This report highlights CMRE activities developed in year 2021.

Proceedings of the Maritime Situational Awareness Workshop 2019. Jousselme, Anne-Laure; Braca, Paolo; Millefiori, Leonardo; De Rosa, Francesca; Zocholl, Maximilian; Uney, Murat; Iphar, Clément; Gaglione, Domenico; Soldi, Giovanni; Forti, Nicola; D'Afflisio, Enrica. CMRE-CP-2020-001.  January 2021.

The Maritime Situational Awareness Workshop (MSAW) was held 08 - 10 October 2019 in Lerici, La Spezia (Italy). CMRE organized this workshop with the objective of fostering the crossfertilization of ideas from scientific and military domains, toward the design and implementation of future solutions tailored to Maritime Situational Awareness (MSA) operational needs. Centred on the theme of Science and technology meet operational need, the call for papers was distributed amongst the international MSA community during the early months of 2019. In response, CMRE received 48 submissions and several contributions from the European Commission (EC) funded MSA projects. The workshop brought together about 170 participants from 23 countries including scientists, engineers, researchers from scientific communities with national and international authorities, end users and operators, and industrial representatives. Overall the audience was composed of 14% academia, 39% applied research institutes, 31% industry and 16% operational community. This document contains the proceedings of the MSAW'19 papers accepted for presentation. The MSAW'19 was co-sponsored by the EC project RANGER (Radars Long Distance Maritime Surveillance and SAR Operations) and NATO Allied Command Transformation as part of the CMRE Data Knowledge Operational Effectiveness programme.

Conference proceedings of the Sixth Workshop on Military Applications of Underwater Glider Technology (6WMAUGT). Vicen-Bueno, Raúl; Borrione, Ines; Wittwer, Stefan. CMRE-CP-2019-003.  April 2020.

Under the sponsorship of the Innovation Branch at NATO Allied Command Transformation, NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) organized the sixth Workshop on Military Applications of Underwater Glider Technology (6WMAUGT). The workshop was held for NATO and NATO Nations from 12-14 November 2019 at CMRE facilities in La Spezia Italy. The 6WMAUGT joined more than 40 participants. The 2019 event resulted in a significant increase in the number of military attendees, denoting the great interest NATO and NATO Nations have in underwater glider technology and its applications for military purposes. Overall, participants represented 10 NATO Nations (BEL, CAN, DEU, ESP, FRA, GBR, GRC, ITA, ROU and USA); five NATO Bodies (NATO HQ, SHAPE/ACO, MARCOM, DACCC and CMRE); and 20 different institutions, organizations, and companies. The conference proceedings provide the agenda, list of participants and the abstracts of the presentations given during the 6WMAUGT.

REP(MUS)-19 Cruise Report. Petroccia, Roberto; Pelekanakis, Konstantinos; Paglierani, Pietro; Alves, João; Grati, Alberto; Zappa, Giovanni; Cardeira, Bruno. CMRE-CR-2019-09-REPMUS19. May 2020.

This report describes the work performed during the REP(MUS)-19 sea trial, detailing the deployed equipment, areas of operations, data treatment plan and sequence of operations. Additionally, this report clearly describes CMRE objectives, conducted activities, and the cooperation with Portuguese Navy, the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, and Industry (Wartsila ELAC). CMRE’s work during REP(MUS)-19 was focused on novel underwater communications and networking strategies, the usage of STANAG4748 (JANUS) to deliver new services to a dived submarine, and the employment of surface and subsurface unmanned robots to support the search and rescue of a distressed submarine. The preliminary results demonstrate the successful accomplishment of all the planned activities.

Conference proceedings of the Second Secure Underwater Communications Workshop (2018). Alves, João ; Cardeira, Bruno. CMRE-CP-2019-001.  November 2019.

The Second Secure Underwater Communications Workshop presented organizations with the opportunity to review ongoing national efforts in the field of secure underwater communications. The workshop created a forum for open discussions about the state of the art of this research topic, the roadmap for NATO and how CMRE's programme of work can be tailored to meet the needs of NATO Nations. This event promoted future collaborative activities among the participants.

