urban activities. Consequently, the necessary
management is of a different type, involving spatial management and activity zoning of a
greater variety of socio-economic sectors. Finally, the Formigas bank represents the
setting for a third management model. Isolated and inhabited, this area should be turned
into an oceanic offshore sanctuary in order to preserve its unique biodiversity within
the region.
The management plans for the SCIs were complemented along with management plans
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and conservation actions for 7 SPAs aiming the recovery of Sterna dougallii population
levels. Additionally, genetic studies were undertaken to confirm reproductive isolation
between two sympatric and temporally segregated populations of Oceanodroma castro
occurring in the Azores.
LIFE98 - NAT-P-5275
MARÉ: Integrated management of coastal and marine areas in the Azores
Objectives
¾ Integrated management plans for 5 SACs and 7 SPAs.
¾ Management measures for whale-watching and fishing activities that
have impact in cetaceans and marine turtles
¾ Education strategy integrating general and specific approaches for
local population and stakeholders.
Working groups
¾ Co-ordination group
¾ Theme group on Marine Habitats
¾ Theme group on Seabirds
¾ Theme group on Cetaceans
¾ Theme group on Marine Turtles
¾ Theme group on Environmental Education
¾ Consultants
Results
¾ Results of this project are now available for download at:
www.macmar.info
Cetaceans, of which 23 species occur in the Azores, were also integrated under the
management plans of the areas. Databases of the populations of the different species were
compiled and the consequences of the increasing tourist pressure due to the expanding
activity of whale watching are regularly monitored. Besides sperm whales Physeter
macrocephalus, special attention is given to groups of bottlenose dolphins Tursiops
truncatus (species included in Annex II of the EC Habitats Directive) resident in some
SACs. The data collected were used to calculate the carrying capacity for the whale
watching activity and to elaborate and implement of a serious of actions included in the
SCIs management plans.
There was also a formal recognition that only a strategy of increased environmental
awareness among the different sectors of the society and their active involvement in the
discussion of the management plans would create favorable conditions to successfully
implement the Network Natura 2000 in the Azores. Therefore, an earnest program of
environmental education was established within the project with the perspective to
improve such goals both in the medium- and long term. Special emphasis is given to
environmental education (EE) of local communities, including regular EE sessions for
students, teachers, stakeholders and public in general. The production of promotional and
informative material and the organization of field tours in SCIs.
The work initiated with the MARÉ-LIFE project is now continued with two InterReg IIIb
projects: OGAMP and MACMAR, whose main aims are to produce the scientific knowledge and
the management plans for the Natura 2000 SCIs and SPAs not included in the previous
project, enhance the outreach activities and support a vision beyond Natura 2000,
including protection of offshore sites and contributing for the building a network of
sites under the OSPARCOM.
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INTERREG IIIb/MAC/4.2/A2 2001

OGAMP: Management of marine protected areas in Macaronesia
(Azores, Canaries and Madeira)
In the Azores Archipelago there are 17 marine

Sites of Community Importance (SIC) and 13
coastal Special Protection Areas (SPA) that are
part of NATURA 2000 Network. The process of
implementation of the marine areas of NATURE
2000 Network started in 1998 and has been
followed up by a series of studies which involve
the environmental characteristics of the areas
and plans for their management. Since then,
both management and scientific studies through
projects like MARÉ (LIFE/Nature) B4 - 3200/98 -
509), have made it possible to define methods
and propose management plans for some of
these areas. A new project OGAMP (Regulation
and
Management of Marine Protected Areas), has been co-funded by
the project INTERREG IIIB-MAC/4.2/A2 and by protocols
established between the Directorate for the Fisheries and the
Directorate for the Environment of the Regional Government.
This project has made it possible to continue the studies of the
remaining marine areas to be integrated in the NATURA 2000
Network in the Azores. The specific objectives of OGAMP are to
identify, validate and promote natural and cultural resources of
the Coastal and Marine Areas. The project also aspires to
establish and implement protocols for the study of these areas
in order to improve the management of their exploited
resources. Apart from these areas, in the Azores, there are two
Deep Sea Hydrothermal Fields: the Menez Gwen - at 870 m
depth and the Lucky Strike - at 1700 m depth. These fields
have also been subject of important scientific studies and will
be subject to special conservation measures.
The work is now being continued in view to promote the conservation of deep sea habitats
and species through the implementation management plans for new MPAs in two selected deep
sea hydrothermal vent sites (Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen) and two seamounts (Sedlo and
Princess Alice).
Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen are two offshore hydrothermal vent fields inside the
Portuguese EEZ. Due to its proximity to the Azores and their relatively shallow location
(-1700m and -900m deep, respectively), numerous scientific expeditions and programmes
focus, since 1997, on the investigation of the temporal and spatial geological and
biological variability. Given the small surface of the actual vent sites, a need for
management of activities became particularly important. As observatory-type studies
expand, so will the need to find a compromise between the needs of purely observational
investigations and in situ experiments and instrumentation and the removal of specimens
for collections and laboratory
studies.
Concerns with the impact of
Sedlo seamount scientific research reach beyond
the resolution of conflicts
between different research
programs. As vent sites become
the focus of intensive, long-
Lucky Strike term investigation, oversight
organisations will need to
introduce appropriate measures
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to combine preservation of habitat and scientific interference such as in-situ sampling.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has proposed a potential MPA at Lucky Strike, under
OSPAR (the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East
Atlantic). Annex V of OSPAR contains provisions with regard to the protection and
conservation of the ecosystems and biological diversity in the marine area.
Due to this fact the Regional Government of the Azores, is pushing towards the
establishment of Menez Gwen and Lucky Strike as MPAs and concurrently fostering the
development of research activities.
Seamounts play a key role in the understanding of marine biodiversity and zoogeography of
high seas. As ‘hot spots’ of biological diversity harbouring enhanced endemism seamounts
have become a focus for marine protection and management initiatives.
Presently, the body of scientific information available on ecosystem functioning at, and
around, seamounts is very limited. This is especially true of the deep-sea ecological
processes associated with seamounts. We expect to gain crucial knowledge under the scope
of two new projects, the CoML (Census of Marine Life)– MARECO and the EU-FP6 OASIS, which
will concentrate on Middle Atlantic Ridge and seamount studies. These new projects will
become a fundamental tool in the development of appropriate boundary criteria for Marine
Protected Areas (MPAs). The most important questions to tackle will concern the scale and
magnitude of ecosystem changes caused by human impacts, like commercial fisheries, and in
turn the determination of acceptable/unacceptable levels of exploitation. OASIS, in
particular, will investigate ecological processes at two seamounts in the same
biogeographic area, which are distinguished by the depths of their summits (within/below
euphotic zone) and the degree of their exploitation.
EVK3 – CT 2002 – 00073:

OASIS: Oceanic Seamounts: An Integrated Study.
www.rrz.uni-hamburg.de/OASIS/
Based on this, a conceptual model of ecological functioning will be compiled with the
goals of outlining management objectives, management recommendations and recommendations
on boundaries and zoning (vertical, horizontal) for potential MPAs. Based on the
precautionary principle, the sustainability of any present or future exploitation of
seamount natural resources will be evaluated.
Based on the "OSPAR Guidelines for the Management of Marine Protected Areas in the OSPAR
Maritime Area", that draws upon the outline MPA site management plan published by IUCN,
the common elements of management plans for all types of offshore seamounts will be
extracted and compiled. A set of possible goals and objectives, management tactics and
administrative and legal requirements as well as surveillance and enforcement measures
will be included in an "offshore MPA tool box". This document will enable users who wish
to set up a protected area around a seamount (or potentially any other offshore feature)
to quickly compose the basic set of management options for a particular site. Depending
on the location of the site and its current human use, the details of boundaries, zoning
and regulations will have to be individually designed.
3. Mapping Underwater Habitats and Biodiversity
3.1 – Benthos and fish
It is well known that topographic and other physical feature of the habitat influence the
distribution and abundance of species in shallow high-complexity ecosystems such as those
associated with temperate/sub-tropical rocky reefs. Changes in habitat characteristics
have also been shown to affect the population dynamics of harvested species and to change
the dominance structure and species diversity of communities. With mounting pressure to
adopt ecosystem-based approaches to ocean management, there is currently renewed interest
in using classical methods of habitat classification and exploit recent ocean technology
developments to study large scale distribution of marine habitats and processes at all
depths of the islands shelf and the shallow banks. Clearly, this calls for
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co-ordinated, multidisciplinary programs aimed at developing sophisticated methods to map

habitat characteristics and living marine resources that rely in visual and acoustic
instrumentation.
Important steps have been taken in this direction by some research institutions, who have
pushed programs whereby the study of the spatial pattern of benthic habitats was done by
resorting to a "decreasing scale, increasing resolution" strategy: the ocean floor is
first surveyed on a large scale using sidescan sonar, the resolution and quantitative
refinement increasing as observations are made at closer ranges by resorting to multibeam
systems, remote and diver-held video, diver written records, and sampling of the seabed.
In all the programs, remote sensing technologies and tele-operated devices have been used
to collect large amounts of ocean data in far less time and covering a wider depth range
than those that are possible by resorting to scuba-diving. Habitat discrimination and
fish distribution is now possible through remote sensing, the technology having advanced
rapidly in recent years. Acoustics and side-scan sonar can create detailed images of
bottom topography and images of fish in their natural environments, thus enabling us to
observe species and habitats without actually seeing them. Acoustic (like side-scan
sonar, Roxann or QTC) and laser multibeam (Lidar - light imaging and detection)
technologies can be used to quickly and accurately map bathymetry and survey substrates
nature in some environments. The problem of overlaying the different datasets (for
example, multibeam data and grab samples), so as to generate composites of the benthic
ecosystem and is then resolved by resorting to Geographic Information System (GIS).
The key scientific objective of this research area is to provide geological, habitat and
associated biological communities maps of a set of Sites of Community Importance (SCIs,
designated under the EU Habitats Directive) and adjacent submarine areas located in the
triangle between Faial, Pico and S. Jorge islands, thus comparing protected and
unprotected (control) areas and improving our background on the SCIs and our capability
of improving management models and proposals. To accomplish this, acoustic remote data
along with video footages are being obtained using tools included in underwater scooters,
research ships, AUV and ASV.
The main scientific results are detailed maps of a set of SCIs as well as valuable
information for their management. This will also provide valuable information for the
management of coastal sea areas, in general. The work is providing new insights on the
topography and circulation near the bottom. Guidelines to select suitable places for
artificial reef deployment will also be elaborated. This factor is of considerable
importance, in view of the scarcity of shallow waters. Clearly, the improvement of
primary productivity will increase the robustness of the exploited species. The project
is also aimed to determine habitat attributes that significantly affect
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population and community dynamics. Special attention is given to use remotely operated
vehicles to map the bottom and fish community in a compositional and quantitative way. An
important part of the project is the sampling of plankton in areas that are very close to
the sea bottom. This task is difficult to carry out with trawling nets, since they tend
to hit the bottom or to get entangled in the rocks. Project Marov will also provide a
technique that will allow the use of AUV for this purpose. A robotic plankton sampler
will be developed and integrated in the AUV. MAROV constitutes an up-grading of a
previous MAST# project (ASIMOV) involving the link between the scientists of IMAR-DOP/UAç
and the engineers of ISR, before the constitution of the Associated Laboratory.
The scientific studies are carried out at the Channel Pico-Faial, the importance of which
can hardly be overemphasized. In fact, with its complex geologic setting and diversity of
marine life, it has become a
treasured marine area of national and
international importance. In 2001, a
portion of the shallow coastal
margins of the Faial/Pico islands
were established as Sites of
Community Interest (the first step
towards the designation of the
Special Areas of Conservation that
will compose the Natura 2000 network)
by European Commission, following
recommendations of the Regional
Government of the Azores,.
A substantial effort is put on the

capacity and ability to introduce and
develop automatic mapping using a set
of acoustic and visual techniques,
including video mosaic and image
processing. On which concerns video
mosaic/image processing efforts are being concentrate on the study of population dynamics
of a Macaronesian endemic algae, Codium elisabethae, which fulfils the conditions to
develop the technology.
The key reason behind the scientific studies to be carried out is the strong demand from
coastal managers for detailed and accurate information on the distribution of habitats
and their plant and animal communities (collectively known as biotopes) since this is one
of the basic requirements for an knowledgeable decision-making process. Such information
can be used for assessing sites that are important from a conservation point of view,
determining areas sensitive to disturbance and pollution, development of coastal and
marine protected areas management plans, and providing valuable indicators for
environment impact assessment and monitoring environmental change.
The INFANTE AUV, DELFIM ASV, the R/V “ARQUIPÉLAGO”, the L/V “ÁGUAS-VIVAS”, underwater
scooters and several rubber semi-rids are being extensively in the project. Several
equipments are being used on these platforms. Cooperation has involved, besides the
institutions which are part of the Associated Laboratory, the IGM (Portuguese Geological
Survey), the University of Cardiff, the University of St. Andrews and the University of
Liège.
Three PhD programs are associated with this area.
Fernando Tempera is involved in a PhD program in collaboration with the University of St.
Andrews. The main focus is the development of an integrated approach to the
classification and mapping of benthic marine biotopes using a combination of geophysical
techniques, in situ observations and mathematical modelling. This is achieved through
collation of information from various sources and collection of further environmental and
biological data in a series of field surveys to be conducted over the next 3 years.
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Specific objectives of the study involve:
¾ characterization of the seabed in the area and identification the habitats present
using a set of physical and geophysical techniques;
¾ description and classification of the spectrum of biological communities
associated to the different sublittoral rocky habitats using a physiognomic
approach;
¾ investigation of the factors controlling the biological variation and observed
patchiness of associated biological communities through appropriate sampling
strategies;
¾ development and validation of predictive models of the occurrence of biological
communities in the rocky subllitoral based on environmental features;
¾ production of examples of medium and fine scale digital maps and 3D
representations of the distribution of sublittoral biotopes;
¾ establishment of the utility of seabed mapping techniques for surveying underwater
biotopes;
¾ report on the significance of the findings for the mapping, management and
monitoring of the habitat “reefs” (Habitats Directive) within the marine SACs of
the Azores.
Damien Sirjacobs is involved in a PhD program in collaboration with the University of

Liège. His thesis is aimed at “Mapping of benthic habitat and the study of the population
dynamics of the macroalgae Codium elisabethae in the Azores, using image analysis”. The
particular aim of the project is the development of a methodology for studying the
distribution and dynamics of Codium elisabethae with the help of underwater image
analysis. He will focus preliminary on designing a image processing program allowing
automatic Codium detection and the calculation of some population parameters.
In a second stage Damien will investigate in particular the links between derived
population demographic parameters, life cycle of the species and the local habitat
characteristics of each site.
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A third PhD program is currently in preparation by Frederico Cardigos. F. Cardigos

possesses a MSc degree on marine conservation. For his master thesis he has elaborated a
monography on the biodiversity, habitat mapping and proposed management for the SCI D.
João de Castro Bank. For his PhD he will investigate the state of a set of invasive
marine species having has background the methods and technologies for habitat mapping.
3.2 – Habitat use by cetaceans (priority species of Habitat Directive)
Several ecological factors are known to strongly influence the ecology and social systems
of cetaceans. The physical features of the habitat, system productivity, and distribution
and abundance of predators, competitors and prey, are examples of ecological aspects
acting on the distributional ecology, population biology and social structure of cetacean
populations. As a result, cetaceans exhibit a wide range of ecological and social
systems, which are found to be seasonally and geographically dependent. Nonetheless, the
precise nature and role of each ecological factor is still difficult to understand.
Studies in distinct geographic areas, and most especially in different environments,
would probably contribute to unravel this question.
Taking the Azores Archipelago as a case study of a pelagic habitat, the present project
intends to add to the diversity of ecological and social behaviours currently known, and
provides an important opportunity for testing hypothesis about the ecological
determinants of cetacean distributional ecology and social structure. It is a
scientifically challenging objective as it may contribute to a better understanding of
how social and ecological selective forces have influenced the evolution of complex
societies in vertebrates - a central question to the theory of behavioural ecology.
Scientific and conservationist reasons determined the choice of bottlenose dolphins
(Tursiops truncatus) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) as target species of this
research area: as highly social species with a complex organization, they are ideal
objects for a study on social structure; different groups have been identified in the
area, rendering the question of population structure both pertinent and urgent;
information on migration patterns of sperm whales is scarce but considered a priority for
scientific and management reasons; the bottlenose dolphin is included in Appendix II of
the Habitats Directive and is a priority species to the EU; sperm whales are the
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main focus of the whale-watching activity in the Azores, being subjected to unknown
levels of disturbance.
This area of research intends to use and further develop different research approaches,
combining an already accredited method (photo-identification) with innovative techniques
(population genetics and acoustics), which will complement each other. The identification
of individual animals using photographs of natural markings (photo-id already utilised
during the MARÉ project) is the key method and will provide information on population
structure, ecology and social organization of both
species. Photo-id databases are used to study
distribution, movements and habitat use of individual
animals, to obtain information on group and population
unit sizes, measure associations between individuals
or groups and assess degree of interaction between
them. Acoustics are being used to record the location,
number, behaviour and spatial arrangement of groups
and to examine interactions underwater. Acoustic
recordings are being used to study population
structure by investigating differences in dialects
between population units from different areas. Genetic techniques are being used solve
the question of population structure and to understand social organization, by providing
information on the genetic relationships among population units (degree of
differentiation and amount of gene flow between them) and on the identity, sex and
kinship of individuals.
The main goals of this area of research are: 1) to examine the population structure and
ecology of bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales inhabiting the waters around Faial and
Pico islands (including the NATURA 2000 sites); and 2) to describe and examine the
influence of the environmental characteristics on the ecology of both species.
POCTI/BSE/38991/2001 CETAMARH - Ecology and population structure of

bottlenose dolphins and sperm whales in the Azores: assessing the relationship
with habitat features.
Task 1 - Assessing population structure

