CFT 260004 Supply, Delivery, Training, and Commissioning of Two Micro-AUV Systems for Marine Habitat Mapping, PeacePLUS funded

The MOSAIC project, funded under SEUPB’s PeacePLUS programme, requires advanced autonomous survey capability to support habitat association modelling, seabed mapping, and conservation planning for OSPAR-listed elasmobranchs around the Northern Ireland and Donegal coastline. To meet these scientific and operational objectives, Queen’s University Belfast seeks to procure two micro Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) systems capable of delivering high-resolution side scan sonar (SSS) imagery and georeferenced photogrammetric datasets. Traditional survey methods using divers, ROVs, or towed systems are limited by weather dependency, risk, cost, and lack of repeatability. Micro AUVs overcome these limitations by providing safe, autonomous, repeatable, and cost efficient surveys at 30–300 m depth. Two complementary AUV platforms are required: one dedicated to side scan sonar mapping of benthic habitats, and one equipped for photogrammetry to capture detailed seabed imagery for egg case detection, microhabitat annotation, and ground truthing of predictive models.