'As it Is'

01/01/1970

By the Head of the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute

The Portuguese Hydrographic Institute (IHPT) was established in 1960. However it is the successor of the historic hydrography from the 15th century and of the modern age of Portuguese hydrography, since the 19th century. This examination of the Service brings together both Portuguese maritime history and the most recent technology.

Vice-admiral Carlos Viegas Filipe, Head of the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute

Nowadays, the IHPT has a solid scientific reputation. Within the frame of the Portuguese Navy it is much interconnected with the scientific community, in promoting marine interdisciplinary research. For this purposes, nearly 375 officers and civilians work in distinct, yet complementary activities, such as hydrography, oceanography, geology, navigation, chemistry and pollution. One of the main priorities of IHPT is to assist the Portuguese Navy. Nevertheless, there is a strong public service dimension to the activities.
The availability of the deep-sea vessel NRP D. Carlos I, provided with the most modern equipment and the equipage of the deep-sea vessel NRP Almirante Gago Coutinho (planned for 2006) with multipurpose capabilities provide great opportunities in support of marine research.
The development of the potential of the Electronic Nautical Chart (ENC), through membership of the IC-ENC, combined with the exploitation of the hydrographic data warehouse concept supporting all the bathymetric information required to develop a print-on-demand chart capacity and to produce Additional Military Layers in favour of the naval operations, are some of the most important objectives. IHPT is also contributing to the Coast Chart Project, namely on the definition of Western African data, in the scope of the Eastern Atlantic Hydrographic Commission.
The IHPT is the national authority in issuing Notices to Mariners and disseminating nautical information, and since 2002 has provided total coverage of Portuguese waters by Differential GPS. On the other hand, the acquisition and dissemination of oceanographic and geological information, the support to national and NATO naval operations, namely throughout the Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA), as well as the participation in many international scientific projects such as MOCASSIM, EUROSTRATA-FORM and HERMES, put the IHPT in the centre of the scientific knowledge of the sea in Portugal. The hydrographic and geological know-ledge of the marine sub-floor will be important in the evaluating the possibilities of extending the Portuguese continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles.
Regarding data, all information is processed and managed by the Data Centre. Training and instruction are centralised in our School of Hydro-graphy and Oceanography that runs the Specialisation Course in Hydrography and the Technical Course in Hydrography, recognised by FIG/IHO/ICA.
Considering the importance of the IHO, the IHPT has been actively engaged in that organisation, since its very beginning. Being aware of the important role of Portugal as partners of the Portuguese-speaking African countries, IHPT has been assisting these countries, specifically in the building up of hydrographic capacities in Mozambique and The Cape Verde Islands.
It is believed that the added value of human and technical resources will assume a critical role in the future of the IHPT. The foremost commitment in promoting knowledge and environmental protection of the oceans has to be grounded in our dedication to the scientific research and technological development as well as in the awareness of our leaders vis a vis the role that the oceans will play in the 21st century regarding the sustainability of life on earth.

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ROAZ Autonomous Surface Vehicles

The ROAZ Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) research program, focuses on marine robotics systems, namely design issues in surface autonomous robots, navigation and control problems, multiple (and eventually heterogeneous) robot coordination and environmental perception questions.
The application of autonoous systems in the marine environment for scientific, security, inspection and rescue missions is addressed.

Two autonomous surface robots where developed at Autonomous Systems Laboratory from ISEP - IPP (Porto Polytechnic Institute): ROAZ ASV a small size autonomous surface boat and the ocean operations ROAZ II ASV.

The autonomous marine surface robots were designed for environmental monitoring, bathymetry, science data gathering, search and rescue support and security missions. The ocean capable twin-hull ROAZ II has a set of sensors, ranging from thermographic camera, sidescan sonar to CTD allowing a diversified set o missions. The vehicles have performed several real operational scenario missions, from harbor security, bathymetry, autonomous AUV docking or technical demonstration in cooperation with the Portuguese navy in NATO Swordfish 06 exercises.

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