State-of-the-Art Facilities for Marine Science
Marine technology development relies on the facilities and workshops to fine-tune, test and build the said technology needed to further understand our ocean. At NOC, these facilities are available for our engineering teams as well as partners.
NOC is home to state-of-the-art workshops including Optics Workshop, Sensors Workshop, Glider Workshop, Large Vehicle Workshop and Hangar Workshop. Information on all facilities can be seen below.
Optics Workshop
The optics workshop is a space with temperature and humidity management and no external windows. This is a requirement for a number of investigations, especially for optical studies. The workshop is currently undergoing re-purposing where a range of integration, calibration and validation work can be performed.
Key equipment includes:
- Environmental chamber (0.6 × 0.6 × 0.75m internal volume)
- Wafer probe station (can accommodate 8″ wafers or similar planer samples, two probes available for applying test waveforms to samples)
- High accuracy and stability (± 2mK) plain water calibration bath
- Sink with reverse osmosis supply
In the future the optics workshop will include more space for testing the integration of various sensors, short-mid term storage for equipment required for regularly deployment, workstations for performing minor electronics work and greater calibration potential (temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen).
Sensors Workshop
The sensors workshop is the main facility where the microfluidic chips are cut, assembled and tested and prepared for ocean deployments. The workshop includes milling machines for cutting the chips, a darkroom for setting up and assembling the optics for the chip detection systems and soldering stations for the chip assembly. In addition, sensor housings are also assembled in the workshop with the option of oil filled housings if required.
The main three types of sensors assembled in the sensors workshop are nitrate, phosphate and pH sensors. All three sensors use the same chip footprint but with different microfluidic configurations.
Key equipment includes:
- LPKF ProtoMat S100 micro-milling machines
- Quality control Zeta 20 3-D optical profiler
- Optical alignment equipment from ThorLabs
- Soldering stations for chip assembly
Vehicles Workshops
Several of our workshop spaces are specialised for the building of autonomous and robotic vehicles, which can then be tested in our specialised on-site testing facilities. These facilities are available for use by partners of the Innovation Centre. Hire to external members of the marine science community can also be negotiated on a case-by-case basis:
Glider workshop:
- Work benches for four gliders
- Half tonne overhead gantry
- Celling mounted power
- Cupboards/lockable storage
Large vehicle workshop:
- 10 tonne overhead gantry
- Roller doors to dockside access
- 3D prototyping
- Laser cutting
Hangar workshop:
- 5 tonne overhead gantry
Vehicles Workshops Gallery
NOC's Marine Technology Development
NOC has been a pioneer of ocean technology for generations. From the conception of tide predicting machines to deploying one of the first ever autonomous vehicles, technological developments in marine autonomy and observing tools has enabled marine science to reach some areas of the ocean once unable to reach by humans.