At the end of the first year of the AQUO project “Achieve QUieter Oceans by shipping noise footprint reduction”, TSI-TÉCNICAS Y SERVICIOS DE INGENIERÍA S.L. has participated in the prestigious conference AMT´13 “International conference on advanced model measurement technologies for the maritime industry” organized by the Newcastle University in Gdansk (Poland) to present a paper describing the first steps carried out in the AQUO project regarding the evaluation of deficiencies in the current Underwater Radiated Noise measurement standards and class notation.
The presented paper was titled: “Identification and evaluation of the uncertainties in the current measurement standards, within the framework of AQUO project”. This qualitative approach to the global uncertainty and repeatability of the full-scale measurement revealed a lack of knowledge and deep studies to properly support the estimation of these crucial magnitudes in the current standard procedures and class notations. The final conclusions of the paper have increased the expectation about the following steps of the project due to the huge necessity of improving the current situation so as to convince the marine industry about the technical feasibility to evaluate the vessels according to the forthcoming regulation in an accurate and controlled way.
Currently, the second part of this ongoing study, within the AQUO project, intends to move from a qualitative approach to a quantitative evaluation of the uncertainties and repeatability so we are able to define a new measurement European standard based on this comprehensive approach which enable us to certify a good quality of the measured underwater signatures.
At the end of the venue, the second plenary meeting of the AQUO project took place in the facilities of CTO, S.A by courtesy of our polish partner. This event was attended by the following AQUO partners: DCNS, BUREAU VERITAS, UPC, QUIET-OCEANS, SSPA, UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA, UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE, CEHIPAR, FOI, CTO and TSI.
Within the WP3 of the project, the full-scale measurements in a commercial tanker, two fishing research vessels and one ferry, which are scheduled for before the end of the year, remain crucial to collect all the accurate experimental data to perform the previous detailed studies and to deliver a final version of the new European Standard to the European Commission.
Finally, during 2014 the second part of the current paper will be elaborated following a “Quantitative approach to the uncertainties as well as solutions by the use of the New European Standard for underwater noise measurement within the AQUO project”.
