Kento Takemoto, Yang Teni, Motoki Sakai, Yew Qi Ming, The University of Tokyo
and the AUV, MakiComet.
Introduction
On August 24 and 25, students and enthusiasts gathered at JAMSTEC headquarters in Yokosuka, Japan, for the Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2024. The event, organized by NPO Japan Underwater Robot Network, provided a platform for participants to exchange technical ideas and network through the competition and presentations of self-build underwater robots. For more details on the convention, visit the official website [1] (in Japanese), and additional reports from past conventions can be found in [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], and [7].
We, the authors, are master’s students from Prof. Maki’s laboratory at the University of Tokyo, and we participated in the AI-challenge division as team “MakiCommanders” [Figure 1]. Our primary goal was to gain essential knowledge and skills in underwater robotics to support our future research. Additionally, we gained valuable experience in teamwork, which is crucial for the development and operation of underwater robots.
Competition Rules
The AI-challenge division was created to promote the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in underwater robotics. In this challenge, robots were required to autonomously break balloons placed in a water tank. There were three types of balloons: red, yellow, and blue, each with different point values depending on their height in the tank [Table 1]. The arrangement of the balloons was random. Figure 2 shows a diagram of the water tank setup. The only tool allowed to break the balloons was a thumbtack. Teams had 4 minutes to complete the task, and the higher the score, the better the team’s rank. In addition to the performance score, judges also evaluated the robots’ autonomy and the poster presentations, with the final ranking based on the total score.
| Color | Height [m] | Score |
| Red | 0.5 | 30 |
| Yellow | 1.5 | 10 |
| Blue | 0.7 | -10 |
Table 1. Height and score of balloons.
Strategy
MakiComet is designed based on last year’s competition vehicle Sebastian, and can control surge, heave, and yaw. This year’s competition rules are the same as last year’s, requiring participants to pop as many red and yellow balloons as possible while avoiding blue balloons within the time limit to earn higher scores. Therefore, last year’s algorithms [2] are used for the balloon search and approach methods. In summary, at the start of the competition, the AUV moves to the center of the pool and uses the heave thruster to land on the bottom of the pool. The point where it hits the bottom is used as the vertical reference, and it rises to an altitude of 50 cm where the red balloon is placed, and then begins its search. When it finds the target balloon, it moves toward its center coordinates.
Our main goal this year was to solve last year’s problems by utilizing this search and approach method. We thought that there were two major problems last year. The first problem was that when popping a balloon with a pin, the AUV’s speed was insufficient, or when the speed was increased, it became difficult to control, and the balloon could not be hit properly and escaped. To address this problem, we added a new mechanism that allows the pin to be pressed firmly against the balloon. Specifically, a new shaftless thruster was installed and a pin was placed on its intake port. This shaftless thruster finds the target balloon and starts rotating when the approach begins. This allows the balloon to be reliably approached, and the suction force of the thruster presses the balloon against the pin, making it possible to pop it reliably. The second challenge is that the color identification of balloons, which worked in the AUV’s development environment, does not work well in the competition environment. This is thought to be a phenomenon caused by differences in the lighting and natural light intensity between the development environment and the competition environment. To address this issue, we ensured that the parameters could be adjusted based on the local environment. Specifically, when identifying a color as red, instead of using the RGB value of red as the standard, the RGB value actually captured by the camera is checked and set. This approach allows the standard appropriate to the environment to be set for each target color, improving the accuracy of balloon color identification.
Top: before, Bottom: after.
AUV
This mission used the original cruising autonomous underwater vehicle “MakiComet” [Figure 3], [Table 2], based on the Sebastian AUV that participated in last year’s competition.