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Photobook published in commemoration of the Centre's 60th Anniversary (1959-2019). CMRE-SP-2019-001. October 2019.

This book has been published in recognition of the significant accomplishments achieved by the Centre of Maritime Research and Experimentation over the past 60 years. Thank you to the Centre's staff, scientists, engineers, partners and alumni for their incredible hard work an dedication.

Conference proceedings of the Fifth Workshop on Military Applications of Underwater Glider Technology (5WMAUGT). Vicen Bueno, Raul; Borrione, Ines; Wittwer, Stefan; Jiang, Yong-Min. CMRE-CP-2018-001.  March 2019.

The Fifth Workshop on Military Applications of Underwater Glider Technology (5WMAUGT) was heldThe Fifth Workshop on Military Applications of Underwater Glider Technology (5WMAUGT) was heldat the NATO STO CMRE facilities in Italy for NATO and its nations. It took place from the 13th to the15th of November 2018, under the sponsorship of NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT).The 5WMAUGT gathered more than 50 participants, of whom 80 percent came from outside CMRE. Thisyear’s event saw a significant increase in military participation. This denotes a great interest of NATOnations in the underwater glider technology. The attendees came from more than 30 different institutions,organizations and companies. Five NATO entities (HQ, ACT, SHAPE, MARCOM and CMRE); sevenNATO nations (CAN, DEU, FRA, GBR, ITA, NOR and USA); and one NATO Euro-Atlantic PartnershipCouncil (EAPC) nation (FIN) were represented in the workshop.This document assembles the agenda, list of participants, abstracts of the presentations and mostimportantly, the outcomes of the discussion session that will help CMRE and NATO nations better defineR&D activities regarding underwater glider technology in the near future.

Proceedings of the Maritime Big Data Workshop. Camossi, Elena; Jousselme, Anne-Laure. CMRE-CP-2018-002.  January 2019.

The NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation, as part of its mission to put forward the technological maritime research, with the support of the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme has organized on May 9-10, 2018, the Maritime Big Data Workshop (MBDW). The workshop gathered together researchers, technological providers and members of the operational community to exchange their experience on Big Data innovations for maritime security, safety and security of maritime navigation and transport, sustainable fisheries and exploitation of ocean resources. For two days, 37 researchers and experts from Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, and Vietnam presented their work and main findings on Maritime and Big Data, including the outcomes of 6 ongoing Maritime Big Data projects and initiatives funded by the European Union: datAcron, MARISA, Ranger, EUCISE, AtlantOS, EMODnet. The workshop's results enable to draw some preliminary conclusions on the current research and developments in Maritime Big Data. There is a general interest towards concrete societal and operational needs, coupled with an emerging tendency to develop methods combining heterogeneous, potentially complementary, information streams (mainly AIS, paired with SAR, Radar, METOC, acoustic), with an increasing attention towards source quality. The approaches adopted come from different areas of research, mainly machine learning and data mining, incorporating also techniques developed in Information and data fusion, but also data warehouse and online analytical processing. The current trend towards experimenting open source Big Data technologies is challenged by the integration of diversified sources of information, which comes with an increased exigence of enhanced data management capabilities for harmonised data sharing and processing that can overcome the sole exploitation of kinematic data. Meanwhile, there is a prevailing requirement to reduce the uncertainty of detection and prediction results, entailing the development of capabilities to formally handle information and source quality. Analogously, the emergence of novel Artificial Intelligence approaches that, despite showing promising results, challenge results' interpretation, requires an increased involvement of experts in all the phases of the development (the so-called "Human in the loop"), and the holistic incorporation of approaches addressing human factors' aspects.

Conference proceedings of the Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2017 conference. Vicen Bueno, Raul; Coelho, Emanuel; Pennucci, Giuliana. CMRE-CP-2017-001.  January 2019.

The Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2017 Conference Proceedings contain the peer-reviewed abstracts accepted for this conference. The DeSRA 2017 Conference took place at the NATO STO CMRE facilities in La Spezia, Italy, on 2-4 October 2017. Its overarching objective was to bring together personnel from the military, civilian, industry and research communities to discuss and identify environmental risks, planning shortfalls and ways-ahead to assist decision makers and improve operational effectiveness. These Conference Proceedings contain a total of 27 abstracts covering all the topics of the conference, such as: Recognized Environmental Picture (REP) and Risk Assessment; Environmental Information Flow for Decision Support and Command and Control (C2); Maritime Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (MISR); and Operational Experimentation (OPEX) Opportunities. Researchers and industry were exposed to real challenges faced in operations from the military and civilian organizations/institutions participating. Besides the speakers of the 27 Abstracts published in these proceedings, additional military and civilian personnel attended the DeSRA 2017 Conference to learn about state-of-the-art techniques and systems on the topics of the conference. They also had the opportunity to make contributions and influence the development of these techniques and systems. A total of 2 NATO bodies: ACO/SHAPE and STO CMRE, and 20 institutions/organizations from 13 NATO and Partner nations: 1 CAN, 2 DEU, 1 DNK, 2 ESP, 4 FRA, 2 GBR, 4 ITA, 1 NLD, 1 NOR, 1 NZL, 1 USA, participated in this NATO STO CMRE-lead conference. Details of the contributions made by the participants are incorporated in the Abstracts provided in these DeSRA 2017 Conference Proceedings.

Abstracts from the Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2016 conference. Vicen Bueno, Raul; Coelho, Emanuel; Bourque, François-Alex. CMRE-CP-2016-002.  August 2016.

Conference proceedings of the Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2016 conference. Vicen Bueno, Raul; Coelho, Emanuel; Bourque, François-Alex. CMRE-CP-2016-001.  August 2016.

The Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2016 Conference Proceedings contain the peer-reviewed abstracts accepted for this conference. The DeSRA 2016 Conference took place at NATO STO CMRE facilities on 26-28 July 2016. Its overarching objective was to bring together personnel from the military, civilian, industry and research communities to discuss and identify environmental risks, planning shortfalls and ways-ahead to assist decision makers and improve operational effectiveness. These Conference Proceedings contain a total of 31 abstracts covering most of the topics set as objectives for the conference, such as: Recognized Environmental Picture (REP); Information representation, visualization and communication; Environmental prediction and risk analysis/assessment strategies; Decision support; NATO Environmental Functional Services (EnvFS); and Approaches for validation and verification (V&V). Researchers and industry were exposed to real challenges faced in operations from the military- and civilian-lead presentations. Besides the speakers of the 31 Abstracts published in these proceedings, additional military and civilian personnel attended the DeSRA 2016 Conference to learn about state-of-the-art techniques and systems on the topics of the conference. They also had the opportunity to make contributions and influence the development of these techniques and systems. A total of 4 NATO bodies: ACO/SHAPE, ACT, STO CMRE, CoE CSW, and 21 institutions/organizations from 10 different nations: 1 BEL, 2 CAN, 1 DEU, 3 ESP, 1 FRA, 3 GBR, 4 ITA, 1 NLD, 2 PRT, 3 USA, participated in this NATO STO CMRE-lead conference. Institutions/organizations, such as, ACT and ACO with keynote speeches, and, among others, NATO CoE CSW, the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Navies, US NRL, DRDC, Dstl, Met Office, AEMET, Fraunhofer, Mines ParisTech University, Raytheon, made important contributions in the conference. Some of these contributions are summarized in the published Abstracts found in these DeSRA 2016 Conference Proceedings.

Conference proceedings of the Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2016 conference [Presentations]. Vicen Bueno, Raul; Coelho, Emanuel; Bourque, François-Alex. CMRE-CP-2016-003.  August 2016.

Contains the presentations, list of participants and agenda of the Decision Support and Risk Assessment for Operational Effectiveness (DeSRA) 2016 Conference.

NATO Science & Technology. Smart Defence. Today.

