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Heading out of the harbor to test an LAUV, João Tasso and Bruno on a Maritime Police RHIB.
07 Jul 2015

Today was a good and active day for all. The team broke up into 3-4 parts doing things asynchronously. The morning found the UAV team from FEUP and NTNU heading out to Cedros where they found a placid field (sans the cows) to test their vehicles. The machines (and people) in spite of the high humidity and heat, fared well. What didn't was the constant moo-ing (no kidding) of cows who were not happy with the X8s buzzing them over their field.

A view of Pico and its dormant volcano from across the channel in Horta.
06 Jul 2015

Day 1 in Horta, Faial Island, Azores started off with a 9am meeting at the Dept. of Oceanography & Fisheries, Univ. of Azores to discuss the logistics and plans for Phase-I of the field experiment. The Director of DOP welcomed us and offered us the full support of the department. Equally importantly for us, it was the first time all of us were in the same room at the same time. Discussions were led by João Tasso (FEUP) and aided by Jorge Fontes of DOP. Alex Nimmo Smith gave a short presentation of the HOLO camaera, following which we all headed to the DOP warehouse at the other end of the harbor (this isn't a big place and it took a short 15 minutes to go over). This 'warehouse' is not only next to the pier in the harbor, but has a wireless connection and benches where integration and test activities could take place. The day was spent looking over code, integrating sensors and getting ready for the latter half of the day. That was when teams split up, one group going on a small DOP vessel to test T-REX in the water, the other the FEUP team going off to the north to test UAVs over land.

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