Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute
The Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute (AUSI) was chartered in New Hampshire in August of 1993 and was given a non-profit status two years later. During that time in 1995, AUSI started a number of programs associated with its charter.
Before it became what it is known as today, AUSI was known as the MSEL or the Marine Systems Engineering Laboratory which was established by its director Richard Blidberg in 1976 together with Dr. Robert W. Corell at the University of New Hampshire. Blidberg managed MSEL for over nineteen years.
In July of 1993, the facilities together with the people working at MSEL moved to the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University in Nahant, Massachusetts. Three years later, the lab moved back to the State of New Hampshire and became part of the Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute, continuing its research activities.
Now AUSI is funded mainly through grants coming from the Office of Naval Research and the National Science Foundation. The institute also gives its facilities and proficiency to helping research programs at other labs and institutions, and the institute continues to organize and continue the International Symposium on Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology.
The institute is now based in a three-acre facility near the University of New Hamsphire that includes 2000 square feet of office and laboratory space. Since MSEL moved back to New Hampshire, the institute manages to maintain its fresh water test facility at Mendums ponds in Barrington. Here a specially created 28-meter pontoon boat, which is actually a remotely controlled vehicle or ROV, is being developed together with other support boats and equipment to facilitate underwater testing. With the nearness of the lab to the coast of New Hampshire, the lab is ideal and compliments the capacity of AUSI and its personnel.
