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Nowadays, oceans represent a very important part of our economies, as ways of communication between countries and because of the resources they contain, making their safety and protection major concerns that we all face. Because of this, there are several threats which must be dealt with. One of these threats are the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) agents. In this framework, the development of technologies with the potential to increase the capabilities for detection of pollutants or toxic materials and situational awareness plays a significant role in the case of events in the scope of maritime accidents, pollution or port safety and security. These scenarios can pose substantial challenges to the operations, due to their complexity, and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) is increasingly becoming ubiquitous in this context. This paper is focused in operation environment demonstrations, which aimed to validate the operational feasibility of the concept simulating two different scenarios; chemical and radiological. The selected scenarios were chosen on a risk probability analysis, being very approximate to a real-life incident. This system was tested, and the validation tests are also represented. It proved to be an asset in CBRN releases, either intentional or non-intentional.

The current evolution of unmanned systems has unlocked a valuable opportunity to extend military operational capabilities in maritime environments, through the performance of missions such as: maritime reconnaissance, surveillance, patrolling, and search and rescue. To further develop this potential, the implementation of an interoperable structure that contains several unmanned vehicles cooperating and interacting to achieve a common goal, is essential. This paper aims at presenting the benefits of the use of unmanned systems, the benefits of the developing interoperability between unmanned vehicles, and at presenting a practical implementation of an onboard unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) controller that allows the addition of several new functionalities to the UAV, like performing visual autonomous landing on warships. The development of the controller explores the potential of the Robotic Operating System, which provides a variety of libraries, tools and functionalities, as well as the capability of hardware abstraction, and it promotes and supports the development of new technologies. This work will provide a step further on the development of unmanned systems associated to the Portuguese Navy, and also to become a bedrock for future development.

The growing interest in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) led to the boom development of these systems. Nowadays, these systems can be introduced in almost any task, either for civilian or military purposes. In fact, there are several communication protocols for these vehicles, in order to control the vehicle and to enable the exchange of information between the UAV and Ground Control Station (GCS). Interoperability among systems is a key factor in any military operation. This paper describes a system that creates a translation between two communication protocols for UAVs and GCSs: Micro Aerial Vehicle Communication Protocol (MAVLink) and STANAG 4586. MAVLink is a communication protocol used by several UAVs, whereas STANAG 4485 is a complete standard that was created in order to have NATO interoperability between these vehicles. The bridge will be connected to a Raspberry Pi computer, in order to be easily introduced in any UAV. This project will allow STANAG 4586 compliant GCSs to operate with MAVLink protocol UAVs, in order to achieve interoperability between NATO members' UAVs.

This paper aims at presenting the STRONGMAR Summer School 2016 that took place at the Base Naval de Lisboa, of the Portuguese Navy. The STRONGMAR project ideal motivates the development of maritime and marine science research and technology through the knowledge transfer between INESC TEC and promising, and prestigious, leading research European institutions. This process takes place through theoretical lectures and training, and via experimental application of the concepts discussed in order to further develop technology related to the sea environment. The practical application of the STRONGMAR project ideal takes place during events such as summer schools, winter schools, thematic workshops and scientific conferences. The STRONGMAR Summer School 2016 approaches the subject of “Introduction to Advanced Marine Technologies”, providing a strong component of practical applications in underwater archaeology. It develops the study of unmanned systems applied to underwater archaeology, through the use of unmanned underwater vehicles. As a whole, this paper describes the Summer School experience, providing some results and greater insight on the topic of underwater archaeology.