MakiComet can move in surge, heave, pitch, and yaw by four thrusters. Its acrylic hull, which serves as a buoyant body, is located on both sides. At the same time, the center of gravity is set lower in the middle to maintain stability in the roll direction. As sensors, we used a depth sensor for estimating depth and a camera module for recognizing balloons in the water. The AUV was also equipped with leg parts for landing on the pool floor. Additionally, it featured another thruster without a shaft, as mentioned in the previous section, at the top front of the AUV, and a pushpin was attached at the center of the thruster. Thanks to the suction power of the new thruster, MakiComet was able to suction a balloon [Figure 4], and burst the balloon reliably. It’s also worth noting that the power didn’t disturb MakiComet’s movement or posture maintenance.
As a control tool, MakiComet used a common open-source tool
| Spec | |
| Length[mm] | 560 |
| Width[mm] | 410 |
| Height[mm] | 350 |
| Weight[kg] | 9 |
| Thrusters | |
| Surge | 2 |
| Heave | 2 |
| Suction | 1 |
Top: before, Bottom: after.
for robotics control called Robot Operating System (ROS) on the Raspberry Pi. The Teensy driver is used to send PWM commands to the motor drivers. In this mission, circle detection was planned to be performed using the ellipse fitting algorithm initially. This was because the Hough transform was not robust against objects like ladders inside the tank. However, we were unable to implement the alternative method effectively, so we ultimately reverted to using the Hough transform in OpenCV on images captured by a USB camera [Figure 5]. For details on the algorithm, please refer to last year’s article [2].
The competition rules were released in June 2024, and our development project was started. The development was divided into three areas: new thruster implementation, balloon recognition algorithm, and state transition algorithm. By the end of July, we abandoned the implementation of the ellipse fitting algorithm due to difficulties in making it work effectively and focused instead on thruster development and the state transition algorithm. By mid-August, the entire system was completed, and we confirmed that balloon detection and destruction could be performed reliably [Figure 6].
Result At the first day of the competition, each team is required to make a presentation with their own A0-sized poster. Judges then ask questions based on the presentation and category of participation. After the presentation, there is a time slot for every team to test and fine tune their AUV. We tested our AUV with a tether cable so that we could see the status and the environment parameters experienced by the AUV. Our AUV could not detect the balloons as the color of balloons detected is different in that environment compared to what we have practiced.
On the second day of the competition, each team is given some time to test and fine tune again. By using relevant RGB values, we managed to tune our AUV for detecting the balloons together with better maneuvering performance to carry out the mission. However at our last practice, the AUV could not float and could not switch into the search mode after diving. During the competition, it is also unfortunate for our AUV to perform the same as our last practice. After the competition, we tested the AUV and it works fine again as usual. Thus, we suspect the depth sensor or Teensy controller board might be old which cause the unexpected performance during the competition.
Throughout this competition, we realize that unexpected situation will arise easily in underwater robot development, not only limited to us. Therefore it is important to stay alert even if everything seems to be going smoothly at first. We believe that the lesson we learned from this competition will inspire us and allow us to contribute better in our research and future careers.
Acknowledgement
The Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC in 2024 was supported by The Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers, Techno-Ocean Network, IEEE/OES Japan Chapter, MTS Japan Section, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Oki Com-Echoes Co., Ltd., IDEA Consultants, Inc., Nortek Japan LLC, Sea challenge Co., Ltd., Misago Co., Ltd., MinebeaMitsumi Inc., Japan Underwater Drone Association, Matsuyama Industry Co., Ltd., IWAKITEC Co., Ltd., Robotis Co., Ltd., FullDepth Co., Ltd., KOWA Corporation, Aqua Modelers Meeting, National Ocean Policy Secretariat, Cabinet Office, Government of JAPAN, Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokosuka City, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, and Center for Integrated Underwater Observation Technology at Institute of Industrial Science, the University of Tokyo. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the sponsors for their strong support and cooperation in realizing this convention.
Comments
Takemoto: It is really disappointing that I could not perform well in the actual competition, since we were able to confirm my balloon-breaking action in the practice right before the competition. However, through this result, I found out what I was lacking, and I will take this as a big lesson for the next challenge.