¾ to understand the population structure of the target species, by identifying each of their population units;
¾ to understand the relationship between population units, the extent of their interactions and the degree of
mixing between them.
Task 2 - Spatial and temporal distribution, relative abundance and habitat use
¾ to know spatial and temporal distribution and relative abundance of both species in the study area;
¾ to detect individual/population units' movement patterns within and outside the study area;
¾ to identify spatial and temporal patterns of habitat use.
Task 3 - Assessing the influence of environmental characteristics on the ecology
¾ to produce maps representing the distribution/abundance and habitat use patterns of bottlenose dolphins
and sperm whales in the study area,
¾ to incorporate of observed temporal variability.
¾ to integrate physical and biological characteristics of the study area (obtained through other projects), in a
GIS environment.
This area of research involves a set of young graduate and post-graduate students
dedicated to data collection, analysis of data and hypothesis testing. Mónica Silva is
undertaking a PhD in collaboration with the University of St. Andrews devoted to the
study of population structure using photo-id and genetics. Three other graduate students,
Sara Magalhães, Rui Prieto and Rute Cabecinhas are involved in different levels of data
acquisition (Rui Prieto), acoustic surveys (Rute Cabecinhas) and evaluation of impact of
observations and whale watching in cetacean populations (Sara Magalhães).
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Sophie Querouil, a Post-Doc student with background in molecular genetics, is

particularly involved on the genetic differentiation of populations. Sampling involves
the realization of biopsies made from boats.
3.3 – Testing the benefits of MPA
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have been increasingly established around the world as a
management toosl to overcome the effects of overfishing on coastal marine stocks or for
conservation of biodiversity and pristine habitats. However, despite of research efforts,
most of the beneficial mechanisms predicted by theory to work in marine reserves have not
yet been empirically demonstrated, and the question of whether they constitute or not an
alternative for classical fishery management methods is still to be answered. This line
of research is intended to provide new evidences to clarify theoretical predictions about
the benefits of protection measures on coastal fish communities. Taking as case study
some of the newly designated Sites of Community Interest (SCIs) of the Azores (being
study under the scope of projects like MARÉ, OGAMP and MARMAC), we expect to provide
important information for management decisions concerning both species and habitats of
the Azores coast. Underwater Visual Census (UVC) programmes, already set up since 1998
under the scope of project CLIPE (PRAXIS XXI - 3/3.2/EMG/1957/95: CLIPE- Climatic effects
on the ecology of littoral fishes: A geographic and phenological approach), are continued
in order to obtain a long-term database that will enable the comparison of the community
structure before and after the creation of the MPAs. Specifically, it will allow to test
the prediction that target fish in protected areas that were previously subjected to
fishing will have their population augmented and increased in mean size. The two possible
benefits arising from such prediction are the "spillover" effect by fish emigration from
protected areas to neighbouring ones, and the "recruit exportation hypothesis". These two
hypotheses are especially considered and experimentally tested in key species i) using
standard tagging and telemetry techniques to track post-recruit fish movements within and
around protected areas, ii) characterizing recruitment spatial patterns with UVC and
light trap collection, iii) estimating PLDs and source areas of recruits through micro-
chimestry of recruit otholits and iv) estimating potential fecundity of target-species’
populations under different exploitation regimes. This project continues and improves
collection of comprehensive databases on fish community structure, including fish larvae
and recruits. Such databases are essential to understand larval dispersion and,
recruitment patterns and processes and the short- and long-term changes that occur in the
coastal fish community. Ultimately, this knowledge is instrumental to distinguish the
direct effects of protection from those naturally induced.
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POCTI/BSE/41207/2001: MAREFISH: Benefits of marine

protected areas: testing the theory with field experiments
Task 1 - Monitorization of fish assemblages and the ‘reserve effect’

¾ analysis of log term time series of the structure of the coastal fish community;
¾ comparision of abundance, biomass and size class composition of target species in the SCIs
and neighbouring areas, before and after the establishment of the MPAs;
¾ distinction between small- and large scale (spatial and
temporal) changes of coastal fish communities of the
Azores.
Task 2 - Fish assemblages – recruitment
¾ seasonal maps of the recruitment for selected coastal
fish species;
¾ estimates of larval residence time (PLD) for selected
coastal fish species.
Tasks 3 - Reserve benefits - Testing the larval
exportation hypothesis
¾ detection of larval dispersion and self recruitment
patterns for selected fish species around the islands
and offshore banks
¾ estimates of fecundity and potential recruitment for
protected and non-protected stocks of selected species.
Tasks 4 - Reserve benefits - Testing the Spillover effect
¾ maps of spatio-temporal movement patterns for pre-
adult and adult individuals of selected species
¾ test fish emigration from MPAs to neighbouring areas.
Data and experience gathered over the last decade by several IMAR-DOP/UAç projects have
placed this institution in an excellent position to pursue this type of research. There
are two PhD programmes associated with this research:
Pedro Afonso is enrolled in a PhD program in collaboration with the University of Hawaii
aiming to test the potential for the ‘reserve’ and ‘spillover’ effects of MPAs in the
channel Pico-Faial and associated SCIs.
Specifically, he expects to test the hypotheses that MPAs can i) promote the recovery of
exploited populations within its boundaries – the ‘reserve effect’ and ii) benefit
adjacent areas through emigration of adults and pre-adults of sedentary target-species
that will became exploitable in those adjacent areas – the ‘spillover effect’. He is
evaluating the following predictions:
¾ protection within MPAs will be as higher as smaller the home ranges and higher
the site fidelity
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¾ individuals are capable of performing ontogenically or density-dependent

derived migrations at a scale large enough to allow replenishment of adjacent
areas;
¾ emigration from protected areas is higher than immigration from adjacent areas
and
¾ individuals can be expected to stay around adjacent areas once emigrated from
protected ones.
To test prediction 1 he is i) maintaining the UVC monitoring program to estimate

abundance, biomass and size class composition of target species in the SICs and
neighbouring areas. To test predictions 2) – 4) he is conducting tracking experiments
with acoustic telemetry and standard tag-and release studies in selected target-
species..Tracking experiments are performed on adult and sub-adult individuals providing
the basic knowledge of the species movements, home range, habitat use and site fidelity.
Acoustic tagging experiments are designed to augment traditional tag-and-release
experiments using traditional tagging methods. Individuals are captured at night and
pulse-coded, depth sensitive transmitters implanted into the animals. Two monitoring
techniques are used - active tracking of individual fish from tracking vessels and
automated/passive tracking using receivers/data loggers moored at various locations
within the target areas. These data is periodically downloaded to portable computers for
analyses. In standard tagging studies individuals are captured by fishing or SCUBA
diving, measured and tagged in situ with t-type and spaghetti-type tags, and released.
Complementary, re-sighting of individuals are stimulated during visual census surveys,
and also during directed nocturnal and diurnal SCUBA surveys.
The other PhD student is Jorge Fontes who is engaged on the study of recruitment patterns
of fish and larval exportation. Jorge Fontes is studying the process of recruitment using
by two complementary approaches: 1) Collecting and identifying newly recruited fish and
larvae using standard sampling procedures with light traps, bottom trawls, scuba diving
using suction-pump devices and hand-netting. 2) Studying larval residence time (and thus
the potential dispersion) using daily-growth-rings reading on otoliths. The surveys are
done monthly in fixed areas around Faial Island.
In parallel with the biological sampling, the main water circulation phenomena associated
with these locations are also being monitored in cooperation with the Oceanography
section. The methodology applied focuses on
the understanding of microscale patterns of
circulation of larval fish.
Complementary, Jorge Fontes is carrying

studies in view to test the hypothesis that
MPA can benefit adjacent areas through larval
exportation of sedentary target-species, thus
contributing to give some insight to this
virtually untested reserve benefit theory. He
is evaluating if: 1) MPA adult productivity
in terms of fecundity is higher than that of neighbouring exploited areas, considering
that mean fish size will be higher in MPAs and that fecundity is grossly higher the
bigger are the individuals; 2) larval dispersion range and behaviour is effectively wide
enough to enable a large portion of the MPA born-larvae to recruit in adjacent areas; and
3) larval exportation of a MPA is reasonably higher than exploition from neighbouring
areas towards MPAs. To test prediction 1), he is undertaking a studies on the microscopic
validation of the maturity and fecundity of the selected target species. This will allow
him to estimate the potential fecundity dynamics and larval exportation of different age-
composition populations. Predictions 2) and 3) imply a fair knowledge of the larval
dispersion patterns around the area (output of task 2 will be the basis for achieving
this goal). Experimental design comprehends a series of otholit microchemistry
experiments.
DEEP-SEA STUDIES
1. BACKGROUND
The Azores, with one of the most extensive EEZ of Europe (1 million square
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Km) is located in a highly active geological, geophysical and oceanographic area, where
occur some of the most dynamic ecosystems of the planet, as are the seamounts and the
deep-sea hydrothermal vent systems.
The MAR near the Azores is ideally located for marine multidisciplinary deep-sea studies:
it is near port, allowing for short transit times for the deployment and retrieval of
tools and, even, live organisms. It has been the focus of a great number of cruises in
the past few years, e.g. FARA, MARFLUX (MAST II), AMORES (MAST III), VENTOX (FP5), AMAR
(PRAXIS XXI), SEAHMA (PDCTM), and others ongoing and/or just initiated: OASIS (FP5), MAR-
ECO (CoML), EXOCET/D (FP6), MoMARNET (FP6). The geological-geophysical background of this
region is well constrained, as are the general characteristics of the known hydrothermal
vents, and the broad diversity of the associated ecosystems. From an oceanographic and
climatological standpoint, the MAR near the Azores also offers an opportunity for remote
observation of basin scale ocean circulation and its effect on long-term climate changes.
This is a unique system on our planet, as evidenced by the number of international
expeditions, initiatives, and resolutions that target this areas and its surrounding
regions for in-depth studies of seamounts and ridge processes, underwater hydrothermalism
and volcanism, mineral resources, extreme environment-type ecosystems with exceptional
genetic resources, organisms with strong pharmaceutical potential, and the extent and
characteristics of the deep biosphere to name but a few.
2. DEEP-SEA VENTS
The MoMAR area, south of the Azores comprising the Menez Gwen, Lucky Strike, Saldanha,
Menez Hom and Rainbow vent fields, has been the subject of the most intense international
activity in the last decade [e.g. MARFLUX (1993-1997), AMORES (1997-2000) and VENTOX
(2000-2003), and Portuguese FCT funded projects AMAR (1997-2000) and SEAHMA (2002-2004)].
Besides standard cruises a land based laboratory
(LabHorta) was installed under the frame of the
VENTOX project. This has enabled year-round
supply of vent mussels, and other organisms, from
Menez Gwen by making the recovery of deep-sea
retrievable cages with the R/V “Arquipélago”
based in the Azores.
The VENTOX project was intended to underpin

innovative insights into the long-term (i.e.
evolutionary) adaptations of the deep-sea
hydrothermal fauna (and associated microbes),
which are unique amongst life on earth in having
been exposed to high levels of environmental
contamination (low pH, high CO2, poisonous
sulphides, heavy metals and hazardous
radionuclides) throughout their evolutionary history.
The use of the deep-sea hydrothermal environment as a natural pollution laboratory

provided a range of exciting and novel opportunities of relevance to the group of eco-
toxicology of IMAR-DOP/UAç, already with well established scientific work in other
organisms.
Through the international cooperation of the project consortia we have approached novel
studies on detoxification mechanisms. The study of the special adaptations of deep-sea
vent organisms to their toxic environment may lead to the discovery of new mechanisms for
DNA repair and/or detoxification which could result in potential financial and social
improvements.
Another aspect to be emphasised was the integration of new young scientists. A PhD
students and post-doctoral fellows have been involved in these works.
This area of research will now be continued under the scope of new projects:
- MARBEF is a network of excellence which

aims to study the Marine Biodiversity and
Ecosystem Functioning.
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- EXOCET/D is a Strep project dealing with technological developments needed to

study extreme ecosystem studies in the deep ocean.
- MOMARNET is a Marie Curie Research Training Network. This RTN project aims to:
i) make significant advances toward the setting up a multidisciplinary sea-floor
observatory for monitoring hydrothermal vent environments close to the Azores
archipelago, ii) strengthen the European approach to deep seafloor observatory science
and technology, by reinforcing the links between European laboratories, iii) train a
multidisciplinary group of young researchers.
- Finally, MOMAR is an on going project to establish an observatory approach on

the Mid. Atlantic Ridge.
These fit completely with the objectives of the ChEss pilot project (within the Census of
Marine Life initiative) aiming at the development of a long term field phase for
understanding the biogeography of deep-water chemosynthetic ecosystems at the global
scale.
2.1 - LABHORTA – Opens a new window on deep-sea vents research
The set up of a land-based laboratory at a research centre within the Azores archipelago
(LABHORTA), within close proximity to active deep-sea vent sites, which are able to be
kept supplied with live animals was a major conceptual and technical breakthrough in both
vent and deep-sea research in general and allowed
to extend in vivo studies over a longer period
than the cruises themselves. This concept first
proposed in the first MoMAR workshop in 1998
(Santos et al. 1998) and made possible during the
VENTOX (Sarradin et al. 2002) project. LABHORTA
has been, since then supplied with live animals
from acoustically retrievable cages (Dixon et al.
2001).
LabHorta was planned as an onshore laboratory

that allows live specimens to be transported
either from summer research cruises or from year
long acoustic retrievable devices, thus providing
scientists with specimens collected from their
natural environment at different times of the
year.
LabHorta proved its feasibility with respect to supporting land-based functional

facilities, and significantly contributed to the general goal of permanent land based
observatories on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MoMAR project). This facility allows work on
shore on samples from the deep-sea at different periods of the year, thus increasing the
available data and the number of scientists who can profit from the investment made for a
summer cruise. In addition, by expanding the time window, LabHorta already has allowed
new discoveries on the life history of deep sea vent organism. The installation of
LabHorta on Faial Island has tremendous socio-economic relevance to the development and
maintenance of Portuguese and International science.
LabHorta is running at present. Several work teams have requested LabHorta in order to
profit from the extended time window, and LabHorta is part of two international projects
on 6th Framework (EC): MoMARNET and EXOCET/D. It has proved to be a good facility for
experiments with hydrothermal vent animals (particularly molluscs), as well as for
helping with the logistics of cruises that are performed in the Azores area. Further,
LabHorta is located less than 200 miles from Lucky Strike and Menez Gwen hydrothermal
vent fields, which are in the process of being considered marine protected areas (MPAs)
under the OSPAR framework.
2.2 – MoMAR
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The I MOMAR (Monitoring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge) Workshop (Lisbon, Portugal, 28-31 October
1998) established the scientific basis for long-term observations and monitoring of
active processes at the crest of the slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The MOMAR area,
located south of the Azores Islands, was identified as the preferred site for the
concentration of multidisciplinary studies over a long period of time, as required to
understand the active processes (magmatic, tectonic, hydrothermal , biological,
biochemical, microbial) and their casual links taking place at active mid-ocean ridge
hydrothermal systems.
In the years following the I MOMAR Workshop, scientific cruises and projects have been
carried out in the MOMAR area, and additional projects are planned in the near future .
However, just a few of the long-term or observatory-type experiments outlined in the I
MOMAR Workshop have been implemented (i.e., deployment of autonomous underwater
hydrophones.; Biological sampling and observation time-series at LabHorta). It has also
been recognized, based both on recent technological developments and the better
scientific knowledge of the different MOMAR sites, that a coordinated action to monitor
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is possible, requiring a more organized structure than previously
available.
In June 6th 2002 an Expression of Intention (EoI) for an Integrated Project (IP) was
submitted to the European Union. This EoI “Long Term Monitoring of the North Atlantic :
An Observatory Approach” was lidered by the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries
(DOP), University of the Azores, and got the support of 31 leading institutions belong to
9 European countries and also from small and Medium enterprises.
The InterRidge Monitoring and Observatories Working Group organized a II MOMAR Workshop
(Horta, Azores, Portugal, 14-17 June 2002). The goals of this meeting were: 1) to
establish a realistic short (< 5 years) and long-term (> 5 years) plan of experiments to
monitor the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at the MOMAR area; 2) to have a better definition of the
geographical scope and targets of the MOMAR project; 3) to establish the basis for the
data and site management associated with MOMAR projects, and 4) to decide on the follow-
up structure of MOMAR.
In December 2002 a meeting was held in Lisbon organized by the LA in order to discus the
possibilities of the EoI MOMAR members to go for the 6FP programs. From that meeting, the
EXOCET program was born.
In 2003, the European Science Foundation sponsored an exploratory workshop in Barcelona

(15-17 October): “Long-term monitoring of deep ocean hydrothermal ecosystems”Organized by
the InterRidge Monitoring and Observatories Working Group (R.S. Santos and J. Escartin)
Workshops in 1998 (Lisbon) and 2002 (Horta) lead to the developments of scientific and
implementation plans for monitoring the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, respectively. Programmes
within Framework 6 of the European Commission (ESONET, MOMARNET) will permit extensive
intellectual exchange between the numerous groups studying these systems.
At the present, the community involved is in the position to begin work turning these
plans into reality at the well-characterised MoMAR site southwest of the Azores. The
geological-geophysical background of MOMAR region is well constrained, as are the general
characteristics of the known hydrothermal vents, and the broad diversity of the
associated ecosystems.
The different LA teams are implied in this concept, on a technological, biological and
geological concept .
3. SEAMOUNTS
Seamounts are submerged mountains in the ocean's floor, generally caused by volcanic
activity or tectonic uplift. In a recent work Manchete et al. (in press) identify more
than 130 seamounts in the Azores area with a high diversity of sizes, forms, depths,
degree of isolation, etc. (these authors only considered those underwater features with
base depths < 2000 m and peaks above the 1200 m).
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Azores
Mid-
Atlantic
Ridge
Flores
Hydrothermal
vent fields Princesa
Alice Abyssal
Bank plane
Azores sea-bed surface chart showing the topographic complexity of the region and some of the
habitats present. (Made by Gui Menezes from Predicted bathymetric data downloaded from the site
David T. Sandwell: http://topex.ucsd.edu/sandwell/sandwell.html. This data is part of the global
seafloor topography from satellite altimetry and ship depth soundings. The surface map of seafloor
topography was estimated using the kringing method routine of the software Surfer vs 8.00 - Surface
Mapping System, Golden Software, Inc.
Seamounts are hotspots of marine life in the open ocean. They are common and widespread
seafloor features. These features have distinct biological communities from the
surrounding seafloor. The species assemblages found on seamounts are distinct, both from
the surrounding deep-seafloor and continental margin areas of similar depth. This is due
to: the importance of depth to marine species distributions; the tendency for currents
moving around seamounts to create hard-bottom habitats (rare in the deep oceans) that can
support filter-feeding, emergent epifauna such as corals, crinoids, and sponges; the food
subsidy that layers of plankton moving by the stationary seamount provide; and the
geographic isolation of seamounts from other similar habitats. Due to this fact, some
seamounts have extremely high rates of apparent endemism and have produced literally
hundreds of new species.
Marine mammals, sharks, tuna, and cephalopods all congregate over seamounts to feed and
even seabirds have been shown to be more abundant in the vicinity of shallow seamounts.
About the benthos invertebrate fauna inhabiting seamounts very little is known, and a
large effort should be done on this area in the next years.
3.1 - Seamount fisheries and management in Azores
In the Azores region, deepwater fisheries in general and seamounts fisheries in

particular, are very important to local economy. More than half of the total demersal
and deep-water fishery catches for example are taken from the seamount fishing grounds,
turning the region economically highly dependent on the seamount fishing stocks. The
multispecific feature of the demersal fishery in the Azores, and the high geographic
dispersion of the main fishing grounds (islands and seamounts), bring however several
challenges for their assessment and management which differ from the traditional
fisheries approach. Fish populations are spatially structured and the spatial harvesting
strategy of the commercial fleet is also spatially differentiated. To achieve
sustainable fisheries and well managed seamount habitats for the future generations in
the Azores, the spatial processes should be understand and included on the fish stock
assessment models and management strategies.
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Since 1995, under several projects (European and National funded), some of the most
important seamounts in the Azores have been routinely sampled for monitoring the
abundance of demersal fish and deep-water fish species. These data compiled over the
recent years, has enable a better characterization of the seamount fish community,
mainly concerning their depth zonation and abundance patterns and trends. Genetics and
migration studies from recent fish tagging programs have also include seamount areas.
However the knowledge of about the seamount population dynamics, interdependency between
seamounts or between seamounts and islands populations, still scarce, as well as the
oceanographic dynamics at the small and mesoscales (seamount or seamount chain scales).
Azores - Fish assemblages

