Field visit at NIO

The Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering of Don Bosco College Of Engineering under DBEATS (DON BOSCO ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATION SOCIETY ) organised a field trip on April 20, 2023.

 The group of  students who were accompanied by Prof. Michelle Viegas-DBEATS Coordinator went on an industrial field trip to NIO (NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OCEANOGRAPHY), Goa. The purpose of this field visit was to understand the practical aspect of Engineering in Oceanography.

 The National Institute of Oceanography, founded on  January 1, 1966 as one of the 38 constituent laboratories of CSIR, is a self governing research organisation in India that conducts scientific research and studies on the unique Oceanographic features of the Northern Indian ocean.

It started with a detailed presentation on the History, Research, Contribution and Services. NIO researchers have undertaken a number of projects in service of the industry. One of the first projects taken up by NIO on acquiring its Research vessel RV Gaveshani was demarcation of a pipeline for carrying oil from India’s first offshore oil field at Bombay High.

Thereafter , the students also got an opportunity to interact with the company’s engineers and managers, who provided a detailed explanation on the robots used underwater for multiple applications.

Mr. Anand Lokapurkar explained about the Autonomous Vertical Profiler (AVM) which belongs to the class of propelled robot vehicles that traverse the water column vertically. The AVP has an ability to dive into the water and hover at the defined points autonomously. The robot is portable, easy to operate and very useful for rapid and time series profiling. It runs on rechargeable batteries and eco friendly material is used for construction.

Mr. Prenner explained about the robot Coral Bot, which is a fully autonomous robot with pre-programmed mission and multiple applications like seabed photography, underwater pipeline inspection, harbour surveillance, ocean research and water quality studies.

The industrial visit was a great learning experience for all of the students who gained an understanding of how Engineering principles are applied in Oceanography and its importance.