Yang: I realized the significance of preparation and the need to anticipate potential issues and plan solutions in advance. This experience will be invaluable throughout my master’s studies.
Sakai: I am disappointed that we were unable to achieve good results. The failure of surfacing is a critical issue that could lead to the loss of the AUV in an actual mission. I am determined to apply this lesson to my future project.
Yew: This competition makes me realize my flaws in underwater development. We will be more alert in the future.
References
[1] Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2024 (Japanese). https://www.jam24.underwaterrobonet.org/ [2] H. Kasuga, L. Hakataya, H. Yokohata, Sebastian, the AUV Won First Place in Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2023! IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 12(4), 76-79 (2023.12) https://ieeeoes.org/oes-beacon/december-2023/sebastian-the-auv-won-first-place-in-underwater-robot-convention-in-jamstec-2023/ [3] A. Toriyama, M. Ohashi, H. Yokohata, wARIEL, the AUV Won First Place in Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2022! IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 11(4), 83-86 (2022.12) [4] K. Yamamoto, S. Chun, Y. Sekimori, C. Kawamura, ARIEL, the AUV Won First Place in Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2021! IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 10(4), 70-73 (2021.12) [5] Y. Sekimori, T. Maki, Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2020 – All Hands on Deck! Online!!, IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 10(1), 39-42 (2021.3) [6] K. Fujita, Y. Hamamatsu, H. Yatagai, Reflection for Singapore Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Challenge – the Comparison Between SAUVC and a Competition Held in Japan, IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 8(2), 64-67 (2019.6) [7] H. Yamagata, T. Maki, Underwater Robot Convention in JAMSTEC 2018 – from an Educational Perspective, IEEE OES Beacon Newsletter, 7(4), 68-72 (2018.12)
Suleman Mazhar has been working as a professor in Information & Communication Engineering at Harbin Engineering University (China) since July 2019. He did PhD from Tokyo University (Japan) and postdoctorate from Georgetown University (Washington DC, USA). He had BS-CS from FAST-NUCES (Lahore) and MS from GIK Institute (Pakistan). He is TYSP young scientist fellow (Ministry of Science & Technology China) and have won several research grants from international organizations such as DAAD (Germany), ICIMOD (Nepal), NRPU (Higher Education Commission Pakistan), WWF (Worldwide Fund for Nature) Pakistan. His research focus is deep learning and signal processing applications for environmental monitoring, with particular focus on underwater acoustics, and marine mammal conservation. He is a reviewer for professional journals such as Journal of Acoustical Society (America), IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Sensors Journal, Applied Acoustics, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.
Peng Ren is a full professor with the College of Oceanography and Space Informatics, China University of Petroleum (East China). He is the director of Qingdao International Research Center for Intelligent Forecast and Detection of Oceanic Catastrophes. He received the K. M. Scott Prize from the University of York, the Natural Science award (first rank) from China Institute of Electronics, and the Eduardo Caianiello Best Student Paper Award from 18th International Conference on Image Analysis and Processing as one co-author. He has served as an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.
Mohd Rizal Arshad is a full professor at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Malaysia, where he specializes in ocean robotics technology and intelligent system. He received his B.Eng. in Medical Electronics & Instrumentation and PhD in Electronic Engineering from University of Liverpool, UK in 1994 and 1999, respectively. He completed his MSc. in Electronic Control Engineering from the University of Salford, UK in Dec 1995. He has supervised many postgraduate students and published extensively in local and international publications. He is a senior member of the IEEE, and was awarded IEEE OES Presidential Award in 2019.