Island inner/outer-shelf/soft-
hard bottom Island inner-shelf/hard bottom
Shelf shelf-break
Bank shallow/Shelf break transition Shelf break transition
Surface waters 0 - 200 m

Intermediate upper-slope
Upper-slope
North Atlantic Central

Water (NACW) 200 - 700 m
Intermediate mid-slope
Mid-slope
Mediterranean Water (MW) 650 - 850 m

Deep mid-slope
Deep mid-slope
North Atlantic Deep Water > 800 m

(NADW)
Demersal and deep-water fish assemblages zonation model for the Azores (seamounts and
islands), from longline cruise surveys made in the period 1995-2000.
In a broader context, little is also known about seamount ecosystems in the NE Atlantic,
or the impact of human activities upon these unique oceanic ecosystems, mainly due to
lack of funding for research into these systems. A possible sign of change is that the
European Commission has agreed to fund the first European seamount study integrating
physical, biogeochemical and biological research – “the OASIS project” (OceAnic
Seamounts: an Integrated Study). This international project which includes two seamounts
within the Portuguese E.E.Z. (Seine seamount in Madeira and Sedlo seamount in the
Azores) is in its second year of execution, and most of the field work is already
complete. This project has a large involvement of DOP, in terms of human resources and
ship time involving the R/V “Arquipélago”.
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34.00° N
33.80° N
33.60° N
33.40° N
14.80° W 14.60° W 14.40° W 14.20° W 14.00° W 13.80° W 13.60° W
Geographical location of the longline sampled transects and CTD’s stations made
during the Seine cruise survey in Madeira (Legend: green- CTD’s stations) under
the OASIS project.
3.2 - SEAMOUNT FUTURE
Census of Marine Life is also interested in the seamounts and a recent program is being
evaluated for funding, the CenSeam: a Census of Marine Life Program for Seamounts. Under
this program the seamounts of the Macaronesia area (Açores, Madeira, Canaries and Cape
Verde islands) were proposed as a Priority region to be included. The DOP is a member of
the Steering Committee of this project. This is expected to promote new studies, new
expeditions, data mining and the development of new technologies, including the use of
permanent monitoring equipments or moorings installed on seamounts to collect data.
The Azores region has a high potential to leader seamount studies, not only by their
abundance in the region but also by their proximity to land structures, which allow short
transit trips, or enhance facilities to implement field seamount experiments, and long
term and seasonal projects. It is therefore envisage that experimental and simulation
studies on seamount habitats, will be incremented in the near future. A seamount
conference being planned to be held at the University of the Azores in early 2005; with
the possibility to publish the proceedings as a devoted, peer-reviewed volume in
Blackwell's Fish and Fisheries series, can be a valuable contribute to this pertinent and
important area of the present marine research.
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C.2 Projects
C 2.1 Projects running in 2003
C 2.1.1 European funding
EVK3 - CT 1999 - 00003: VENTOX: Deep-sea hydrothermal vents: a natural pollution

laboratory. (Partner - contractor).
EVK3-2001-00110: M@RBLE: Electronic conference on marine biodiversity research in Europe.

(Partner – contractor).
EV1K3- 2001-00177: MARBENA: Creating a long term infrastructure for marine biodiversity
research in the European Economic Area and the Newly Associated States. (Partner -
contractor).
EVK3 – CT 2002 – 00073: OASIS: Oceanic Seamounts: An Integrated Study. (Partner -

contractor).
INTERREG IIIb/MAC/4.2/A2 2001 OGAMP: Management of marine protected areas in Macaronesia

(Azores, Canaries and Madeira) (Coordinator – Contractor).
C 2.1.2 National funding
FCT – PDCTM/P/MAR/15249/1999 - MAROV - Coastal marine habitats, thematic mapping of the

seabed using GIS, AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) & ASV (Autonomous Surface
Vehicles). (Partner - contractor).
FCT – PDCTM/P/MAR/15281/1999/ - SEAHMA - Seafloor and sub-seafloor hydrothermal modelling

in the Azores sea. (Partner – Contractor).
FCT – POCTI/BSE/41207/2001 - MAREFISH: Benefits of marine protected areas: testing the

theory with field experiments. (Coordinator - contractor).
FCT – POCTI/BSE/38991/2001 - CETAMARH - Ecology and population structure of bottlenose

dolphins and sperm whales in the Azores: assessing the relationship with habitat
features. (Coordinator - contractor).
AdI – Agência de Inovação (AdI) 2003 - MAYA Development of a Miniaturized Autonomous

Underwater Vehicle for Habitat Mapping (Partner – Contractor).
C 2.1.3 Other sources of financing
FLAD – Proc. 3B/A.V- Proj. 79/2003 - TELAZO: Effects of Marine Reserves: Bio-telemetry in
the Azores. (Coordinator-Contractor).
C 2.2 Projects approved in 2003 (to be initiated in 2004)
FP6 2002 GLOBAL 1 – P505446 - MARBEF – Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
(Network of Excellence) (Partner – Contractor).
FP6 2002 GLOBAL 1 – P505342 - EXOCET/D – Extreme ecosystem studies in the deep ocean:
technological developments (STREP) (Partner - Contractor).
FP6 2003 RTN - MoMARNET – Monitoring deep sea floor hydrothermal environments on the Mid-
Atlantic Ridge: A Marie Curie Research Training Network (Partner – Contractor).
INTERREG IIIb/03/MAC/4.2/A2 2004 – MARMAC – Knowledge, promotion and valorisation for a

sustainable use of marine protected areas in Macaronesia. (Coordinator – Contactor).
FP6 2003 SSP3 – P006539 EMPAFISH – European marine protected areas as tools
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for fisheries management and conservation. (Partner – Contractor).
C.3 Publications
24 scientific papers published in peer reviewed journals. Moreover, 21 articles

are in press and 26 were submitted. The list below indicates the most relevant
papers:
Aboim, M. A.; A. D. Rogers; G. M. Menezes; R. Maggioni and C. V. M. Pearson. 2003.

Isolation of polymorphic microsatellite markers for the demersal fish Helicolenus
dactylopterus (Dela Roche 1809). Molecular Ecology Notes 3(1): 18-20.
Aurelle D., Guillemaud T., Afonso P., Morato T., Wirtz P., Santos R.S., Cancela M.L.,
2003. Genetic study of Coris julis (Osteichtyes, Perciformes, Labridae) evolutionary
history and dispersal abilities. CR Biol 326 (8): 771-785.
Barreiros, J.P., T. Morato, R.S. Santos & A.E. de Borba. 2003. Interannual diet changes
in the diet of the Almaco Jack, Seriola rivoliana (Perciformes: Carangidae) from the
Azores. Cybium, 27(1): 37-40.
Bashmachnikov, I., V. Lafon and A. Martins, SST distribution in the Azores region. Part
II: Space-time variability and underlying mechanisms AVHRR imagery and in situ data
processing. Arquipélago, Life and Marine Sciences 2003, in press.
Bjorndal, K.A., Bolten, A.B., Dellinger, T., Delgado, C., Martins, H.R. 2003:
Compensatory growth in oceanic loggherhead sea turtles: response to stochastic
environment. Ecology: Vol. 84, No. 5, pp. 1237/1249.
Bjorndal, K.A.; Bolten, A.B.; Martins, H.R. 2003. Estimates of survival probabilities for
oceanic-stage loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the North Atlantic. Fish. Bull.
101: 732-736.
Bried J, Pontier D, Jouventin P, 2003. Mate fidelity in monogamous birds: a re-

examination of the Procellariiformes Anim Behav 65: 235-246.
Bried, J. 2003. Impact of vagrant predators on the native fauna: a Short-eared Owl Asio
flammeus preying on Madeiran Storm Petrels Oceanodroma castro in the Azores. Arquipélago,
Life and Marine Sciences 20A: 57-60.
Carvalho, N., P. Afonso & R.S. Santos 2003. The haremic mating system and mate choice in
the wide-eyed flounder, Bothus podas. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 66: 249-258.
Correia, A. T.; C. Antunes; E. J. Isidro and J. Coimbra. 2003. Changes in otolith

microstructure and microchemistry during larval development of the European conger eel
(Conger conger). Marine Biology 142(4): 777-789.
Gonzalez JA, Rico V, Lorenzo JM, Reis S, Pajuelo JG, Dias MA, Mendonca A, Krug HM, Pinho
MR, 2003 Sex and reproduction of the alfonsino Beryx splendens (Pisces, Berycidae) from
the Macaronesian archipelagos J Appl Ichthyol 19 (2): 104-108.
Jouventin P, Bried J, Micol T, 2003. Insular bird populations can be saved from rats: a
long-term experimental study of white-chinned petrels Procellaria aequinoctialis on Ile
de la Possession (Crozet archipelago) Pol Biol 26 (6): 371-378 .
Lafon, V., A. Martins, M. Figueiredo, M. Rodriguez, I. Bashmachnikof, A. Mendonça, L.

Macedo and N. Goulart, SST distribution in the Azores region. Part I: AVHRR imagery and
in situ data processing. Arquipélago, Life and Marine Sciences 2003, in press.
Miranda, J.A.; R.F. Oliveira; L.A. Carneiro; R.S. Santos and M.S. Grober. 2003.
Neurochemical correlates of male polymorphism and alternative reproductive tactics in the
Azorean rock-pool blenny, Parablennius parvicornis. General and Comparative Endocrinology
132(2): 183-189.
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Mitchell, N.C., T. Schmitt, E. Isidro, F. Tempera, F. Cardigos, J.C. Nunes & J.

Figueiredo (2003). Multibeam sonar survey of the central Azores volcanic islands.
InterRidge News, 12(2): 30-32.
Morato, T. P. Afonso, P. Lourinho, R.D.M. Nash & R.S. Santos 2003. Reproductive biology
and recruitment of the white sea bream in the Azores. Journal of Fish Biology, 63: 59-72.
Morato, T., P. Afonso, R.S. Santos, H.M. Krug & R.D.M. Nash. 2003. The reproduction, age
and growth of the spotted rockling. Journal of Fish Biology, 62: 1450-1455.
Morato, T., E. Solà, M.P. Grós & G. Menezes 2003. Diets of thornback ray (Raja clavata)
and tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus) in the bottom longline fishery of the Azores,
northeastern atlantic. Fishery Bulletin, 101(3): 590-602.
Ramos, J. A.; Z. Moniz; E. Sola and L. R. Monteiro. 2003. Reproductive measures and chick
provisioning of cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea borealis in the Azores. Bird Study
50: 47-54.
Silva, M. A.; R. Prieto; S. Magalhães; R. Cabecinhas; A. Cruz; J.M. Gonçalves and R.S.
Santos. 2003. Occurrence and distribution of cetaceans in the waters around the Azores
(Portugal), summer and autumn 1999-2000. Aquatic Mammals 29(1):77-83.
Silva, M.A. and M. Sequeira. 2003. Patterns in the mortality of common dolphin (Delphinus
delphis) on the Portuguese coast, using stranding records, 1975-1998. Aquatic Mammals
29(1): 88-98.
Sousa, L.; J. P. Barreiros; M. S. C. Soares; M. Hostim-Silva and R.S. Santos. 2003.

Preliminary notes on the reproductive biology of the lizardfish, Synodus saurus
(Actynopterygii: Synodontidae) in the Azores. Cybium 27(1): 41-45.
Stefanni S, Gysels ES, Volckaert FAM, Miller PJ, 2003 Allozyme variation and genetic
divergence in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus (Teleostei : Gobiidae). J Mar Biol
Ass U K 83 (5): 1143-1149.
Stefanni S, Thorley JL, 2003. Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography reveals the existence of
an Evolutionarily Significant Unit of the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus in the
Adriatic (Eastern Mediterranean) Mol Phylo Evol 28 (3): 601-609.
Wirtz, P.; O. Ocana and T. Molodtsova. 2003. Actiniaria and Ceriantharia of the Azores
(Cnidaria Anthozoa). Helgoland Marine Research 57(2): 114-117.
C.4 Proceedings and reports of working groups

Santos, R. S., A Colaço & S Christiansen (Eds.) 2003. Planning the Management of Deep-sea
Hydrothermal Vent Fields MPAs in the Azores Triple Junction (Workshop proceedings).
Arquipélago – Life and Marine Sciences, Supplement 4: xi + 64pp. (ISBN: 972-8612-14-1).
K. Kononen, R. L. Herman, G. Pichot, L. Stemmerik, J. Elken, G. Ollier, H Keune, A.

Irmisch, D. Georgopoulos, V. Zervakis, B. de la Garde, G. O´Sullivan, Y. Shields, I.
Marson, R. M. I. Schorno, T. Riise, R. Serrão-Santos, E. Isidro, J. Piechura, S. Radan,
J. Danobeitia, J. M. Gili, M. von Knorring & M. Webb 2003. European Strategy on Marine
Research Infrastructure (Report compiled for the European Strategy Forum on Research
Infrastructure by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Marine Research Infrastructure).
Publications of the Academy of Finland, 6/03: 42pp., April 2003 (ISBN 951-715-455-0).
C.5 Organization of international scientific meetings
OGAMP (Planning and Management of Marine Protected Areas) international scientific-

technological workshop. Coordinated by Ricardo Serrão Santos. 29 to 31 October.
"Ciências e Tecnologias Marinhas: A Cooperação Luso-Indiana" With participants from India

and Portugal. August 13, Centro do Mar, Horta, Faial, Açores. Coordinated by
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António Pascoal and Ricardo Serrão Santos.
"Long-term monitoring of deep-ocean hydrothermal ecosystems", 15 to 17 October,

Barcelona, Exploratory Workshop funded by European Science Foundation (EW02-17),
organized by Ricardo Serrão Santos and Javier Escartin (CNRS-Paris).
C.6 Attendance of International conferences and meetings.
IMAR participated in 21 international conferences and meetings that included the

following:
Colaço, A. – VENTOX Final Meeting 24 and 25 February 2003 at Southampton Oceanography

Centre.
Colaço, A; Tempera F.; Cardigos F.; Serrão Santos R., 2003. OFFSHORE Marine Protected
Areas on the Azores-Why; Where and for What. 38th European Marine Biology Symposium –
University of Aveiro.
Colaço, A; Tempera F.; Cardigos F.; Serrão Santos R., 2003. OFFSHORE Marine Protected
Areas on the Azores-Why; Where and for What 10th deep sea symposium Southwestern Oregon
Community College.
Couto, A.B., A. Martins, M. Figueiredo, V. Lafon, A. Mendonça, N. Goulart, and L. Macedo,

Spatial and temporal variability in the Azores region using high-resolution SeaWIFS
imagery, European Marine Biology Symposium (EMBS), organized by the Department of
Biology, University of Aveiro, 8-12 September, 2003, Aveiro, Portugal, Poster
Presentation.
Ferraz, R. R., R. S. Santos, S.J. Hawkins & G. Menezes. 2003. How many limpets can we
catch in the Islands of Faial and Pico, in the Azores?. “Limpets 2003”, Millport,
Scotland. 28-30 March.
Lafon, V., A. Martins, I. Bashmachnikov, M. Melo-Rodrigues & M. Figueiredo, 2003, Sea

surface temperature spatio-temporal variability in the Azores using a new technique to
remove invalid pixels, Remote Sensing of the Ocean and Sea Ice 2003, editado por C. R.
Bostater, Jr., R. Santoleri, Proceedings of SPIE vol. 5233 (SPIE, Bellingham, WA), 89-97,
2004.
Machete, M., T., Morato & G. Menezes, Seamounts of the North Atlantic. “Deep Sea 2003”.
New Zeland. Queenstown, 1-5 Decembre 2003.
Martins, A. and DETRA IMAR-DOP Team 2003, A Oceanografia por Satélite nos Açores,
ExpoPescas 2003, 11th-12th September 2003, Teatro Fayalense, Horta, Faial, Azores,
Invited Oral Communication, presented by A. Martins and M. Figueiredo.
Martins, A. and OASIS IMAR-DOP Team 2003, O Projecto OASIS – Montes Submarinos Oceânicos:
Um estudo Integrado, ExpoPescas 2003, 11th-12th September 2003, Teatro Fayalense, Horta,
Faial, Azores, Invited Oral Communication, presented by A. Martins and A. Mendonça.
Martins, A. and OASIS IMAR-DOP Team 2003, Oceanic Seamounts: An Integrated Study, Annual
Meeting of IMAR, Centro do Mar & Teatro Fayalense.
Martins, A. Horta - Faial – Açores, 4th-6th December, Invited Oral Communication.
Martins, I. - Biogeography and Biodiversity of Chemosynthetic Ecosystems: Planning for

the Future Southampton, June 16 - 18, 2003.
Meirinho, A.M. 2003 “IV Congresso de Ornitologia da SPEA” and “II Jornadas Ibéricas de
Ornitologia”, Aveiro, Portugal.
Meirinho, A.M. 2003: “International Summer Course on the Coastal Zone Management in the
Atlantic Coast”, Porto, Portugal.
Melo-Rodrigues, M., A. Martins, V. Lafon, M. Figueiredo, N. Goulart, and L. Macedo,

