Navantia's R&D Department

The purpose of the Chair is to enable the joint implementation of activities and projects on matters of interest to society and UPM, which contribute to scientific and technological development in the field of underwater robotics and deeptech technologies. Additionally, the creation of the Chair serves the public interest, as society at large can indirectly benefit from the results. To achieve this objective, the following activities are intended to be developed within the scope of the Chair:

monodon is part, together with La Uvigo and other companies, of receiving aid from the Government of Spain from the ‘Cátedras Chip’ program, framed in the Strategic Project of Microelectronics and Semiconductors (PERTE Chip).

The University of Vigo will receive 4.7 million euros for the training of professionals in microelectronics. The project is called ‘Open Access to Tools for testing and characterization of New Generation Photonic and Electronic Chips-NEXTCHIP’ and will serve to train professionals in this sector and enhance research. We are developing a research about underwater optical communication.

This collaborative initiative aims to push the boundaries of Photonic Multi-Surface, simultaneously covering the UV, VIS, thermal IR and MW bands in the naval case. Optical communications security can be fundamentally improved with the addition of quantum key distribution (QKD).

Traditional cryptographic methods, while robust against many forms of cyber threats, are potentially vulnerable to attacks from quantum computers. QKD yield theoretically unbreakable security for data transmission, enabling immediate detection of intrusion in a signal by exploiting photon entanglement. Entanglement-based protocols focus around quantum states in which two objects are linked together, forming a combined quantum state. The concept of entanglement means that measurement of one object thereby affects the other.

The quantum nature of QKD, grounded in the principles of quantum mechanics, allows for the immediate detection of any intrusion attempts, as any eavesdropping effort invariably alters the quantum state of the key, signaling a potential security breach. This makes unauthorized access to communication keys exceedingly difficult, if not impossible.

In this collaborative project with monodon, the BioInspired Materials Lab will work on the development of a bioinspired underwater robot. The research tasks will include the design and fabrication of soft compliant structures with controlled actuation for underwater propulsion.

The specifics of the project will be discussed and agreed upon between UM and monodon, and coordinated with The research group will also one visiting scientist from monodon or other Spanish research institutions for the duration (complete or partial) of the project.

In other hand, we are researching about metastructures, new materials and smart materials.