Itzik Klein is an Assistant Professor, heading the Autonomous Navigation and Sensor Fusion Lab, at the Charney School of Marine Sciences, Hatter Department of Marine Technologies, University of Haifa. He is an IEEE Senior Member and a member of the IEEE Journal of Indoor and Seamless Positioning and Navigation (J-ISPIN) Editorial Board. Prior to joining the University of Haifa, he worked at leading companies in Israel on navigation topics for more than 15 years. He has a wide range of experience in navigation systems and sensor fusion from both industry and academic perspectives. His research interests lie in the intersection of artificial intelligence with inertial sensing, sensor fusion, and autonomous underwater vehicles.
John R. Potter (IEEE M’94, SM’02, F’18) graduated in the previous century with a joint honours Mathematics and Physics Degree from Bristol and a PhD. in Glaciology and Oceanography from Cambridge, UK studying Antarctic ice mass balance, where he spent four consecutive summers. This work helped underscore the non-linear fragility of polar ice to climate change and led to him receiving the Polar Medal from Queen Elizabeth II in 1988.
Nick is a Visiting Fellow at the UK National Oceanographic Center, Southampton His nomination was endorsed by the Underwater Acoustics Technology Committee. He had worked as a Research Associate and Lecturer at University of Birmingham and has been working as a Research Scientist at the Applied Research Laboratory, University of Texas, Austin. He has also served as a Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research Global. He is a senior member of IEEE (OES) and a Fellow of Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Nick has also been serving as Assoc. Editor for IEEE JoE and JASA. He is widely acknowledged for his expertise are seabed acoustics, parametric array modeling, sonar beamformer, underwater signal processing.
Maurizio Migliaccio (M’91-SM’00-F’17) is Full professor of Electromagnetics at Università di Napoli Parthenope (Italy) and was Affiliated Full Professor at NOVA Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL (USA). He has been teaching Microwave Remote Sensing since 1994. He was visiting scientist at Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fur Lüft und Raumfahrt (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. He was member of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) scientific committee. He was member of the ASI CosmoSkyMed second generation panel. He was e-geos AdCom member. He was Italian delegate of the ESA PB-EO board. He was Member of South Africa Expert Review Panel for Space Exploration. He serves as reviewer for the UE, Italian Research Ministry (MIUR), NCST, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong Research board. He lectured in USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland and Italy. He was Italian delegate at UE COST SMOS Mode Action. He is listed in the Italian Top Scientists. He is an IEEE Trans. Geoscience and Remote Sensing AE, International Journal of Remote Sensing AE, and was IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering AE Special Issue on Radar for Marine and Maritime Remote Sensing, IEEE JSTARS AE of the Special Issue on CosmoSKyMed, Member of the Indian Journal of Radio & Space Physics Editorial board. His main current scientific interests cover SAR sea oil slick and man-made target monitoring, remote sensing for marine and coastal applications, remote sensing for agriculture monitoring, polarimetry, inverse problems for resolution enhancement, reverberating chambers. He published about 160 peer-reviewed journal papers on remote sensing and applied electromagnetics.
He has developed various types of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and related application technologies including navigation methods, a new sensing method using a chemical sensor, precise seafloor mapping methods, a precise seabed positioning system with a resolution of a few centimeters, a new sensing system of the thickness of cobalt-rich crust; and more. He has shown, by using these technologies that AUVs are practicable and valuable tools for deep-sea exploration.
Donna Kocak has had an outstanding career in defense and scientific projects developing and applying solutions in subsea optics, imaging and robotics. She graduated with an M.Sc in Computer Science in 1997 from the University of Central Florida; an MBA in 2008 from the University of Florida; and M.Sc in Industrial Engineering in 2011 from the University of Central Florida. She is currently a Senior Scientist, Advanced Concepts Engineering, and Fellow at the Harris Corporation in Melbourne, Florida, where she has developed novel optical imaging and communication solutions for under-sea defense and scientific projects. Prior to 2008 Donna Kocak was Founder and President of Green Sky Imaging, LLC (GSI) who developed laser/video photogrammetry software for underwater inspection and survey. Her earlier career positions were with Naval Training Systems Center, Florida; Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, Florida; eMerge Interactive; and the Advanced Technologies Group in Florida.
