Nuno Cruz
Nuno A. Cruz received a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 1993, and an M.Sc. in Digital Systems Engineering from UMIST, U.K., in 1994. He is currently a senior researcher with the robotics and intelligent systems group at INESC Porto - Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto. During the last 15 years he has been involved the design, development and operation of small-size Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and AUV navigation systems based on acoustics, both in Portugal and abroad. He has designed the mechanical structure and the onboard electronics of the MARES AUV, a hovering type vehicle that is being routinely used in environmental missions since 2007. Recently, this modular design was the basis for the TriMARES, a larger 3-body hybrid AUV/ROV for the inspection of dams and monitoring of reservoirs. His current research activities address the development of innovative guidance techniques, in particular adapting sampling strategies to increase the efficiency in the use of AUVs.