The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has launched a competition in search of technology that can predict the location of sea drifters or floats in a prospect of 10 days.
DARPA said Friday its Forecasting Floats in Turbulence challenge will task participants to develop and submit algorithms that can predict drifting locations based on the ocean’s current.
FTT supports DARPA's Ocean of Things program, which aims to generate maritime situational awareness via floats drifting across the ocean.
The agency believes FTT's resulting models have the potential to support oil spill predictions, maritime rescue operations and ship route planning.
Participants will receive access to a data set that covers 20 days of sea drift history. Sofar Ocean, a provider of ocean intelligence platforms, produced the spotters that generate this data.
“It’s incredibly exciting for us to partner with the team at DARPA to challenge teams to use this data to develop new approaches to accelerate ocean discovery and research," said Tim Janssen, CEO at Sofar.