John Potter has a Joint Honours degree in Mathematics and Physics from Bristol University in the UK and a PhD in Glaciology and Oceanography from the University of Cambridge on research in the Antarctic, for which he was awarded the Polar Medal in 1988. John has worked on polar oceanography, underwater acoustics, ambient noise (including imaging), marine mammals, communications, IoUT, autonomous vehicles and strategic development. He has 40 years’ international experience working at the British Antarctic Survey in the UK, NATO in Italy, SIO in California, NUS in Singapore and most recently at NTNU in Norway. John is a Fellow of the IEEE and MTS, an Associate Editor for the IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, IEEE OES Distinguished Lecturer, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer & an International Fellow of the Explorer’s Club.
Dr. James V. Candy is the Chief Scientist for Engineering and former Director of the Center for Advanced Signal & Image Sciences at the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Candy received a commission in the USAF in 1967 and was a Systems Engineer/Test Director from 1967 to 1971. He has been a Researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 1976 holding various positions including that of Project Engineer for Signal Processing and Thrust Area Leader for Signal and Control Engineering. Educationally, he received his B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Cincinnati and his M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is a registered Control System Engineer in the state of California. He has been an Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University, University of Santa Clara, and UC Berkeley, Extension teaching graduate courses in signal and image processing. He is an Adjunct Full-Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Candy is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and elected as a Life Member (Fellow) at the University of Cambridge (Clare Hall College). He is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Phi Kappa Phi honorary societies. He was elected as a Distinguished Alumnus by the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Candy received the IEEE Distinguished Technical Achievement Award for the “development of model-based signal processing in ocean acoustics.” Dr. Candy was selected as a IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for oceanic signal processing as well as presenting an IEEE tutorial on advanced signal processing available through their video website courses. He was nominated for the prestigious Edward Teller Fellowship at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Dr. Candy was awarded the Interdisciplinary Helmholtz-Rayleigh Silver Medal in Signal Processing/Underwater Acoustics by the Acoustical Society of America for his technical contributions. He has published over 225 journal articles, book chapters, and technical reports as well as written three texts in signal processing, “Signal Processing: the Model-Based Approach,” (McGraw-Hill, 1986), “Signal Processing: the Modern Approach,” (McGraw-Hill, 1988), “Model-Based Signal Processing,” (Wiley/IEEE Press, 2006) and “Bayesian Signal Processing: Classical, Modern and Particle Filtering” (Wiley/IEEE Press, 2009). He was the General Chairman of the inaugural 2006 IEEE Nonlinear Statistical Signal Processing Workshop held at the Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge. He has presented a variety of short courses and tutorials sponsored by the IEEE and ASA in Applied Signal Processing, Spectral Estimation, Advanced Digital Signal Processing, Applied Model-Based Signal Processing, Applied Acoustical Signal Processing, Model-Based Ocean Acoustic Signal Processing and Bayesian Signal Processing for IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society/ASA. He has also presented short courses in Applied Model-Based Signal Processing for the SPIE Optical Society. He is currently the IEEE Chair of the Technical Committee on “Sonar Signal and Image Processing” and was the Chair of the ASA Technical Committee on “Signal Processing in Acoustics” as well as being an Associate Editor for Signal Processing of ASA (on-line JASAXL). He was recently nominated for the Vice Presidency of the ASA and elected as a member of the Administrative Committee of IEEE OES. His research interests include Bayesian estimation, identification, spatial estimation, signal and image processing, array signal processing, nonlinear signal processing, tomography, sonar/radar processing and biomedical applications.
