TEC4SEA – Developing Maritime Technology

The TEC4SEA Research Infrastructure

TEC4SEA is a research infrastructure designed to support research, development, and test of marine technology for operation in the ocean environment, and is included in the Portuguese Roadmap of Research Infrastructures. It is open to both the R&D community and the industrial sector, and provides the equipment, expertise, and logistics needed to support those communities in developing, evaluating, and validating technological solutions designed for maritime environments, thus fostering and advancing the blue economy.
Its characteristics, geographic location allowing fast access to deep sea, and support of multidisciplinary research, enable full validation and evaluation of technological solutions designed for the ocean environment, allowing researchers to evolve from simulation/lab experiment to field trial. The research infrastructure brings together a set of laboratories, testbeds, equipment, and support facilities for experiments in controlled and real environments

Technological areas

The set of capabilities, resources and know-how detained by TEC 4SEA within its several research groups and member entities is very broad and eclectic. They can, however, be coarsely grouped into four main broad areas of intervention:

Robotics
The development of robotic platforms capable of supporting different payloads, missions, and environments is one of the core activities of TEC4SEA. The infrastructure currently possesses a vast number of such platforms, both autonomous and remotely controlled, including buoys and aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles.

Maritime communications
Operating at sea requires the existence of reliable communications for both data and control channels. TEC4SEA possesses a set of laboratories, testbeds, equipment, and support facilities for communications experiments and development in both controlled and real environments.

Sensors
No maritime operations are possible without an appropriate set of reliable sensors. TEC4SEA possesses the laboratories, know-how and skills that enable it to develop new sensors, customized to the mission, with a strong emphasis on optical and acoustic sensors.

Mission support
Operating at sea requires a full set of logistical capabilities, ranging from support vessels to the existence of support installations near the waterline and the logistic capabilities to transport to seashore the equipment and resources existing in onshore laboratories. TEC4SEA possesses and makes available these capabilities.

Latest news

Oct 20 2025

Evaluating maritime environmental conditions

In September 2025, the INESC TEC/TEC4SEA research vessel NI Mar Profundo supported a twelve-day campaign whose objective was the acquisition of physical, chemical and...
Aug 22 2025

Geophysical survey at the Aguçadoura site

In August 2025, the INESC TEC/TEC4SEA research vessel NI Mar Profundo completed a geophysical survey mission at the Aguçadoura site, in which it supported the magnetic,...
Jul 03 2025

Testing new equipment and capabilities in real operating conditions

In June 2025, INESC TEC/TEC4SEA research vessel participated in a mission whose purpose was to test, in real life operational conditions, some new maritime equipment...
Dec 05 2022

Kick-off meeting

The kick-off meeting was held on the 7th and 8th of March 2016 at Porto (Portugal) and joined together the six partners of the consortium.
Nov 28 2022

In The Black 3

This year we are celebrating 5 editions of IN THE BLACK!
Nov 28 2022

In The Black 2

This year we are celebrating 5 editions of IN THE BLACK!
Nov 28 2022

2016 STRONGMAR Conference

The 2016 STRONGMAR conference was held at Porto (Portugal) on the 17th of November 2016. It was organized by INESC TEC with the support of Fórum Oceano (the Portuguese...
Nov 24 2022

Winter School on Underwater Vision and Robotics

The Winter School on Underwater Vision and Robotics was held at Girona (Spain) from the 17th to the 21st of October 2016.
Aug 28 2022

Summer School on Introduction to Advanced Marine Technologies

The Summer School on Introduction to Advanced Marine Technologies was held at Portugal from the 27th of June to the 8th of July 2016.
Aug 20 2021

Short-term scientific meeting with Dr. Barna Kovács

On February 2017, INESC TEC received the visit of Dr. Barna Kovács, Associate Professor at the Department of General and Physical Chemistry of the University of Pécs...

Latest events

27
June

IN THE BLACK’19: Exploration, Extraction and Construction Opportunities for Underwater Techonology

IN THE BLACK'19: Exploration, Extraction and Construction Opportunities for Underwater Techonology

Date June 27, 2019Time All Day EventVenue ISEP

IN THE BLACK’19, focusing this year on Exploration, Extraction and Construction Opportunities for Underwater Technology, is expected to generate renewed momentum to the EIT Raw Materials Community. In addition to strengthening the connections between KIC Partners, we ...

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