Study of spatial and temporal variability of Sea Surface Temperature in the Azores
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oceanographic region using NOAA satellites, European Marine Biology Symposium (EMBS),
organized by the Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, 8-12 September, 2003,
Aveiro, Portugal, Poster Presentation.
Morato, T. 2003: “21st Lowell Wakefield Fisheries Symposium”, Assessment and Management
of New and Developed Fisheries in Data-Limited Situations. Anchorage, Alasca (E.U.A.),
22-25 de Outubro 2003.
Morato, T. 2003: FAO (FIRM) Seminar, “Ecosystem management approach to fisheries”. 13-14
October, FAO, Rome.
Morato, T. 2003: NATO Advanced Study Institute on “Strategic Management of Marine

Ecosystems”, 1-11 October, Sophia Antipolis, France. Course organized by Dr Jean-Marie
Proth, INRIA/SAGEP, UFR Scientifique, Universite de Metz, France and Dr Eugene Levner
Holon Academic Institute of Technology, Israel.
Pinho, M.R., Artisanal and small scale deep-water fisheries. Pre-conference to “Deep Sea
2003”. New Zeland. Queenstown, 27-30 November 2003.
Pinho, M.R., Deep-water fisheries of the Azores: Ecosystem, species, fisheries and
Management. “Deep Sea 2003”. New Zeland. Queenstown, 1-5 Decembre 2003.
Santos, R.S. - "Governance of High Seas Biodiversity Conservation". Cairns, Australia, 16

to 21 of June.
Santos, R.S. - "Ocean Life: The Known, Unknown and Unknowable", 23rd and 24th October,
Organized by Census of Marine Life (COML) and Smithsonian National Museum of Natural
History.
Santos, R.S. – “Infrastructures for Marine Research Working Group 5th Meeting". 15 and 16
September, Sopot (Poland), in the scope of European Strategy Forum for Research
Infrastructures.
Santos, R.S. "Preparing the Future of Marine Research Stations in Europe" organised under
the scope of the Marine Association of Research Stations (MARS). 25th and 26th November,
Amsterdam.
Santos, R.S. - "Desenvolvimento Sustentável e o Mar", 16th December, Instituto Superior

Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal.
Tempera, F. 2003 – Joint HELCOM/OSPAR Nature Conservation Expert Ad Hoc Meeting, Berlim
(Germany).
Tempera, F. 2003 – 38th European Marine Biology Symposium, Aveiro, Portugal.
Tempera, F. 2003 – Scottish Marine Group Autumn Meeting, Stirling (United Kingdom).
C.7 Graduate and Postgraduate Studies
C.7.1 Post-docs
Eniko Kadar – Ecotoxicology;
Félix José – Physical Oceanography;
Igor Bashmatchnikov – Physical Oceanography;
Joël Bried – Marine birds ecology;
Niels Bouton – Etology;
Sérgio Stefanni – Genetics;

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Sophie Querouil – Genetics;
Virgine Lafon – Physical Oceanography.
C.7.2 PhD Students
Afonso, P. - Ecological effects and potential benefits of Marine Protected Areas for
Fisheries.
Carreira, G. - Genetic and phenetic patterns of Loligo forbesi Steenstrup
De Girolamo, M. - Genetic interpretation of the social mating system and larval dispersal
in a fish with male parental care, the redlip blenny Ophioblennius atlanticus atlanticus.
Morato, T. - Seamounts: an Ecosystem Approach. Fisheries Centre, UBC, Canada
Porteiro, F. - "Biodiversity and biogeography of mesopelagic North Atlantic fish"
Silva, M.A. - Population structure of the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in the
Archipelago of the Azores, determined by genetic analysis and photo-identification
studies
Tavares, P. - O estudo de Perna-Longa Himantopus himantopus como bio-indicador da

contaminação por mercúrio em zones húmidas costeiras.
C.7.3 PhD Thesis concluded
Pinho, M.R.R. 2003. Abundance estimation and Management of Azorean demersal species.
Ph.D. thesis. Department Oceanography and Fisheries, University of Azores, Portugal.
163p.
Menezes, G. 2003 Demersal fish assemblages in the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores,
Madeira and Cape Verde.
C.8 Cruises
January- Mission to recover the mussel cages placed at the Menez Gwen hydrothermal vent
field during the SEAHMA I cruise. - R/V Arquipélago IMAR-DOP- SEAHMA project
March- Oceanographic cruise to the Sedlo seamount with the R/V “Arquipélago”.
Oceanographic instruments were deployed (correntometers), and several CTD profiles were
performed. Partcipation IMAR-DOP and New University of Ireland, Galway- OASIS Project
April- Scientific cruise to the Seine Seamount with the R/V Poseidon. IMAR/DOP in
cooperation with the Canaria University was centered on the determination of primary
production ands seasurface respitarion –OASIS project
April- Mission to recover the mussel cages placed at the Menez Gwen hydrothermal vent
field during the SEAHMA I cruise.R/V Arquipélago- IMAR-DOP- SEAHMA project
April to June- Cruise ARQDAÇO- Demersal commercial fisheries biological surveilance- R/V
Arquipelago
June- Cruise to deploy the cage system on board of the R/V Meteor with the ROV “QUEST”-
The cage deployment was successful, however due to ROV navigation problems they could not
be found at the seabottom, and were not positioned on the vent field. The cages were then
recovered.- Project SEAHMA
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July- Scientific cruise to study the fishes on the Seine seamount- R/V Arquipelgo IMAR
DOP- Project OASIS
July –August- AUV tests under the framework of the Project MAROV, with the R/V
Arquipélago and R/V Aguas Vivas
July- Partcipation on the cruise on the "Akademik Mstislav Keldysh". The objective was to
document images of deep-sea hydrotehrmal vents to produce a film direct by James Cameron
July-August - Scientific cruise to study the fishes on the Sedlo seamount- R/V Arquipelgo
IMAR DOP- Project OASIS
August-September- “Seamounts mission” – monitoring of the shallow water seamounts around

the Azores Islands. R/V "Arquipélago"
August- Cetacean studies on the western group of the Azores- Projects CETAMARH (FCT -
POCTI/BSE/38991/2001) and MACETUS (INTEREG III)
C.9 Scientific outreach publications:
Barreiros, J.P., 2003 Grandes predadores pelágicos dos mares dos Açores. Revista Saber
Açores, 43 (IV).
Barreiros, J.P., 2003. Notas sobre o mero dos Açores. Revista Saber Açores, 41 (IV).
Cardigos, F. 2003. Elasmobrânquios. Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 76, pág. 32-39.
Cardigos, F. 2003. Moreias, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 79: 46-50.
Cardigos, F. 2003. O verme-do-fogo, por, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 77: 38-40.
Cardigos, F., 2003. A Lagosta, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 81: 50-53.
Cardigos, F. e F. Porteiro 2003. A Excitação das Raridades Marinhas, Revista Mundo

Submerso, (VII) 80: 52-54.
Cardigos, F. e L. Quintino 2003. Câmara Hiperbárica, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 77:
41-43.
Cardigos, F. e M.R. Pinho, 2003. O Mar de Papel. Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 72: 32-37.
Cardigos, F., F. Tempera e R.R. Ferraz 2003. As Pequenas Delicadezas Subaquáticas II.
Revista Saber Açores, 47 (IV): 52-56.
Cardigos, F., F. Tempera e R.R. Ferraz 2003. As Pequenas Delicadezas Subaquáticas I,

Revista Saber Açores, 46 (IV): 54-58.
Cardigos, F., H. Lopes e J. Gonçalves, 2003. Prestige: consequências de um derrame de

hidrocarbonetos. Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 71: 52-55.
Carvalho, N., 2003. A Solha e Outros Peixes Achatados dos Açores. Revista Saber Açores,
48 (IV): 44-47.
Colaço, A., 2003. Fontes hidrotermais. Atlantis Cup Regata da Autonomia. 20-23.
Colaço, A., 2003. Mergulho nas fontes hidrotermais: uma janela sobre o planeta Terra
Revista Atlântida Vol. XLVIII: 265-273.
Duarte, P.N. e F. Cardigos, 2003. Tubarão-Martelo. Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 74: 56-
58.
Ferraz, R.R. 2003. Alguns invertebrados marinhos dos Açores. Revista Saber Açores, 42
(IV): 56-59.
Ferraz, R.R., 2003. Jamantas, gigantes do Oceano, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 71: 42-
45.
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Fontes, J., 2003. A Rede de Cerco com Mergulhadores, Revista Saber Açores, 49 (IV).
Machete, M. 2003. Era uma vez a Abrótea. Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 75: 56-58.
Machete, M. 2003. O Rabilo, Revista Mundo Submerso, (VII) 78: 38-41.
Machete, M. 2003. SCUBADOP - O mergulho ao serviço da Ciência. Revista Saber Açores, 45

(IV) .
Morato, T., 2003. Das Raridades à Colonização: Passos no Povoamento Natural, Revista
Mundo Submerso, (VII) 73: 54-58.
Santos. R.S. e F. Tempera. A investigação e a conservação no Mar dos Açores. Revista

Saber Açores, 44 (IV): .
Silva, A.A. 2003. Artigo: Um mergulho com os tubarões nos mares dos Açores. Por, Revista
Saber Açores, 40 (IV): 42-45.
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Thematic Area B: Robotic Monitoring and Surveillance
1 - Introduction
This report summarizes the activities undertaken at the ISR-Lisboa, Laboratório Associado
during 2003 in the Thematic Area B: Robotic Monitoring and Surveillance. The work done is
structured in accordance to the various basic disciplines of the theme (Computer Vision,
Robot Navigation, Distributed AI and Control) as well as the application areas (Search
and Rescue, Surveillance of Urban Areas and Robotic Assistant).
The activities described here were developed both in the context of formalized contracts
as well as that of internal research efforts. Part of the work decribed here was related
to the proposal to the “Programa Nacional de Re-equipamento Científico”, of the Fundação
para a Ciência e Tecnologia, that was submitted in 2002 and was not yet evaluated. That
proposal further established strategic research directions and included several pieces of
equipment that are of utmost importance for the full development of the R&D goals.
Even in the absence of that equipment, or post-doc researchers fully dedicated to the
planned research agenda, work progressed solidly in the various directions. Several new
projects were started with the European Space Agency and the European Commission (FP6).
Another highlight is that the team involved in this thematic area has prepared during
2003 proposals for organizing the Robocup and IFAC International Symposium on Intelligent
Autonomous Vehicles. Both proposals were accepted and these two major events will be held
in 2004. In addition the organization of thematic workshops in international conferences,
this effort helps promoting the international visibility of science and technology as a
whole and the Associated Laboratory, in particular.
2 – Projects during 2003
The projects under progress in 2003 are listed in the following sections of this report.
They have been organized either according to the corresponding basic disciplines or
application areas, reflecting the organization of the thematic area. The figure below,
describes how the different projects contribute to the objectives (basic disciplines and
application areas of the Thematic Area).
Figure 1 – Classification of the various projects under execution, as basic discipline/ application
domain.
As observed in the figure, some projects address fundamental issues in the domains of
computer vision, robot navigation & control and distributed artificial intelligence that
can be used in the context of the different applications. In addition, some projects
directly address problems related to the application areas. As a whole, these
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projects show that the activities are adequately balanced in the different aspects.
2.1 Basic disciplines
a) Computer Vision
Project name: 3D MODELING FROM VIDEO [POSI/34121/SRI/2000]
Project description: This project proposes to develop a methodology for video coding by
using intermediate 3D representations. The coded video includes a representation of the
scene's 3D shape and texture, producing as output a sequence of synthetic views of the
scene (which could be different from the original ones). This opens new perspectives to
go one step forward towards general content-based video representations.
▬▬
Project name: AMA- Automatic Modeling of Architecture [POSI/SRI/41561/2001]
Project description: The goal of this project is to develop a new approach to the fully
automatic 3D modeling of architecture from a video sequence. The methods and algorithms
to be developed within this project consider particular scenes whose 3D shape is well
described by a piecewise planar model. Under this scenario, instead of tracking pointwise
features, one can track larger regions where the 2D motion is described by a single set
of parameters. The 3D structure of the scene is then computed from the 2D motion
parameters. This approach avoids the correspondence problem and is particularly suited to
constructing 3D models for buildings and urban scenes that are well described by
piecewise flat surfaces. The proposed project will lead to a method that is
simultaneously a powerful tool to "virtualize" buildings and urban scenes and a further
step into the development of artificial vision systems.
▬▬
Project name: HEART 3D - Measurement of the Heart Geometry from Ultrasound Images
[POSI/33726/CPS/2000]
Project Description: The project studies the reconstruction of 3D volumes of the human
body, from a set of ultrasound images and its application to the evaluation of the heart
geometry. The main difficulties concern the reconstruction of a time-varying object from
a set of non parallel cross sections, corrupted by multiplicative noise. Furthermore, the
ultrasound probe produces significant deformations of the organ geometry which must be
considered during the reconstruction stage. Therefore, the system to be developped must
be able to perform noise reduction, to fill the gaps between the non parallel cross
sections, to compensate geometric misalignments and to cope with time-varying shape
changes. The approach proposed in this project is based on multi-grid optimization
techniques and Bayesian estimated methods.
Research Areas: medical imaging, image processing, image reconstruction, noise removal
External Partners: Cardiology Department of Hospital de Santa Maria, University of Aveiro
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Project name: SUMARE – Survey of Marine Resources [IST Project , IST-1999-10836]
Project description: The goal of SUMARE is to prove the utility of autonomous sensors for
environmental monitoring, showing their efficiency in providing to the competent
authorities the data required to guarantee a safe and sustainable exploitation of natural
resources. Besides obvious savings in terms of time and costs associated with the use of
oceanographic ships, autonomous sensors offer the possibility of : (i) adaptively
selecting the regions to be sampled in response to observed data; (ii) exploiting the
morphological characteristics of the sampled field to improve accuracy and consistency.
The project’s work program assesses the multi-disciplinary issues underlying these goals:
environmental knowledge modelling, data fusion, sensing and guidance. Its results will be
tested in two marine applications : (i) monitoring of the evolution of sand banks
and (ii) mapping of living/dead maerl.
One of the components was the development of robust techniques for automatically building
video mosaics of the sea bottom.
Research Areas: Signal Processing, Navigation, Computer Vision

External Partners: Management Unit of the North Sea Mathematical Models (B),
International Centre for Island Technology – Heriot-Watt University (UK), I3S
(Laboratoire d'Informatique, Signaux e Systèmes de Sophia Antipolis – CNRS- Université de
Nice Sophia Antipolis) (FR), Thomson Sintra ASM (FR).
b) Robot Navigation/Control
Project name: SACOR – SEMI-AUTONOMOUS COOPERATIVE ROBOTS [POSI/SRI/40999/2001]
Project description: This projects aims at developing a distributed architecture to

control multiple robots cooperatively, executing realistic missions with the help of
human specialists. Foreseen practical applications include the assistance to the elderly
and handicapped and remote surveillance and maintenance.
This project addresses the following topics:
(1) Synthesis of motion strategies (actions) using Viability Theory;
(2) Hybrid representation of the team state, with the discrete part of the state
including event information exchanged among robots and specialists, and the continuous
part of the state including the actions;
(3) Properties relevant from the mission execution perspective, namely controllability
and stability, in the context of the hybrid systems addressed in topic (2).
▬▬
Project name: OMNISYS - Omnidirectional Vision for Navigation and Control
Project description: The main objectives of this project are the study of problems
related to robot perception and control using catadioptric systems. In particular visual
servoing will include the use of uncalibrated images. The catadioptric systems that will
be considered are central projection systems. The goals will include the development of
mathematical models and coordinate systems that can simplify instances of servoing. The
definition of features that can be robustly tracked with this type of images is also a
goal of the project as well as the development of algorithms for servoing using partially
calibrated or uncalibrated images. To reach this goal a systematic approach will be used.
For that purpose a general mathematical model for perspective/catadioptric imaging
formation will be established, covering the situations of vision system motion and the
relative motions between the mirror and the imaging device that do not violate the
central projection constraint.
External Partners: ISR – Coimbra Pole
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Project name: High Resolution Optical Satellite Sensors [EUCLID - RTP 9.09]
Project leader: Alenia Spazio (Italy)

Project description: The main objective of this project is to develop a High Resolution
Optical Satellite Sensor by using the synthetic aperture technique. This technique
consists in the reconstruction of the original image of an object starting from that
formed on the common focal plane of a set of telescopes (or a multi-aperture telescope)
observing simultaneously the object while maintaining constant within a fraction of
wavelengths the phase of the various wavefronts which are combined together (namely, a
set of telescopes correctly co-phased, which, in this case, operate like an
interferometer). The synthetic aperture technique thus allow to obtain the same
resolution of a monolithic-mirror by means of a set of smaller mirrors properly arranged
over the surface covered by the monolithic one, with a dramatic reduction of the volume
and the mass of the optics. ISR participation concerns the internal closed loop control
of relative mirror positions, so as to calibrate the system, using interferometry-based
techniques. One main goal of such a multi-aperture instrument is the observation of the
Earth with high-resolution by a geostationary telescope.
Research Areas: Satellite Formations, Non-linear Control, Interferometry techniques

External Partners: Alenia Spazio (Italy), INETI (Portugal), CSL (Belgium), AMOS (Belgium),
MICROMEGA (Belgium)
▬▬
Project name: Formation Estimation Methodologies for Distributed Spacecraft [ESA