Written by Captain David Waterman, United States Navy, Public Affairs Officer, NATO Undersea Research Centre

Originally published at:  ACT Transformer 2012 n. 1

Maritime Surveillance 2009 (MS09) Experiment Post-Analysis Workshop. Ranelli, P.; Bryan, K. NURC-CP-2010-001. September 2010.

This workshop report briefly overviews the meeting presentations and lists major findings and recommendations from the two-day event. Eighteen participants attended the meeting, including representatives from NURC, MOC Naples, the Turkish Navy, ACT NATO, and the European Space Agency (ESA). The following aspects of the experiment were addressed: * Results of the operational analysis; * Network architecture and data collection; * Moc Operations; * Multi-sensor fusion; * Anomaly detection; * Analysis of AIS intermittency; * SAR ship detection. Further, an overview on the recent HF radar experiment in the Ligurian Sea was given. A CD-ROM containing the workshop presentations can be requested from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Proceedings of the NATO Undersea Research Centre Non-Lethal Response for Protection in Ports Specialist Workshop. Kessel, R, Editor. NURC-CP-2009-001. April 2009.

NURC hosted specialist workshop on Non-lethal Response Technologies in Port Protection at its facilities, 1-3 April 2009. The workshop drew over seventy participants from twelve NATO and Partner for Peace (PfP) nations, representing a cross section of stakeholders, including national labs (28 % attendees), operational community (27 %), industry (32 %), NATO organizations (13 %). The presentations and discussions proved the multi-disciplinary nature of port protection on the water side. Topics focused mainly on countering small boat threats and underwater intruders, the readiness of new technologies, independent technical evaluations, the use of marine mammals for interdicting intruders, experimentation methodologies, unmanned response technologies, and entanglements for countering small boats. The presentations made to the workshop and concluding remarks are compiled in these proceedings.

Taking the future to sea: 50th anniversary, 1959-2009. April 2009.

Sea Mine Countermeasures: Exploring Neutralisation Options: Proceedings of a workshop on innovative solutions for sea mine disposal. Djapic, V., Editor. NURC-CP-2009-002. April 2009.

NURC hosted a workshop on innovative solutions for sea mine disposal "Sea Mine Countermeasures: Exploring Neutralisation Options", 14-15 April 2009. Twenty-seven people representing ten different NATO nations from the operational (military), academic, government labs, and industry communities attended the workshop. The challenges and problems in mine neutralisation caused by sea currents, surge, and other environmental factors were covered in several presentations. Since different situations require different options, participants concluded that there is a need for a toolbox of modular autonomous systems. New candidate technologies for effective remote delivery of mine neutralisation weapons were reviewed, including non-traditional (non-explosive) approaches. The focus was on lowering costs without sacrificing key performance, especially in countering modern sea mines. Remote mine neutralization options may also be utilised in areas where conventional mine disposal systems are ineffective due to constraints of water depth or manoeuvering room. The workshop also identified partners for collaborative research and the establishment of a joint research project (JRP) on this topic. The presentations made to the workshop and the summary are compiled in these proceedings.

Proceedings of the NURC Underwater Intruder Workshop. NURC-CP-2006-002. July 2006.

Projects in harbour protection are getting underway in several NATO nations. To augment the value for NATO of these efforts NURC has undertaken to coordinate a Joint Research Project (JRP), for information exchange, threat analysis, and concept development, as well as for collaborative development, testing, and evaluation of emerging technologies. NURC hosted an Underwater Intruder Workshop to bring prospective JRP partners together, to present work underway and planned in member-country programs and to identify common work elements for future collaboration. Twenty-seven participants from eight countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom, United States) and NURC attended. These are the presentations and records of discussion from that workshop.

Proceedings of the NATO Workshop on Multistatic Operations Research. NURC-CP-2006-001. November 2005 (Published January 2006).

This workshop brought together experts in operations research, multistatic systems research, and military ASW operations in order to exchange information on Multistatic OR/OA studies, tools and methodologies, and the development of multistatic CONOPS.