Kenneth Foote is a Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University in 1968, and a Ph.D. in Physics from Brown University in 1973. He was an engineer at Raytheon Company, 1968-1974; postdoctoral scholar at Loughborough University of Technology, 1974-1975; research fellow and substitute lecturer at the University of Bergen, 1975-1981. He began working at the Institute of Marine Research, Bergen, in 1979; joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1999. His general area of expertise is in underwater sound scattering, with applications to the quantification of fish, other aquatic organisms, and physical scatterers in the water column and on the seafloor. In developing and transitioning acoustic methods and instruments to operations at sea, he has worked from 77°N to 55°S.
René Garello, professor at Télécom Bretagne, Fellow IEEE, co-leader of the TOMS (Traitements, Observations et Méthodes Statistiques) research team, in Pôle CID of the UMR CNRS 3192 Lab-STICC.
Professor Mal Heron is Adjunct Professor in the Marine Geophysical Laboratory at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and is CEO of Portmap Remote Ocean Sensing Pty Ltd. His PhD work in Auckland, New Zealand, was on radio-wave probing of the ionosphere, and that is reflected in his early ionospheric papers. He changed research fields to the scattering of HF radio waves from the ocean surface during the 1980s. Through the 1990s his research has broadened into oceanographic phenomena which can be studied by remote sensing, including HF radar and salinity mapping from airborne microwave radiometers . Throughout, there have been one-off papers where he has been involved in solving a problem in a cognate area like medical physics, and paleobiogeography. Occasionally, he has diverted into side-tracks like a burst of papers on the effect of bushfires on radio communications. His present project of the Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network (ACORN) is about the development of new processing methods and applications of HF radar data to address oceanography problems. He is currently promoting the use of high resolution VHF ocean radars, based on the PortMap high resolution radar.
Hanu Singh graduated B.S. ECE and Computer Science (1989) from George Mason University and Ph.D. (1995) from MIT/Woods Hole.He led the development and commercialization of the Seabed AUV, nine of which are in operation at other universities and government laboratories around the world. He was technical lead for development and operations for Polar AUVs (Jaguar and Puma) and towed vehicles(Camper and Seasled), and the development and commercialization of the Jetyak ASVs, 18 of which are currently in use. He was involved in the development of UAS for polar and oceanographic applications, and high resolution multi-sensor acoustic and optical mapping with underwater vehicles on over 55 oceanographic cruises in support of physical oceanography, marine archaeology, biology, fisheries, coral reef studies, geology and geophysics and sea-ice studies. He is an accomplished Research Student advisor and has made strong collaborations across the US (including at MIT, SIO, Stanford, Columbia LDEO) and internationally including in the UK, Australia, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, China, Japan, India, Sweden and Norway. Hanu Singh is currently Chair of the IEEE Ocean Engineering Technology Committee on Autonomous Marine Systems with responsibilities that include organizing the biennial IEEE AUV Conference, 2008 onwards. Associate Editor, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, 2007-2011. Associate editor, Journal of Field Robotics 2012 onwards.
Milica Stojanovic graduated from the University of Belgrade, Serbia, in 1988, and received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from Northeastern University in Boston, in 1991 and 1993. She was a Principal Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 2008 joined Northeastern University, where she is currently a Professor of electrical and computer engineering. She is also a Guest Investigator at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Milica’s research interests include digital communications theory, statistical signal processing and wireless networks, and their applications to underwater acoustic systems. She has made pioneering contributions to underwater acoustic communications, and her work has been widely cited. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, and serves as an Associate Editor for its Journal of Oceanic Engineering (and in the past for Transactions on Signal Processing and Transactions on Vehicular Technology). She also serves on the Advisory Board of the IEEE Communication Letters, and chairs the IEEE Ocean Engineering Society’s Technical Committee for Underwater Communication, Navigation and Positioning. Milica is the recipient of the 2015 IEEE/OES Distinguished Technical Achievement Award.
Dr. Paul C. Hines was born and raised in Glace Bay, Cape Breton. From 1977-1981 he attended Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, graduating with a B.Sc. (Hon) in Engineering-Physics.