17529/03/NL/LvH/bj]
Project description: This project consists of a literature survey followed by the

proposal, development and test, in simulation, of an extension of the traditional
Guidance, Control and Navigation loop for a single spacecraft to a set of spacecraft
flying in formation. This extension creates some novel challenges, since each spacecraft
can be considered an obstacle for its team-mates, especially during formation
initialisation, relative or absolute information about the formation state can be
considered, both state estimation and control can be centralized/distributed or
decentralized and do not necessarily need to be tied to the actual topology of the
spacecraft formation. A study will be carried out so as to identify different approaches
to the state estimation and control of spacecraft formations, as well as to compare them
according to different criteria such as fuel consumption, fuel distribution across the
spacecraft, robustness to spacecraft failure, communication link failure, individual
sensor failure or temporary occlusions of either communications or sensor reading.
Decentralized solutions seem to be the most promising approach, as they do not depend on
a communications link and/or on a central spacecraft. As such, this work will devote more
attention to solutions where both estimation and control can be computed locally at each
spacecraft and thus depend solely on relative measurements, feasible at each spacecraft.
Nevertheless, centralized/distributed approaches will be covered as well, and issues such
as robustness in the presence of temporary occlusion or permanent failure of sensors and
communications, as well as the minimization of information flow will arise.
Research Areas: Satellite Formations, Formation Control, Multi-vehicle state estimation,

Multi-Agent Coordination Architectures
External Partners: DEIMOS Engenharia (PO)
c) Distributed AI
Project name: SocRob – Society of Robots or Soccer Robots
Project description: This project fosters general research on multi-agent robotic

systems, aiming at introducing methodologies for task planning, task allocation and
teamwork supervision/coordination, driven by results from Distributed AI, Hybrid Systems
and Discrete Event Systems theory. Its current case study is on Soccer Robots, with
regular participations in RoboCup. The FCT project started in 2003 includes the
construction of new omnidirectional 3-wheeled robots
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Research Areas: Cooperative Robotics, Sensor Fusion, Multi-Agent Systems, Teamwork,

Discrete Event Systems.
External Partners: IdMind, ServiLog
▬▬
Project name: DARE – Development of Emotion-based Robotic Agents [FCT

POSI/P/EEI/12184/1998]
Project description: The aim of this project is the study and development of
methodologies and tools necessary to implement emotional robotics agents capable of
dealing with unstructured and dynamic environments. Therefore, the goal is not the
optimization of some particular ability, but instead the research focus is put on general
competence to learn, adapt itself and survive. In order to practically test these ideas,
a small autonomous robot will be adapted and used based on technology already developed
and tested.
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Emotion-based Agents
▬▬
Project name: MS-AGENCY: Control of Manufacturing Systems using Societies of Evolutive

Agents [FCT POSI/P/EEI/12175/1998]
Project description: In this project, the problems raised by the development, utilization
and implementation of both hierarchical and heterarchical control architectures for
manufacturing systems (MS) are studied and identified. The goal is to develop a hybrid
control architecture where the lower levels are implemented through a heterarchical
structure, using a new paradigm of distributed (knowledge) representation called
"Societies of Agents". The upper levels are structured into a hierarchy where the top
levels provide orders for bottom levels, as usual. In terms of equipment and layout it is
assumed that the shop-floor is (physical or virtually) divided into a set of
manufacturing cells, each one capable of producing a predefined set of products. Each
cell is represented by a single agent, which is capable of interacting within a society
of similar agents.
Research Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Multi-agent Systems, Manufacturing Systems

Control
2.2 In Application Areas
a) Search and Rescue
Project name: RESCUE – Cooperative Navigation for Rescue robots [POSI/33293/SRI/2000]
Project description: This project fosters research on multi-agent robotic systems for
search and rescue operations as its long-term goal. Currently, the project is focused on
obtaining new results on outdoors perception and navigation, both for individual and
cooperative robots.
Research Areas: Distributed Continual Planning, Robotic Task Coordination, Cooperative

Navigation, Cooperative Perception, Vision-Based Topological Mapping
▬▬
Project name: RAPOSA - Robot Semi-Autónomo Para Operações de Salvamento [Agência de

Inovação – Consortium Projects]
Project description: This project aims at building a robot for Search and Rescue
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(SAR) operations, designed to operate in outdoors hazardous environments, such as debris

resulting from structure collapses. At this stage, the robot will be equipped for search
operations only, defined as the tele-operated detection of victims, using specific
sensors, whose information is transmitted to the remote operator. The robot will be semi-
autonomous, i.e., it will be tele-operated from a remote station but will simultaneously
display the capacity to carry out short tasks autonomously. The robot will execute
commands sent by a team of SAR experts, located in a safe place. During task execution,
the robot will relay the information from different sensors to the remote command station,
so as to provide the human team with relevant information on its surrounding environment
(terrain conditions, temperature, dangerous gases, water or heat sources, either from
human victims or not). The robot will be a small size, low weight, robust to collisions,
dust and water infiltration vehicle.
Research Areas: Semi-autonomous robots, Search and Rescue

External Partners: Regimento de Sapadores Bombeiros de Lisboa (Lisbon Fire Department),
Perceptual Robotics Laboratory of University of South Florida, USA, IdMind, Engenharia de
Sistemas, Lda (proj. leader)
b) Surveillance of Urban Areas
Project name: CAVIAR - Context Aware Vision using Image-based Active Recognition [IST-
2001-37540]
Project description: The main objective is to develop the theory of context-aware visual
recognition systems. We will implement the theory in a complete closed-loop vision system,
and apply it to two applications (city street surveillance and customer behaviour
analysis). To achieve these objectives, we will develop new feature grouping, attention
and appearance-based recognition processes. This will also require development of new
techniques for acquiring, representing and using visual context and situation knowledge.
External Partners: University of Edimburgh (UK), INRIA (F)
▬▬
Project name: LTT - Long Term Tracking of Multiple Objects for Surveillance
[POSI/CPS/37844/2001]
Project description: This project aims to develop methods for long term tracking of
multiple objects in video sequences. Multiple object tracking has received the attention
of the image processing community in the last 5 years, fostered by surveillance
applications and by Model Based Video Coding (MPEG).
The first works addressed short-term tracking and recognition of activities. More recent
works have tried to address long term tracking of moving objects. This is a more
difficult problem since it involves the ability to disambiguate the trajectories of the
objects after they were grouped and occluded for some time.
This project aims to address this problem. We wish to detect moving regions in video
sequences and to develop algorithms to label each region in a consistent way along the
whole video sequence. An additional difficulty concerns the presence of merged regions
which can not be identified by a single label. Probabilistic models, namely probabilistic
networks, will be adopted to perform this task and to propagate probable labeling
scenarios. The tracking algorithms will be applied in the context of urban surveillance.
External Partners: Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon
c) Robotic Assistant
Project name: MIRROR – Mirror Neurons for Recognition [EU - FET - 2000-28159]
Project description: The goals of MIRROR are: (i) to realize an artificial system that
learns to communicate with humans by means of body gestures and (ii) to study the
mechanisms used by the brain to learn and represent gestures. The biological base is the
existence in primates’s premotor cortex of a motor resonant system, called mirror
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neurons, activated both during execution of goal directed actions and during observation
of similar actions performed by others. This unified representation may sub serve the
learning of goal directed actions during development and the recognition of motor acts,
when visually perceived. In MIRROR we investigate this ontogenetic pathway in two ways:
(i) by realizing a system that learns to move AND to understand movements on the basis of
the visually perceived motion and the associated motor commands and (ii) by correlated
electrophysiological experiments.
External Partners: DIST - University of Genova (I), University of Ferrara (I), Dept. of
Psychology Univ. of Umea, (SE)
3 – Publications
M.Sc THESES
Sérgio Luís Proença Duarte Guerreiro, "Reorganização Dinâmica de Processos Face a

Situações de Crise: Aplicação em Exemplos Robóticos e Empresariais Simplificados", Tese
de Mestrado, Instituto Superior Técnico, 2003.
Ph.D. THESES
João Raposo Sanches, 3D Bayesian Reconstruction from Ultrasound Sequences, Instituto

Superior Técnico, March 2003.
Raquel Frizzera Vassalo, "Motor Representations for Topological Navigation and Ego-Motion
based on Omnidirectional Images”," Ph.D. Thesis qualify, UFES, March 2003, Vitória,
Espírito santo, Brasil.
Jacinto Nascimento, Robust Shape Estimation and Tracking in the Presence of Clutter,
Instituto Superior Técnico, April 2003.
José A. Gaspar, "Omnidirectional Vision for Mobile Robot Navigation", Ph.D. Thesis,
Instituto Superior Técnico, May 2003, Lisboa, Portugal.
Nuno R. E. Gracias, "Mosaic-based Visual Navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles",

Ph.D. Thesis, Instituto Superior Técnico, June 2003, Lisboa, Portugal.
IN BOOKS
B. Damas, L. Custódio, P. Lima, “A Modified Potential Fields Method for Robot Navigation
Applied to Dribbling in Robotic Soccer”, RoboCup 2002 Book, Editors: Gal Kaminka, Pedro
Lima and Raul Rojas, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 2003.
IN INTERNATIONALS JOURNALS
Nuno Gracias, Sjoerd van der Zwaan, Alexandre Bernardino, José Santos-Victor, "Mosaic
Based Navigation for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles", IEEE Journal of Oceanic
Engineering, October 2003.
João Maciel and João P.Costeira, "A Global Solution to Sparse Correspondence Problems",
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 25 (2), February
2003.
Sandra Gadanho, "Learning Behavior-Selection by Emotions and Cognition in a Multi-Goal

Robot Task", Journal of Machine Learning Research, JMLR 4(Jul):385-412, 2003.
Márcia Maçãs, Luis Custódio, "Multiple Emotion-Based Agents using an Extension of DARE
Architecture", INFORMATICA, an International Journal of Computing and Informatics,
Special Issue on Perception and Emotion Based Reasoning, Vol. 27, pp. 185-195, 2003.
Bruno Damas, Luis Custódio, "Emotion- Based Decision and Learning Using
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Associative Memory and Statistical Estimation", INFORMATICA, an International Journal of

Computing and Informatics, Special Issue on Perception and Emotion Based Reasoning, Vol.
27, pp. 147-157, 2003.
Sandra Gadanho, Luis Custódio, "Learning behavior-selection in a multi-goal robot task",

INFORMATICA, an International Journal of Computing and Informatics, Special Issue on
Perception and Emotion Based Reasoning, Vol. 27, pp. 175-183, 2003.
Jacinto Nascimento, Jorge S. Marques, "An Adaptive Potential for Robust Shape
Estimation", Image and Vision Computing Journal, 21,1107-1116, December, 2003.
João M. Sanches, Jorge S. Marques, "Compensation of Log-Compressed Images for 3D
Ultrasound", Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, Vol. 29, No. 2, 247-261, February 2003.
Jacinto Nascimento, Arnaldo J. Abrantes, Jorge S. Marques, "Using middle level features
for robust shape tracking", Pattern Recognition Letters, Vol. 24, 295-307, January 2003.
João M. Sanches, Jorge S. Marques, "Joint image registration and volume reconstruction
for 3D ultrasound", Pattern Recognition Letters, Special Issue on Ultrasonic Image
Processing and Analysis, vol 24, 791-800, February 2003.
IN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
B. Bacca Cortes, E. Caicedo Bravo, J. Santos-Victor, "A Behaviour-Based Homing Strategy

Implemented On A Layered Control Architecture", 13th International Symposium on
Measurement and Control in Robotics- Toward Advanced Robots: Design, Sensors, Control and
Applications - ISMCR'03, Madrid (Spain) December 2003.
Manuel Lopes, José Santos-Victor, "Motor Representations for Hand Gesture Recognition and
Imitation", IROS Workshop on Robot Programming by Demonstration, Las Vegas, SA, Oct.
31st, 2003.
Roger Freitas, José Santos-Victor, M. Sarcinelli-Filho, T. Bastos-Filho, "Performance

Evaluation of Incremental Eigenspace Models for Mobile Robot Localization", ICAR 11th
International Conference on Advanced Robotics, Coimbra, Portugal, June 30 - July 3 2003.
Manuel Lopes, José Santos-Victor, "Visual Transformations in Gesture Imitation: what you
see is what you do", ICRA - IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation,
Taiwan, September 2003.
José Santos-Victor, Alexandre Bernardino, Robotics Research, "Vision-based navigation,

environmental representations and imaging geometries", 10th International Symposium, R.
Jarvis and A. Zelinsky (Eds), Springer, 2003.
Thomas Krause, Pedro Lima, Peter Protzel, Flugregler für ein autonomes Luftschiff
("Flight control for an autonomous airship"), German Conference on Autonomous Mobile
Systems, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2003.
Gonçalo Neto, Hugo Costelha, Pedro Lima, “Topological Navigation in Configuration Space
Applied to Soccer Robots”, RoboCup 2003 International Symposium, Padova, Italy, 2003.
Carla Penedo, João Pavão, Pedro Nunes, Luis Custódio, “RoboCup Advanced 3D Monitor”,
RoboCup 2003 International Symposium, Padova, Italy, 2003.
Hans Lausen, Jakob Nielsen, Michael Nielsen, Pedro Lima, “Model and Behavior-Based
Robotic Goalkeeper”, RoboCup 2003 International Symposium, Padova, Italy, 2003.
Dejan Milutinovic, Jorge Carneiro, Michael Athans, Pedro Lima, “A Hybrid Automata Modell
of TCR Triggering Dynamics”, Proc. of IEEE Mediterranean Conference on Control and
Automation, MED-2003, 17-20 June, 2003, Rhodes, Greece, 2003.
Dejan Milutinovic, Pedro Lima, Michael Athans, “Biologically Inspired Stochastic Hybrid
Control of Multi-Robot Systems”, ICAR 2003 - The 11th International Conference on
Advanced Robotics, June 30 - July 3, 2003, Coimbra, Portugal
Andrés Garcia, Pedro Lima, “Motion Formulation for Robot Formations Based on Scalar
Fields”, ICAR 2003 - The 11th International Conference on Advanced Robotics, June 30 -
July 3, 2003, Coimbra, Portugal
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P. Lima, M. Isabel Ribeiro, Luis Custódio, José Santos-Victor, “The RESCUE Project -
Cooperative Navigation for Rescue Robots”, ASER'03 - 1st International Workshop on
Advances in Service Robotics, March 13-15, 2003 - Bardolino, Italy
Jacinto Nascimento, Jorge S. Marques, João M. Sanches, "Estimation of Cardiac Phases in
Echographic Images Using Multiple Models", IEEE Int. Conf. Image Processing, Barcelona,
September 2003.
João M. Sanches, Jorge S. Marques, "A MAP estimation algorithm using IIR recursive
filters, Energy Minimization Methods in Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition", IAPR,
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2683, Springer, 436-449, July 2003.
Jorge S. Marques, Pedro M. Jorge, Arnaldo J. Abrantes, J. M. Lemos, "Tracking Groups of

Pedestrians in Video Sequences", IEEE Workshop on Multi-Object Tracking, Madison, June,
2003.
João M. Sanches, Jorge S. Marques, "A 3D Ultrasound System for Medical Diagnosis, Pattern
Recognition and Image Analysis", First Iberian Conference IbPRIA 2003, 893-901, Springer
Verlag LNCS 2652, June 2003.
Jorge G. Silva, Jorge S. Marques, João M. Lemos, "A geometric approach to motion tracking
in manifolds", 13th IFAC Symposium on System Identification, Rotterdam, June 2003.
João Sequeira, M. Isabel Ribeiro, “A Geometric Approach to Single and Multiple Robot
Control”, Proceedings do 7th IFAC Symposium on Robot Control, SYROCO 2003, 1-3 de
Setembro de 2003, Wroclaw, Polónia, pp. 137-142.
João Sequeira, M. Isabel Ribeiro, “A Layered Approach to Multip,le Robot Control”,

Proceedings da 9th IEEE International Conference on Methods and Models in Automation and
Robotics, MMAR2003, 25 - 28 August 2003, Miedzyzdroje, Poland, pp.745-750.
Alberto Vale, M. Isabel Ribeiro, “Environment Mapping as a Topological Representation”,

Proceedings da 11th Int. Conf. on Advanced Robotics, ICAR03, Coimbra, Portugal, 30.Junho
30 –3. Julho, 2003, pp.29-34
João Sequeira, M. Isabel Ribeiro, “Robot Team Control: a Geometric Approach”, Proceedings
da 11th Int. Conf. on Advanced Robotics, ICAR03, Coimbra, Portugal, 30.Junho 30 –3.
Julho, 2003, pp. 1502-1507
4 – Organization of international events
Proposal accepted for organizing the Robocup2004, in Lisbon, Portugal. RoboCup is an

international research and education initiative, attempting to foster Artificial
Intelligence and Robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of
technologies can be integrated and examined, as well as being used for integrated
project-oriented education.
General Chairs:
Pedro Lima (Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal)
Luis Custódio (Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal)
▬▬
Proposal accepted for organizing the 5th IFAC Symposium on Intelligent Autonomous
Vehicles, IAV 2004, Lisbon, from 5 to 7 July 2004.
General Chair M. Isabel Ribeiro, Institute for Systems and Robotics/IST, Portugal
▬▬
Omnivis 2003: Omnidirectional Vision and Camera Networks, held in conjunction with the
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IEEE Int’l Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Madisno, WI, USA, June
21st, 2003
Program Chairs,
Robert Pless, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
José Santos-Victor , Institute for Systems and Robotics/IST, Portugal
Yasushi Yagi , Osaka University, Japan
5 – Conclusions
A substantial amount of work was carried out in the various enabling disciplines as well
as on the targeted application areas. Some of this work has been pursued in the context
of formalized contracts, both national and European. It is envisaged that the area of
networks of sensors for distribute monitoring and mapping will assume a proeminent role
in the near future, pushed by the available technology on one hand and theorethical
advances on the other hand.
Regarding the deliverables envisaged in the workplan, one can summarize the following
highlights:
D1 – SEARCH AND RESCUE
The current status of work in this direction includes the navigation and control of
outdoors vehicles: one terrestrial and one aerial, shown below. The terrestrial vehicle
has been used for research in topological navigation in outdoor scenarios. The aerial
vehicle was first equipped with all the electronics and communication capabilities. Then
initial experiments on vision-based control loops have been performed. The ultimate goal
will be that of having the terrestrial and aerial vehicles cooperating .
D2 – SURVEILLANCE OF URBAN AREAS
The main effort in this direction has been on the development of tracking techniques that
exhibit the necessary degree of robustness and performance. As such, problems like
(unknown) camera motion, illumination variation, cluettered environments will be
addressed. Work has already been done for solbing ambiguities of the tracking system when
there are occlusions between multiple targets. Current work is being developed towards
the automatic recognition of activities from visual observations. This can be used for
detecting suspicious behaviours in (for example) public areas, in the context of
automatic surveillance. The picture below illustrates some trackes of a video sequence
and different colours stand for different (recognized) objects.
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D3 – ROBOTIC ASSISTANT
During 2003, we have designed and build an anthropomorphic

