Together with bbe Moldaenke GmbH, the Authority for Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture (BUKEA) and the University of Lübeck, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is launching the innovative research project SIMON (Smarter Water Protection Inspired by 4-Dimensional Underwater Monitoring). The project is funded as part of the Digital GreenTech Robotics Call by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).

With a planned duration of 24 months and a total budget of around one million euros, SIMON aims to open up new approaches for the use of autonomous underwater robotics in environmental water monitoring. HPA will receive funding of approximately €232,000.

Intelligent robotics is intended to help identify ecological changes in rivers at an early stage and enable sustainable decision-making. There is a particularly strong demand in the field of underwater monitoring for precise, continuous and autonomous measurement methods.

The focus of the SIMON project is the development and testing of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) equipped with advanced sensor technology in the tidal Elbe area of the Port of Hamburg. Parameters recorded include suspended matter concentrations, oxygen levels, algal composition and oil residues, as well as their potential sources. The data collected will be integrated directly into the digital port twin in order to detect and visualise environmental changes in a timely manner in the future. Another key focus is the development and testing of autonomous underwater navigation methods.

Katharina Fegebank, Senator for Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture
“The protection of our waters is a central task for Hamburg’s sustainable development. With the SIMON research project, we are relying on innovative technologies to identify environmental changes in the Port of Hamburg at an early stage and take targeted action. I am particularly pleased that the Institute for Hygiene and Environment, with its many years of expertise in developing modern sensor technology and measurement programmes, is making an important contribution to the success of the project.”

Jens Meier, CEO, Hamburg Port Authority
“With SIMON, HPA and its project partners are marking another milestone on the path towards a digitalised, sustainable and resilient port operation. The combination of robotics, real-time data and a digital twin creates new opportunities to detect ecological changes early and respond effectively.”

Sönke Kobarg, Managing Director, bbe Moldaenke GmbH
“For more than three decades, we have been developing, manufacturing and distributing sensors for water monitoring. SIMON enables us to adapt and deploy bbe sensors for use in an AUV. From our perspective, water monitoring using AUVs is contemporary and forward-looking.”

Prof Dr-Ing Mladen Berekovic, Head of the Institute of Technical Computer Science, University of Lübeck
“With the SIMON project, we are building on our previous work in the field of autonomous robotic systems – in particular Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) – and aim to equip them with new, intelligent sensor concepts and embedded computing solutions to enable them to handle complex tasks that involve high occupational risk for humans and/or significant economic effort. It is particularly important to us to translate scientific results into practical application.”
Source: Hamburg Port Authority