robot arm equipoped withg a fingered hand (see picture).
This system is attached to a robotic head with four
degrees of freedom (totaling 14 DOFs). Current work is
being directed towards the visuo-motor coordination of
this system. The goal is that of teaching the system (or
having the system learning autonomously) how to perform
certain (manipulative) tasks. In addition research is
being conducted in the context of learning through
imitation.
During 2003, ISR integrated a proposal for a European
research project in the area of cognitive systems. The
project was (one of the few) approved for funding. The
long-term goal consists in (i) developing a humanoid-like
research platform with the size of a 2 year old child and
(ii) use this platform for research in development,
visuomotor coordination and cognition.
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Thematic Area C: Sustainable Technologies and Environmental Systems
The research work under this theme has been aimed to develop and use advanced research
methodologies for the analysis of complex systems and to promote the exchange of
knowledge in advanced technologies for the optimisation of industrial processes and
environmental systems. It involves 6 main topics, as follows.
1. Industrial Ecology Toolbox
The research work developed is aimed at demonstrating the need to prepare the evolution
to a new “Industrial Ecology stage”. The requirements to step up to this new stage are
classified at three levels, the need for an appropriate “environmental analysis
methodologies toolbox”, the establishment of a structured set of indicators to support
sustainable policies and priority setting at a regional level, and finally, the
development of a new organization of infra-structures, technologies, sectors and firms to
promote co-operation between the various actors involved within an Industrial Ecology
framework
The following papers were developed in this context:
Design for Environment – DFE:
• Ferrão, P., J. Amaral and P. Silva. (2003).” Laying the foundations for a DfR tool
for auto components”. 14TH International Conference on Engineering Design ICED 03,
Sweden, Stockholm.
Hybrid Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment – H-EIO-LCA:
• Ferrão, P., Nhambiu, J, and Suh, S. (2003) “Industrial Ecology of Portuguese Glass
Products based on Hybrid Input-Output Analysis”. International Society or Industrial
Ecology - Conference 2003: Industrial Ecology for a Sustainable Future. Ann Arbor,
USA, June, 29th- July,2nd, 2003.
2. Environmental Policy and Industrial Ecology Systems
The physical nature of the economy is emerging as a new paradigm, based on increasing
public recognition of environment-economy interconnections. In this context, modern
economies can be seen as ingesting raw materials, which are metabolised into products and
services and also waste, in the form of materials/products without use and pollution.
Environment-economy interconnections are dependent on economic activity fields or sectors,
on the existing local infrastructures and future technological options, i.e. on the time
and length scales imposed by the local-regional interactions at different levels
(economic, regulatory and technological). The research developed concludes that
innovation in environmental technologies may shift the spirit of product-oriented
regulations and give rise to more efficient approaches if a transversal, Industrial
Ecology perspective, integrating different products life cycles is adopted.
The environment and the automobile:
• Ferrão, P. (2003) “O ambiente e o sector automóvel”. Ambiente 21, rubrica de inovação

científica. Nº 8, ano II, pp. 52-53.
Ecological economics:
• Canas, A., Ferrão, P. and Conceição, P. (2003) “A new environmental kuznets curve?
Relationship between direct material input and income per capita: evidence from
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industrialized countries”. Journal: Ecological Economics. Volume 46, Issue 2,

September 2003 , Pages 217-229.
Energy and environment:
• P. Ferrão e M. Águas (2003) “Energia e Ambiente”, in: Engenho e Obra: Uma Abordagem à
História da Engenharia em Portugal no Século XX., pp. 304-313. Dom Quixote.
• Ferrão, P., Jordão, M.F., Mendes, A.S. (2003). “ Uma bolsa de resíduos para Portugal”.
Congresso sobre tecnologias de valorização de resíduos, organizado pela APEMETA com a
colaboração do Instituto dos Resíduos. ExpoAmbiente 2003, FIL, Lisboa, 6 e 7 de
Novembro de 2003.
3. Environmental Physics
The scientific activity in environmental physics has been developed within the framework
of the project SAPIENS: POCTI/1999/CTA/35626 - Carbon Balance of Eucalypt Plantations in
Portugal- the Kyoto Forest Problem. In the context of the Kyoto protocol, the activity
developed is aimed at evaluating the magnitude, seasonality and repartition of the carbon
fluxes and stocks in a Eucalyptus forest. Ultimately, the aim is to evaluate the
potential of the eucalyptus forest to act as a carbon sink. The research performed is
mainly experimental and, as a consequence, a significant effort has been dedicated to set
up an experimental rig at the Herdade da Espirra, Pegões, and now, a set of data taken
from different sensors, during 2002, is available.
• Full carbon balance in an eucalypt plantation in Portugal. [P7.23] The Carbon Balance
of Forest Biomes, University of Southampton during the annual meeting of the SEB from
the 1st to 4th of April 2003. J.S. Pereira (Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon);
G. Pita, J. Silva (Instituto Superior de Técnico, Lisbon); A. Fabião, M. Carneiro, C.
Nogueira (Instituto Superior de Agronomia; A. Rodrigues (Instituto Nacional de
Investigação Agrária) & E. Ribeiro (Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon).
• Fluxos de Massa e Energia na Camada Limite Atmosférica em Montado de Sobro, Abel

Martins Rodrigues, Gabriel P.A. Pita, Silva Lusitana 11(1) 31-60, 2003
• Caracterização do Escoamento e Fluxo Atmosférico de Calor Latente em Montado de Sobro,

Abel Martins Rodrigues, Gabriel P.A. Pita, Silva Lusitana 11(2) 165-184, 2003
4. Low-Power burning Systems
Current understanding of turbulent combustion identifies turbulence / chemistry

interactions and the role of different turbulent scales on the flame surface as crucial
for the future development of combustion technologies and play a major role in the
definition of turbulent combustion regimes. In addition, these interactions influence the
scalar dissipation and, for example, turbulent heat fluxes, as counter-gradient diffusion
occurs when the flow field near the flame is dominated by thermal dilatation due to
chemical reaction.
Unsteady Flows and Flames
Experimental work in progress at IN+ emphasises the use of sophisticated laser

diagnostics with high spatial and temporal resolution, which can provide innovative
results on the characterisation of scalar dissipation, turbulent heat fluxes and
vorticity near the flame front. This includes the quantification of scalar-dissipation
based on the combination of a Laser Doppler Anemometer with a LRS (Laser Rayleigh
Scattering); the characterisation of eddy length scales and of vorticity distribution
with a Particle Image Velocimetry; or the characterization of the acoustic field
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induced by combustion based on purposed built optical and sound probes.
Sample publications in 2003 include:
• Anacleto, P. M., Fernandes, E. C., Heitor M. V. and Shtork, I, (2003). "Swirl flow
structure and flame characteristics in a model lean premixed combustor", Combust. Sci.
and Tech., 175, pp.1369 - 1388.
• Cala C.E., Fernandes E.C., Heitor M.V., Shtork S.I. (2003) Characterization of
unsteady swirling flow based on phase averaging of pressure and LDA probe signals.
5th Euromech Fluid Mechanics Conference, EFMC-2003, August 24-28, 2003, Toulouse,
France.
• V. Sivadas, E.C. Fernandes and M.V. Heitor (2003) Acoustically excited air-assisted
liquid sheets. Exp. In Fluids, 34, pp.736-743.
Liquid disintegration and spray formation
The impact of droplets onto solid surfaces occurs in a variety of technological and
environmental processes. Improved understanding requires a better knowledge of the
thermo-fluid-dynamic mechanisms of interaction between the impacting droplet and the
surface.
Studies have considered the dynamic behaviour of droplets of different liquids impacting
on flat, horizontal and dry commercial surfaces. The studies are being developed on a
fundamental basis and are aimed at analyze the various outcomes of droplet impact and
establish the influencing parameters. In this context, since the nature of the target
surface plays a vital role, special attention has been given to its characterization. The
nature of the surface is characterized by the wettability, as defined by the equilibrium
contact angle and by its topography (surface roughness). The topography is characterized
by roughness amplitude (quantified with the mean roughness, Ra and the mean peak-to-
valley roughness, Rz) and its fundamental wavelength.
• “Experiments on impinging intermittent sprays: dynamic behaviour of impact”, A. L. N.

Moreira, A. S. H. Moita and M. R. Panão, III Congresso Luso – Moçambicano de
Engenharia, Maputo, Moçambique, 19 – 21 Agosto, 2003.
• “Influence of Surface Properties on the Dynamic Behaviour of Impacting Droplets”,

2003, A. S. H. Moita and A. L. N. Moreira, 9th International Conference on Liquid
Atomization and Spray Systems
Fluid – dynamics of spray-wall impingement
When a spray impacts on a solid surface, different phenomena may occur depending on the
kinetic energy and angle of impact of individual droplets, liquid properties and nature
of the surface: droplets may adhere to the target surface, the resulting liquid film
deform periodically up to all the energy at impact is dissipated, eventually causing
radial instabilities which may grow and disrupt to give rise to secondary smaller
droplets, which detach from the surface; re-atomization may also occur due to other
mechanisms such as rebound or film stripping.
A basic picture of the impingement process is usually constructed based on single droplet
impingement, either on dry or wetted surfaces. However, in a poly-disperse spray,
different phenomena occur simultaneously due to impact of multiple droplet sizes, which
interact in a complex manner and the spray cannot be described as a summation over the
entire droplet size range. In addition, when the spray is intermittent and the interposed
surface is cold, the dynamic behaviour of the re-atomized droplets also depend on the
transient formation of a liquid film; local temporal variations of its height and
velocity associated with multiple drop impact; interaction between crowns of splashing
drops and tiny bubble formation; secondary airflows induced by momentum transfer between
the spray front and the surrounding air.
Those are the important phenomena
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determining features such as mixing and combustion in reciprocating and gas turbine
engines, heat transfer rates in spray cooling systems, or the quality of the surface in
surface treatment applications. A better knowledge of those mechanisms is therefore
needed to improve the performance of practical devices, but still depends on the
availability of detailed experiments in laboratory configurations.
• M. R. O. Panão and A. L. N. Moreira (2003), “Experimental characterization of spray-

wall interaction under cross-flow conditions”, 9th International Conference on Liquid
5. Technical Change and Systems of Innovation
The work has drawn on recent conceptual approaches to economic growth, in which the
accumulation of knowledge is the fundamental driving force behind growth. This fact is
reflected in the trend in developed economies towards an increasing investment in
advanced technology, research and development, education, and culture. Concepts such as
learning ability, creativity and sustained flexibility gain greater importance as guiding
principles for the conduct of individuals, institutions, nations and regions. It is thus
legitimate to question the traditional way of viewing the role that contemporary
institutions play in the process of economic development and to argue for the need to
promote systems of innovation and competence building based on learning and knowledge
networks. Under the broad designation of “learning and knowledge networks”, the research
results discuss the necessary balance between the creation and diffusion of knowledge and
contribute to improve our understanding of the dynamics of the process of knowledge
accumulation, which drives a learning society.
• Systems and Policies for Knowledge Creation, Diffusion and Usage

o Higher Education Policy and Management
o S&T and Innovation
• Learning Economy
o Towards a "Learning Society"
o Technology and Economic Inequality
• Management of Technology and Policy Implications
o Globalization, diversification and technology capacity in the auto parts
sector
o Mobilizing information and communication technologies: implications for
regional development
o New energy systems: photovoltaic
• Strategy, Entrepreneurship and Technical change
o Collaborative Learning and Virtual Teaming
o Fostering entrepreneurship at the University
Main publications:
Books (edited):
• D. Gibson, C. Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.), (2003), Systems and

Policies for the Global Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger.
• M. Heitor, J.M.B. Brito, M.F. Rollo, H. Cayatte, J. Pessoa, R. Trindade (eds), (2003),
“Engenho e obra: memória de uma exposição”, Lisboa: Dom Quixote
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• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, B.-A. Lundvall (eds.), (2003), Innovation, Competence

Building, and Social Cohesion in Europe- Towards a Learning Society, London: Edward
Elgar.
Books in preparation:
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor (forthcoming), Innovation for All? Learning from the

Portuguese path to technical change and the dynamics of innovation. Westport and
London: Praeger.
• M. Heitor, J.M.B. Brito e M.F. Rollo (eds), (forthcoming), “Momentos de Inovação e

Engenharia em Portugal no seculo XX”, Lisboa: Dom Quixote
Technical papers in journals and books (international referee):
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, G. Sirilli and R. Wilson (2003), “The Swing of the

Pendulum from Public to Market Support for Science and Technology: Is the US Leading
the Way?”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 71(5).
• C. Costa, M. Fontes and M. Heitor (2003), “A Methodological Approach to the Marketing

Process in the Biotechnology-based Companies”. Industrial Marketing Management
Journal
• M. Heitor and J. Moutinho (2003) “Digital Cities and the opportunities for mobilizing
the information society: case studies from Portugal”, in M. Tanabe, P. van den
Besselaar and T. Ishida, Eds., Digital Cities III – Computational and sociological
approaches. Springer Verlag.
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, F. Veloso (2003), “Infrastructures, Incentives and

Institutions: fostering distributed knowledge bases for the Learning Society”,
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 70, pp.583-617.
• P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (2003), “Technological Innovation and Productivity

Growth: A Perspective after the IT Bubble’s burst”, International Journal of
Technology, Policy and Management, 3(2), pp. 113-126.
• Conceição, P. and Heitor, M. (2003). “Systems of innovation and competence building

across diversity: Learning from the Portuguese path in the European context” in
Larisa V. Shavinina (Ed.). In “International Handbook on Innovation”, Elsevier,
pp.945-975.
• Conceição, P. and Heitor, M. (2003). “Techno-economic Paradigms and Latecomer

Industrialization” in UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Eolss
Publishers, Oxford, UK
• F. Santos and M. Heitor (2003)."The cognocratic organization: toward a knowledge

theory of the firm”, in D. Gibson, C. Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.),
Systems and Policies for the Global Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger,
pp. 465-481.
• P. Conceição, D Gibson, M Heitor and C. Stolp (2003)."Knowledge and Innovation for

the Global learning Economy: building capacity for development”, in D. Gibson, C.
Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.), Systems and Policies for the Global
Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger, pp. 11-43.
6. Engineering Design: The IST Design Studio
The importance of designing discovery approaches that go beyond scientific method has
been widely discussed, and the strategy of the IST Design Studio is focused on
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stimulating a creative attitude towards innovation. In general, the analysis shows that
in the emerging learning economies, the secret of success is a combination of expertise
in a productive manner. This breaks with existing concepts of time, space, mass and
behaviour. In fact, current technological systems are complex, and carry many levels of
cultural meaning, which per se brings new challenges and opportunities for innovative
product development.
The building-up of design capabilities involves multiple learning routes, including

formal and informal processes, where the roles of design development and production
experience are simultaneously important. In this context, the IST Design Studio agenda
was launched in 2003 based on a matrix of strategic scientific areas and integrating
projects. While the scientific areas represent disciplinary-based knowledge in the way
traditionally developed in engineering schools, the integrating projects are the actual
cross-functional tools to achieve the required practical relevance of the research
agenda. These projects will appear in clusters and should allow the clear implementation
of industry-science relationships.
The research agenda in engineering design has been implemented by integrating expertise
in eight different groups of scientific areas, including:
o Materials and Manufacturing Technologies

o Mechanics
o Electronics and Microsystems
o Sustainability
o Simulation and virtual prototyping
o Systems & design methods
o Management of technology and business innovation
o Design
The projects considered of strategic value for Portugal by the time of the definition of
the IST Design Studio are grouped in the following topics:
o Autoparts for the future

o Train applications
o Sustainable mobility
o Design for citizenship
o Collaborative design
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Annex 1: Indicators (as required by Portuguese Science and Technology

Foundation, FCT)
Previsto Realizado
Livros 4 3
Artigos em Revistas Internacionais 16 14
Artigos em Revistas Nacionais 8 6
Comunicações em Encontros Científicos 18 17
Internacionais
Comunicações em Encontros Científicos - 1
Nacionais
Relatórios - -
Organização de Seminários e Conferências 10 10
Teses de Doutoramento 1 -
Teses de Mestrado 5 5
Outras
Modelos
Aplicações Computacionais
Instalações Piloto
Protótipos Laboratoriais
Patentes
Outros
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Annex 2. List of Main Publications in 2003
Books
• D. Gibson, C. Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.), (2003), Systems and
Policies for the Global Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger.
• M. Heitor, J.M.B. Brito, M.F. Rollo, H. Cayatte, J. Pessoa, R. Trindade (eds),
(2003), “Engenho e obra: memória de uma exposição”, Lisboa: Dom Quixote
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, B.-A. Lundvall (eds.), (2003), Innovation, Competence
Building, and Social Cohesion in Europe- Towards a Learning Society, London:
Edward Elgar.
Technical papers in International Journals and books
Thermofluids, Combustion and Energy Systems
• Anacleto, P. M., Fernandes, E. C., Heitor M. V. and Shtork, I, (2003). "Swirl flow
structure and flame characteristics in a model lean premixed combustor", Combust.
Sci. and Tech., 175, pp.1369 - 1388.
• V. Sivadas, E.C. Fernandes and M.V. Heitor (2003) Acoustically excited air-
assisted liquid sheets. Exp. In Fluids, 34, pp.736-743.
• Mendes-Lopes J M C, Ventura J M P, and Amaral J M P: "Flame characteristics,

temperature-time curves, and rate of spread in fires propagating in a bed of Pinus
pinaster needles", Int. J. Wildland Fire, Vol. 12, N. 1, pp. 67-84, 2003
Environmental Systems
• Canas, A., Ferrão, P. and Conceição, P. (2003) “A new environmental kuznets curve?
Relationship between direct material input and income per capita: evidence from
industrialized countries”. Journal: Ecological Economics. Volume 46, Issue 2,
September 2003 , Pages 217-229.
Technology Policy and Management of Technology
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, G. Sirilli and R. Wilson (2003), “The Swing of the

Pendulum from Public to Market Support for Science and Technology: Is the US
Leading the Way?”, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 71(5).
• C. Costa, M. Fontes and M. Heitor (2003), “A Methodological Approach to the

Marketing Process in the Biotechnology-based Companies”. Industrial Marketing
Management Journal
• M. Heitor and J. Moutinho (2003) “Digital Cities and the opportunities for
mobilizing the information society: case studies from Portugal”, in M. Tanabe, P.
van den Besselaar and T. Ishida, Eds., Digital Cities III – Computational and
sociological approaches. Springer Verlag.
• P. Conceição, M. V. Heitor, F. Veloso (2003), “Infrastructures, Incentives and

Institutions: fostering distributed knowledge bases for the Learning Society”,
Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 70, pp.583-617.
• P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (2003), “Technological Innovation and Productivity

Growth: A Perspective after the IT Bubble’s burst”, International Journal of
Technology, Policy and Management, 3(2), pp. 113-126.
• Conceição, P. and Heitor, M. (2003). “Systems of innovation and competence

building across diversity: Learning from the Portuguese path in the European
context” in Larisa V. Shavinina (Ed.). In “International Handbook on Innovation”,
Elsevier, pp.945-975.
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• Conceição, P. and Heitor, M. (2003). “Techno-economic Paradigms and Latecomer

Industrialization” in UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Eolss
Publishers, Oxford, UK
• F. Santos and M. Heitor (2003)."The cognocratic organization: toward a knowledge

theory of the firm”, in D. Gibson, C. Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.),
Systems and Policies for the Global Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger,
pp. 465-481.
• P. Conceição, D Gibson, M Heitor and C. Stolp (2003)."Knowledge and Innovation for

the Global learning Economy: building capacity for development”, in D. Gibson, C.
Stolp. P. Conceição, and M. V. Heitor (eds.), Systems and Policies for the Global
Learning Economy. Westport and London: Praeger, pp. 11-43.
• Nuno Arantes-Oliveira, Jennifer Berman and Cynthia Kenyon (2003). “Modulation of

the Insulin Pathway by the Gonad in C. Elegans: Animals that Live Six Times as
Long as Normal”. Science 302: 611.
Technical papers in National Journals and books
• Ferrão, P. (2003) “O ambiente e o sector automóvel”. Ambiente 21, rubrica de

inovação científica. Nº 8, ano II, pp. 52-53.
• P. Ferrão e M. Águas (2003) “Energia e Ambiente”, in: Engenho e Obra: Uma

Abordagem à História da Engenharia em Portugal no Século XX., pp. 304-313. Dom
Quixote.
• Fluxos de Massa e Energia na Camada Limite Atmosférica em Montado de Sobro, Abel

Martins Rodrigues, Gabriel P.A. Pita, Silva Lusitana 11(1) 31-60, 2003
• Caracterização do Escoamento e Fluxo Atmosférico de Calor Latente em Montado de

Sobro, Abel Martins Rodrigues, Gabriel P.A. Pita, Silva Lusitana 11(2) 165-184,
2003
• P. Conceição, M. Heitor e H. Horta (2003). “Reflexões sobre o ensino superior em

Portugal: perspectivas para o desenvolvimento institucional ”, em A. Amaral (ed.),
“Avaliação, revisão e consolidação da legislação do ensino superior”, CIPES,
Fundação da Universidades Portuguesas, pp. 175-195.
• M. Heitor (2003). “Bases de conhecimento e parcerias para a inovação ”, em M.J.

Rodrigues, A. Neves e M.M. Godinho (eds), “Para uma Política de Inovação em
Portugal”, Lisboa: Dom Quixote, pp.183-210.
Technical papers and communications in International Conferences
Thermofluids, Combustion and Energy Systems
• Cala C.E., Fernandes E.C., Heitor M.V., Shtork S.I. (2003) Characterization of
unsteady swirling flow based on phase averaging of pressure and LDA probe signals.
5th Euromech Fluid Mechanics Conference, EFMC-2003, August 24-28, 2003, Toulouse,
France.
• “Experiments on impinging intermittent sprays: dynamic

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behaviour of impact”, A. L. N. Moreira, A. S. H. Moita and M. R. Panão, III

Congresso Luso – Moçambicano de Engenharia, Maputo, Moçambique, 19 – 21 Agosto,
2003.
• “Influence of Surface Properties on the Dynamic Behaviour of Impacting Droplets”,

2003, A. S. H. Moita and A. L. N. Moreira, 9th International Conference on Liquid
• M. R. O. Panão and A. L. N. Moreira (2003), “Experimental characterization of

spray-wall interaction under cross-flow conditions”, 9th International Conference
on Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems
• M. N. Nina and O. S. Ferreira (2003), “Flame Stability and Dynamic Effects in

Lean-Burn Well Stirred Reactor”, Published in the Book of Extended Abstracts
available at the International Colloquium on Combustion and Noise Control,
Cranfield University, UK, 11 – 14 August 2003
• M. Nina and O. Ferreira (2003), Modelling Pollutant Emission in a well-Stirred

Reactor”, Clean Air 2003 – Seventh International Conference on Energy for Clean
Environment, Lisbon, 7-10 July 2003.
• Silva C, Farias T, and Mendes-Lopes J: “Calculation of Tailpipe Emissions in

Ecogest”, accepted for oral presentation at 7th International Conf. on Energy for
a Clean Environment, Lisbon, July 2003
• Silva C, Farias T, and Mendes-Lopes J: “Calculation of Fuel Consumption and

Engine-out Emissions in Ecogest”, accepted for oral presentation at 7th
International Conf. on Energy for a Clean Environment, Lisbon, July 2003
• Ferrão, P., J. Amaral and P. Silva. (2003).” Laying the foundations for a DfR tool
for auto components”. 14TH International Conference on Engineering Design ICED 03,
Sweden, Stockholm.
• Ferrão, P., Nhambiu, J, and Suh, S. (2003) “Industrial Ecology of Portuguese Glass
Products based on Hybrid Input-Output Analysis”. International Society or
Industrial Ecology - Conference 2003: Industrial Ecology for a Sustainable Future.
Ann Arbor, USA, June, 29th- July,2nd, 2003.
• J.S. Pereira, G. Pita, J. Silva, A. Fabião, M. Carneiro, C. Nogueira, A.

Rodrigues , E. Ribeiro (2003) Full carbon balance in an eucalypt plantation in
Portugal. [P7.23] The Carbon Balance of Forest Biomes, University of Southampton
during the annual meeting of the SEB from the 1st to 4th of April 2003.
• Pedro Conceição, Beatriz Padilla, Pedro Faria, Miguel T. Preto and Pedro Ferreira
(2003). Does Inequality Hinder the Diffusion of Technology? Preliminary
Explorations, Presented at 7th International Conference on Technology Policy and
Innovations, Monterrey, México, June 2003.
• Pedro Conceição, Pedro Faria (2003),Technology Diffusion of Modeling ICTs: Brief

Overviews and Gaps. Presented at the “Clean Technologies Diffusion Workshop” IPTS,
Seville, Spain November 2003.
• Pedro Conceição, and Manuel Heitor (2003). “The swing of the pendulum: from market
to public funding of S&T?”, Presented at 7th International Conference on
Technology Policy and Innovations, Monterrey, México, June 2003.
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• M. Heitor, R. Nunes and P. Conceição (2003). “Technological Change and the

challenges for Regional Development: Building ‘social capital’ in Less Favored
Regions”, Presented in the Intl. Conference on “Social capital, innovation and
regional development”, European Commission.
• P. Conceição, M. Heitor and F. Veloso (2003). “Innovative shocks and productivity”,

Presented at the Conference “What do We Know About Innovation? A Conference in
Honour of Keith Pavitt”, The Freeman Centre, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.,
13th-15th November 2003.
Technical papers and communications in National Conferences
• Ferrão, P., Jordão, M.F., Mendes, A.S. (2003). “ Uma bolsa de resíduos para
Portugal”. Congresso sobre tecnologias de valorização de resíduos, organizado pela
APEMETA com a colaboração do Instituto dos Resíduos. ExpoAmbiente 2003, FIL,
Lisboa, 6 e 7 de Novembro de 2003.
Master thesis
• A.L. Alves, 2003: Alternative transport solutions: on the use of high-speed boats.
(IST; supervision: M. Heitor)
• N. Ávila, 2003: Industry-Science Relationships: evidence from Portugal. (IST;

supervision: M. Heitor, P Conceição)
• M. Leocádio, 2003: “RAMS” – Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety:

Application to Railway Vehicles. (IST; supervision: M. Heitor)
• Pedro Faria, 2003: A Case Study on Environmental Policy and Innovation - The
Portuguese Olive Oil Sector in the 1990´s. (IST; supervision: Paulo Ferrão)
• Letras, J. (2003) “Critical aspects in the design for plastics packaging: a design
for environment and design for recycling perspective”. Dissertação de mestrado em
Engenharia e Gestão de Tecnologia”. (IST; supervision: Prof. Paulo Ferrão).
• Oscar D.C. Silva Ferreira “ Combustão de Pré-Misturas Pobres em Reactor de Mistura

Perfeita”, DEM-IST, Março de 2003, (IST; supervision: Prof. Mário Nina).
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Thematic Area D: Signal Processing in Communication Networks and

Multimedia
In this report, we describe the activities pursuid during 2003 in the context of the
actions
1. Signal Processing for Wireless Communications Radio Systems

2. Underwater Acoustic Communication Systems
3. Acquisition of 3D Models of Real Environments
4. Statistical Analysis of Traffic in the Internet
For each one of these actions we describe the on going projects and list the resulting
publications.
1 - Signal Processing for Wireless Communications Radio Systems
Project 1 - Separation of Digital Sources’ Mixtures by Convex

Methods
Project description: The main objective is to design a spatial division multiple access
(SDMA) receiver, which permits to blindly resolve a convolute mixture of digital sources.
An existing convex geometrical framework for binary sources is to be extended in order to
incorporate in the receiver the following features:
(a) Robustness to the channel order detection step. By (possibly) avoiding the estimation
of the orders of the space-time channels activated by the sources, the receiver will
outperform (in terms of robustness) most of the current approaches, whose performance is
known to depend crucially on the accuracy of theses estimates - specially for band
limited channels whose impulse response exhibits smooth roll offs making the channel
length ill-defined. To meet this requirement, the linear equalizers have to be
characterized directly in the observation space, which poses new theoretical challenges;
(b) Ability to cope with more generic digital modulation alphabets, e.g, PAM,QAM,PSK, etc;
(c) Increased robustness with respect to the noise power, which implies the formulation
of new convex (or quasi-convex) problems in the "least-squares" sense.
▬▬
Project 2 - Differential Geometry Based Signal Processing Techniques for the Resolution
of Convolutive Mixtures in Wireless Communications Systems
Project description: The spatial division multiple access (SDMA) concept for mobile radio
cellular systems has recently attracted much attention. SDMA is a spectral bandwidth –
saving multiple access technique, which provides increased cellular capacity via
effective exploitation of the spatial dimension of the radio resource. In SDMA – based
wireless networks, several users within the same cell share the same time – frequency
channel, as opposed to the other popular multiple access methodologies, e.g., time
division multiple access (TDMA) or frequency division multiple access (FDMA), where each
channel is occupied at most by one user at a time. This efficient spectral allocation
strategy per cell permits to expand the overall capacity of current cellular
infrastructures, without consuming additional radio frequency (RF) bandwidth. From the
receiver viewpoint, the SDMA technique raises a new signal processing problem: in
addition to suppression of the intersymbol interference (ISI) induced by multipath
propagation, the SDMA receiver has to separate the linearly superimposed users. Current
research on SDMA architectures focus on developing algorithms capable of resolving linear
convolutive mixtures of digital sources. The main goal of this proposal is the optimal
design of SDMA receivers based on differential-geometric tools. Here, optimality results
from the full exploitation of the data model, with possible incorporation of prior
knowledge (Bayesian processing).
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In fact, spatial and/or temporal over sampling is the preferred data acquisition scheme
in SDMA receivers, and leads to highly structured baseband data matrices. In general,
these can be written as the product of a block Hankel channel matrix and a block Toeplitz
signal matrix, embedded in (usually Gaussian) additive noise. Also, the entries of the
signal matrix are restricted to a finite alphabet, dictated by the chosen linear digital
modulation format. In the majority of current approaches, this information is only
partially exploited so that they are sub optimal in that respect. Moreover, by exploiting
2nd order statistic, further structure can be incorporated into the problem, as the
channel matrix can be turned unitary. In this proposal, we aim at designing maximum-
likelihood (ML) estimators of the mixing channel matrix and/or of the emitted data
sequences, which respect all the known algebraic restrictions. By fully matching the
estimators to the data model constraints, a significant improvement of their performance
can be expected. The constrained ML estimators are to be derived in a differential
geometry framework. This viewpoint has recently proven to be successful in solving some
other relevant signal processing problems, e.g., direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation,
denoising of corrupted Hankel matrices, and adaptive subspace tracking. For the
structured ML estimation problem at hand, manifold theory seems to be the most natural
setting, as the algebraic restrictions on the parameters can be efficiently expressed as
Cartesian products of certain differentiable manifolds (Lie groups orthogonal matrices,
linear varieties of Hankel matrices, etc.). Optimization of the constrained likelihood
function is to be achieved by developing techniques of optimization over differentiable
manifolds. This implies a detailed characterization of the constraint differentiable
surfaces (tangent spaces, curvature, etc.), which also provides the appropriate tools to
study the convergence properties of the class of algorithms to be derived.
Work during 2003: One line of the pursued research focus on jointly exploiting the 2nd
order statistics (SOS) of the observed data and the prior probability density function
(pdf) associated to the unknown channel matrix (Bayesian framework) in two signal
processing problems: i) blind separation of instantaneously mixed binary sources, and ii)
trained-based channel identification. Both problems arise naturally in SDMA wireless
networks. It is well known that, in a deterministic framework (channel matrix is unknown
but deterministic), the SOS of the observed data permit to solve for the channel matrix
up to a right unitary matrix. Under a Bayesian framework, this residual unitary matrix is
now a random object. Its associated pdf depends solely on the prior pdf on the channel
matrix and is easilycomputable, resorting to some differential-geometric based techniques
in Random Matrix Theory. Our work capitalizes on this statistical knowledge to design
improved signal processing techniques for the two aforementioned problems. More
specifically, in problem i), we incorporate the pdf of the residual unitary matrix into
the locally convergent algorithm, which implements the joint MAP channel/source estimator.
Our computer simulations show that a better global convergence rate is obtained whwn
compared to traditional schemes. In problem ii), exploitation of the residual pdf leads
to more accurate channel estimators. In a scenario where the header of each data packet
is known, the additional knowledge of the pdf of the residual unitary matrix proves to be
advantageous in relation to traditional schemes in what refers to the estimation of the
original channel matrix.
In another line of the pursued research, we examine the joint source symbol detection and
multi-channel acquisition problem in the context of wireless digital flat-fading links
with space diversity (as in SDMA architectures). Our approach is based on a statistical
model which decouples the time dynamics of the multi-channel vector in amplitude and
direction. We compute the most probable emitted symbol sequence and channel realization
for this statistical model, given the set of array observations. Our maximum a posterior
(MAP) receiver consists of a bank of parallel processors. Each processor finds the most
probable channel realization for a given symbol sequence via two types of algorithms: the
initialization algorithms and the refining algorithms. We develop two algorithms of the
first type: a re-formulation of the original estimation problem into a semidefinite
programming (SDP) and a scheme based on an interior point method (IPM) that solves an
approximation of the optimization problem associated with the MAP estimator. For the
second type we construct two iterative algorithms: a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) method and
a differental-geometric second order geodesic descent scheme that fully exploits the
curvature of the constraint surface. A final algorithm is obtained by concatenating the
best method in each type.
In a third line of the pursued research, we examine fundamental performance bounds for
parametric estimation problems affected by intrinsic ambiguities or smooth deterministic
constraints on the parameter vector. It is a recurrently observed fact that many
parametric statistical models suffer from ``intrinsic ambiguities" in the sense
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that the distribution of the observation vector is invariant to smooth, structured

changes in the model's parameters. A typical situation occurs in overparameterized
statistical models. The fact that certain members of the parametric statistical family
are locally undistinguishable makes the Fisher information matrix (FIM) associated to the
given statistical model singular. We examine such degenerate deterministic parameter
estimation problems from a Riemannian geometric perspective. We start by replacing the
original (ambiguous) parameter set by a lower-dimensional Riemannian (non-ambiguous)
parameter set. The new parameter set comes in the form of a quotient space and is
obtained by identifying equivalent family members in the initial parameterization. We
specialize recently developed extensions of the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for the Riemannian
setup to this particular setting. This offers a re-interpretation of the CRB inequality
involving the pseudo-inverse of the FIM. Also, we determine a lower bound on the variance
(computed with respect to the geodesic distance) of unbiased estimators taking values in
the quotient space. Geometrically, this corresponds to a fundamental limit on the
capability of these estimators in discriminating adjacent parameter equivalence classes
in the original problem parameterization. The situation where the parameter vector
obeys some a priori known deterministic contraints corresponds to parametric statistical
models indexed by embedded submanifolds of Euclidean spaces. We assume that the
constraint submanifold is connected and endowed with the Riemannian structure inherited
from the Euclidean ambient space. This turns the constraint manifold into a metric space
in which the distance between points corresponds to the geodesic distance. We discuss a
lower bound for the intrinsic variance (that is, measured in terms of the geodesic
distance) of unbiased estimators taking values in this manifold.
Publications
P. Lopes, J. Xavier, and V. Barroso, Blind Source Separation and Channel Identification:
Exploiting 2nd Order Statistics in Bayesian Frameworks, Journal of the
BrazilianTelecommunications Society (JTBS), (invited article), 2003.
P. Lopes, J. Xavier, and V. Barroso, Exploiting 2nd Order Statistics in Bayesian Signal
Reconstruction Problems, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics,
Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP'03), Hong-Kong, April 2003.
T. Patrão, J. Xavier, and V. Barroso, An Interior Point Algorithm for Joint Symbol
Detection and Multichannel Acquisition in Fast-Fading Narrowband Channels, Proceedings of
the IEEE Signal Processing Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless
Communications (SPAWC'03), Rome, Italy, June 2003.
Submissions
J. Xavier and V. Barroso, The Riemannian Geometry of Certain Parameter Estimation

Problems with Singular Fisher Information Matrices, accepted for the IEEE International
Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP'04), Montreal, Canada, May
2004.
J. Xavier and V. Barroso, Geodesic Lower Bound for Parametric Estimation with Constraints,
accepted for the IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances on Wireless Communications
(SPAWC’04), Lisbon, Portugal, July 2004.
2 - Underwater Acoustic Communication Systems
Project 1 - Channel Estimation for Equalization and Synchronization in OFDM Underwater

Acoustic Communication Systems
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Project description: Digital communication using acoustic modems is the method of choice
for exchanging data among distant or highly mobile equipment used in various underwater
activities. However, achieving efficient communication in this environment is challenging
due to severe distortions that affect the transmitted signals as they undergo multiple
reflections and refractions in their propagation path. Attempts to overcome these
impairments in high data rate coherent modems haven't been entirely satisfactory, thus
hampering their widespread adoption.
Recently, much attention has been devoted to the use of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing) modulation for wireless and cable applications as a way of
approaching channel capacity with simple transmitter/receiver architectures. In OFDM the
message stream is divided into many parallel lower rate streams that modulate a set of
partially overlapping orthogonal carriers. Since longer symbols are less sensitive to
multipath, equalization requirements may be considerably relaxed on each subcarrier. This
feature is quite appealing in underwater communications, where highly complex filters
used for equalization constitute the main computational bottleneck.
Although preliminary studies on the use of OFDM for underwater coherent communication
have been published, the analyses are rather superficial and should mainly be regarded as
proof of concept. The present proposal will address issues that are particularly relevant
in an underwater environment:
1- Channel identification and equalization are extremely important in underwater

communication because multipath propagation may induce channel responses lasting hundreds
of milliseconds. Unlike terrestrial OFDM applications, frequency-selective channels have
to be explicitly considered. Recently developed blind or semi-blind identification
techniques should be applicable under such conditions, thus reducing the need for pilot
tones.
2- Significant Doppler shift may be induced in acoustic waveforms even by relatively slow
emitter/transmitter motion caused by waves and currents. Performance studies for
terrestrial OFDM have shown that accurate tracking of average Doppler is required to
ensure low intercarrier interference. Average and differential Doppler compensation has
not been studied in detail for single-carrier communications, but it will likely play an
important role in underwater OFDM systems. An approach based on simple ray propagation
models will be used to predict the evolution of Doppler in each path and guide the
tracking algorithms.
Work during 2003: Motivated by research on space-time modulation/coding in wireless radio

channels using multiple transmit and receive antennas, the topic of MIMO channel
equalization has recently attracted much interest. The MIMO channel framework comprises a
set of data streams from a number of sources that propagate through a linear dispersive
channel such that, at a set of receivers, the observed signals are corrupted by interuser
interference and self-interference. This rich framework can model a wide variety of
modulations and operating scenarios, including orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
(OFDM), which is particularly relevant in the context of this project. When compared with
other approaches, the proposed equalization structure provides a direct extension of
known single-user results, thus retaining the ability to handle severe multipath
distortion. This property is crucial for successful OFDM demodulation in underwater
channels.
Time-reversed focusing was previously proposed as a means of reducing the effects of

intersymbol interference in digital communication signals, including OFDM-modulated
waveforms. MIMO equalization can complement time reversal when sufficiently accurate
focusing cannot be attained. When compared with cyclic-prefix insertion, this approach
improves the efficiency in bandwidth usage.
▬▬
Project 2 - Detection and Fuzzy Classification of Transient Signals in the Time -

Frequency Plane
Project description: New techniques for passive detection and classification of

underwater acoustic transient signals are developed and tested. The focus is on
theoretical and algorithmic aspects so as to achieve an acceptable compromise
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between optimality and robustness to model mismatches, and computational efficiency.

Several classes of transients are considered, e.g., man made, mammals' signatures, and
spiky noise generated by hydrothermal vents, covering a diversity of frequency bands and
physically appropriate source models (deterministic and stochastic). The methods here
proposed match the temporal non-stationarity of transient signals. Observation noise is
assumed either Gaussian or non-Gaussian impulvive.
Data representation involves filtering and sampling the received signal, followed by a
linear decomposition using the discrete wavelet transform with compactly supported short
duration filters. Assuming that a delayed signal is correctly represented by its delayed
coefficients, the process described is optimized, yielding the best compromise between
performance and computational complexity. This implies choosing the observation intervals,
the sampling frequencies, the likelihood test rates for real-time processing, and the
design of the mother wavelets. Suboptimum processors are also developped for multipath
ambients, assuming random multipath attenuations and delays. The proposed approach can
increase the robustness of the resulting detector, requiring much less computations than
the generalized likelihood ratio test.
Translating classical detection techniques to the Time-Frequency (TF) plane does not
produce better detection statistics. However, working in the TF plane provides a
significant advantage: more powerful pre and post processing allow operation in lower
SNR's (<-5 dB). By adjusting the TF kernel, distinct suboptimal detectors result and the
best suited for each specific transient can be selected. Additional complexity, due to
bidimensional correlation, is combated using a generalised distribution, representing the
transient as a delta distribution. This square roots the computational cost. The design
of that distribution, being trivial for polynomial phase signals, is generalised to
accommodate the transients considered.
The performance of the proposed techniques is evaluated based on the theoretical analysis
of the algorithms developed and/or on computer experiments driven by simulated and real
data.
Work during 2003: Model Based Detection with Optimised Wavelet

Decomposition
The previous work developed under the current project had shown that local stationarity
was important to achieve the efficient detection of transient processes. When the
processes are locally stationary, the wavelet transform is efficient for real-time
detection. The results obtained showed that the existence (or not) of local stationarity
could be observed either in the Time-frequency plane (or Wigner distribution) or the two-
dimensional power spectrum, both derived from the process two-dimensional autocorrelation
function.
In 2003, we focused our attention on the search of a simple algorithm that would allow
for the estimation of locally stationary autocorrelation functions (or covariance
matrices in the discrete-time domain) from data. It was shown that although, in general,
the estimates of covariance matrices that concentrate the maximum of the signal energy in
the smallest number of nonzero eigenvalues are not locally stationary, it is always
possible to obtain a stationary description of the process to detect. An easy-to-
implement algorithm to obtain a locally stationary covariance matrix from a non-locally
stationary one was derived, and the corresponding efficiency gains were assessed by
comparison tests were performed using real-data underwater transients collected in the
scope of the project in the first year sea mission.
Publications
Chapters in Books
Paulo M. Oliveira, V. Barroso. Uncertainty in Time-Frequency Analysis. Invited article in

chapter on Time-Frequency Signal and System Analysis, “Time-Frequency Signal Analysis and
Processing, A Comprehensive Reference,” Ed. B. Boashash, Elsevier, 2003.
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João Gomes, Victor Barroso. "Doppler Compensation in Underwater Channels Using a Time-
Reversal Array," Proc. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal
Processing (ICASSP 2003), Hong Kong, April 2003.
Francisco M. Garcia, Isabel M. G. Lourtie. "Estimation of Locally Covariance Matrices

from Data", Proc. IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal
Processing (ICASSP 2003), Hong Kong, April 2003.
In National Conferences
João Gomes, Victor Barroso. "QR-RLS Adaptation of Modular Multichannel Lattice Filters,"
Proc. of the 4th Conference on Telecommunications (ConfTele 2003), Aveiro, Portugal, June
2003.
Paulo M. Oliveira, Victor A. N. Barroso, ''Numerical Differentiation of Discrete-Time

Sequences,'' submitted to IV Conferência em Telecomunicações, CONFTELE 2003, Aveiro,
Portugal, 2003.
Submissions
Francisco M. Garcia, Isabel M. G. Lourtie, "Detection of transient signals with unknown

localization". To appear: IEEE Signal Processing Letters.
Jorge Buescu, A. C. Paixão, Francisco Garcia, Isabel Lourtie, "Positive-definiteness,

integral equations and Fourier transforms". To appear: Journal of Integral Equations and
Applications.
J. Gomes, V. Barroso. "MIMO Decision-Feedback Equalization with Direct Channel

Estimation," Accepted in the 5th IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless
Communications (SPAWC 2004), Lisboa, Portugal, July 2004.
J. Gomes, V. Barroso. "Time-Reversed OFDM Communication in Underwater Channels," Accepted

in the 5th IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC
2004), Lisboa, Portugal, July 2004.
3 - Acquisition of 3D Models of Real Environments
Project 1 - AMA- Automatic Modeling of Architecture
Project description: The goal of this project is to develop a new approach to the fully
automatic 3D modelling of architecture from a video sequence.
The recovery of 3D structure (3D shape and 3D motion) from a video sequence has been
widely addressed in the recent past by the computer vision community. The strongest cue
to estimating the 3D structure from a video clip is the 2D motion of the brightness
pattern in the image plane. For this reason, the problem is generally referred to as
structure from motion (SFM). Early approaches to SFM processed a single pair of
consecutive frames. Two-frame based algorithms are highly sensitive to image noise. More
recent research has been oriented towards the use of longer image sequences. The problem
of estimating 3D structure from multiple frames has a larger number of unknowns (the 3D
shape and the set of 3D positions) but it is more constrained than the two-frame SFM
problem because of the rigidity of the scene. The usual approach to multi-frame SFM
relies on the matching of a set of feature points along the image sequence.
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Dense 3D shape estimates usually require hundreds of features that are difficult to track
and that lead to a complex correspondence problem. Due to this difficulty, the automatic
3D modelling from video is still an open research problem.
This project attempts to overcome the difficulty outlined above by taking into account
the more distinctive characteristic of common buildings - the flatness of their walls.
The methods and algorithms to be developed within this project consider particular scenes
whose 3D shape is well described by a piecewise planar model. Under this scenario,
instead of tracking pointwise features, one can track larger regions where the 2D motion
is described by a single set of parameters. The 3D structure of the scene is then
computed from the 2D motion parameters. This approach avoids the correspondence problem
and is particularly suited to constructing 3D models for buildings and urban scenes that
are well described by piecewise flat surfaces.
The proposed project will lead to a method that is simultaneously a powerful tool to
"virtualize" buildings and urban scenes and a further step into the development of
artificial vision systems. Usually, constructing 3D scene descriptions suitable to
virtual manipulation requires a lot of human interaction. The usefulness of the proposed
method is due to the fact that it replaces the human interaction by a procedure that
recovers 3D models from a video clip in a fully automatic way. That method can also be
seen as a further step into the development of artificial vision systems because the
piecewise planar assumption is valid as an approximation of the shape of the environment
in more general scenarios.
The approach to be followed in this project is then summarized in the following two steps:
Step i) From the video sequence, estimate the set of parameters describing the 2D motion
of the image brightness pattern. The 2D displacement between two perspective views of the
points that fall into a plane is given by a homography. The first part of the project
will be devoted to the development of a new method to robustly estimate homographies from
pairs of images.
Step ii) Given the set of parameters describing the 2D motion, compute the 3D shape of
the scene and the 3D motion of the camera. The second part of the project concerns
solving this large non-linear problem by using linear subspace constraints that proved to
be efficient in related problems.
Work during 2003: In 2003, our research toward inferring three-dimensional (3-D) models,
e.g., architectural models, from video sequences, followed two distinct lines:
• Factorization with missing data. The so-called factorization methods recover 3-D
rigid structure from motion by factorizing an observation matrix that collects 2-D
projections of features. These methods became popular due to their robustness - they
use a large number of views and model rigidity from scratch, which constrains
adequately the solution - and computational simplicity - the large number of unknowns
is computed through an SVD, avoiding non-linear optimization. However, they require
that all the entries of the observation matrix are known. This is unlikely to happen
in practice, due to self-occlusion and limited field of view. We developed and tested
new algorithms that, unlike SVD, are able to cope with matrices containing unknown
entries.
• Exploitation of the statistics of the image gradient. An image of an urban scene,
either indoor or outdoor, usually contains many edges aligned with three orthogonal
axes. We use this fact to estimate the 3-D orientation of the camera with respect to
the coordinate system defined by those axis. This is done by exploiting the
statistical distribution of the spatial gradient of the image, under a Bayesian
estimation.
▬▬
Project 2 - 3D Modeling from Video
Project description: This project proposes to develop a methodology for video coding by
using intermediate 3D representations. The coded video includes a representation of the
scene's 3D shape and texture, producing as output a sequence of synthetic views
of the scene (which could be different from the original ones). This opens new
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perspectives to go one step forward towards general content-based video representations.

There are three main issues involved, which we propose to tackle:
1 - Image to image matching,

2 - Image to model matching and
3 - 3D model building and generation of images from the 3D model.
The main idea is to create a feedback loop of "a priori" knowledge provided by the
existent 3D scene model into the matching process, in a global way. By formalizing image
to image and image to model matching as an integer programming problem which is then
relaxed to a concave programming problem (see [5]), authors believe the whole process of
matching and 3D reconstruction can be integrated into a single recursive framework.
Work during 2003: Complexity reduction by outlier removal. Complexity is a key factor in
obtaining feasible solutions. We have developed an efficient, global, outlier removal
procedure in image-to-image matching. So far it has been applied to image registration
(mosaicing) but we are extending it to 3D reconstruction. This criterion leads to a
linear program formulation, which is solved with dual with affine scaling method. We
assume affine model transformations and matched images.
Publications
João Maciel, João Paulo Costeira, A Global Solution to Sparse Correspondence Problems,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PATTERN ANALYSIS AND MACHINE INTELLIGENCE, VOL. 25, NO. 2, FEBRUARY
2003.
Pedro M. Q. Aguiar, José M. F. Moura. “Rank 1 Weighted Factorization for 3D Structure

Recovery: Algorithms and Performance Analysis,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and
Machine Intelligence, vol. 25, no. 9, September 2003.
Cristina Videira Lopes, Pedro M. Q. Aguiar. “Acoustic Modems for Ubiquitous Computing,”
IEEE Pervasive Computing Magazine, vol. 2, no. 3, July-September 2003.
André T. Martins, Pedro M. Q. Aguiar, and Mário A. T. Figueiredo. “Navigating in

Manhattan: 3D orientation from video without correspondences,” IEEE International
Conference on Image Processing ICIP'03, Barcelona, Spain, September 2003.
Rui F. C. Guerreiro, Pedro M. Q. Aguiar. “Estimation of Rank Deficient Matrices from

Partial Observations: Two-Step Iterative Algorithms,” Energy Minimization Methods in
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Lisboa, Portugal, July 2003, Lectures Notes in
Computer Science, Springer-Verlag.
Submissions
Books
Pedro M. Q. Aguiar, Radu S. Jasinschi, José M. F. Moura, and Charnchai Pluempitiwiriyawej.

Content-based Image Sequence Representation In Digital Image Sequence Processing:
Compression and Analysis, to be editted by CRC Press in 2004.
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Pedro M. Q. Aguiar, José M. F. Moura, “Figure–Ground Segmentation from Occlusion,”

submitted to IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, November 2003.
4 - Statistical Analysis of Traffic in the Internet
This is an area under development that has been launched during 2002. Preliminary work
was developed in the topic of Queuing Networks and reported. In particular, we focused
our research on determining a probably stabilizing regulator for distributed scheduling
policies for multi-class queuing networks.
Work during 2003: In 2003 we investigated whether that regulator could improve
performance over existing policies when stability is not a major concern.
Publications
José A. A. Moreira, Carlos F. Bispo. "Performance Improvement through Active Idleness",

11th Mediterranean Conference on Control and Automation, Rhodes, Greece, June 2003.
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Associate Laboratory Institute For Systems and Robotics

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Associate Laboratory Institute For Systems and Robotics

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ASSOCIATE LABORATORY

INSTITUTE FOR SYSTEMS AND ROBOTICS

ISR – Torre Norte,

* According to the contract signed by FCT, ISR-Lisbon and IST.

The activities are described for the 4 thematic areas:

A –Technologies for Ocean Exploration

Thematic Area A: Technologies for Ocean Exploration

B. Center for Mineral Resources, Mineralogy, and Crystallography of the Faculty of

C. Center of IMAR of the Department of Oceanography and Fisheries of the University

A. Institute for System and Robotics – Lisbon Pole, Instituto Superior

A.1. Scientific Activity

• Contributing to furthering the knowledge in the general area of dynamical systems

• Advancing the development of software and hardware for the development of

• Developing tools for acoustic and scientific equipment interfacing; performing

ii. nonlinear control theory with applications to coordinated control of multiple

understanding of the oceans. Representative institutions include the following:

• Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Naval Postgraduate School,

A- Northern Seamount B – “Piedade” Seamount

1. Linear and Nonlinear Systems Theory: Navigation, Guidance, and Control.

1.2 Control of Marine Vehicles using Output Feedback Techniques

The importance of output feedback control strategies cannot be overemphasized: in

1.3 Integrated Guidance and Control Systems Design.

1.4 Terrain Tracking Systems

1.5 Navigation and Positioning Systems

processing of data obtained at sea, using navigational information. This proved

Positioning.Classical approaches to underwater vehicle positioning include the use of

2. Coordinated Motion Control

Combined autonomous surface craft / autonomous

3. Modeling, Parameter Estimation and Identification, and Integrated Plant-

3.1 Integrated Plant-Controller Optimization with Applications to Marine

ISR / IST, Portugal USP, Brasil

Parameter Analytical and

AUV: CAD file model;

NTNU, Norway NIO, India

Collaborative research programme on AUV modeling and parameter estimation / identification

3.2 Modeling of Air Vehicles

4. Multiple Vehicle Mission Control

Cooperation with other ISR Laboratories

• Landmark Based Underwater Navigation – the VISLAB contribution focused on video

• Underwater Communication Systems (with the Signal Processing Lab) –

A.2 Representative Projects

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (IST/ISR)

Research Areas: Navigation, Guidance, and Control of Marine Vehicles

Instituto Superior Técnico (P), University of Southampton (UK), IFREMER (F).

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (IST/ISR)

Research Areas: Marine Habitat Mapping Techniques

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (IST/ISR)

Project Description: The objective of the present project is the development of a

Another objective of the project is the possibility of applying a new concept by

ii) the experience of operation of ROV´s in the Portuguese environments (IMAR-LMG,

This is an important step in the development of collaborative ventures between science

Research Areas: Marine Habitat Mapping Techniques

Project name: ALTICOPTER

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. Carlos Silvestre (ISR / IST)

The X-treme model helicopter of the DSORL

Classification: FCT - Sapiens

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. Carlos Silvestre (ISR / IST)

Project description: The cost of a rubble-mound breakwater, its expected behaviour, as

i) To use the latest technological breakthroughs in positioning, navigation, and

The IRIS tool Simultaneous above and underwater surveying

Scientific Coordinator at ISR: Prof. António Pascoal (ISR / IST)

The MAYA AUV – Mechanical Design of the NIO, India