N.S., Ottawa sink money into tech bound for bottom of Halifax harbour

A shiny aluminum platform the size of two picnic tables will be lowered to the bottom of Halifax harbour this spring to give Nova Scotia ocean technology companies a place to test leading-edge sensors and monitors.

The triangular metal frame called Stella Maris Latin for star of the seais the latest addition to the ocean tech hub at the Centre for Ocean Ventures and Entrepreneurship (COVE) on the Dartmouth waterfront.

"The platform will serve as a demonstration for advanced solution technologies, and also a digital platform for ocean data using video, sonar and advanced imaging outputs," said COVE chief executive Melanie Nadeau at a virtual announcement Thursday.

How it works and who gets to use it

Sensors will be connected to COVE, which is100 metres away,via power and communications cables. A building on shore will house equipment to operate the platform, which will be retrieved periodically to alter, remove and add new sensors and devices. It will also have a video feed from the harbour floor.

Companies will paya yearly subscription to have their equipment on the platform.The first year is a demonstration, after which users will pay a fee.

It is already booked for the next year by 20 tech companies affiliated with COVE.

The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is providing a $1-million grant to build and deploy the platform.

Crown corporation Develop Nova Scotia will contribute $325,000 to the project and completion of its $14-million marine terminal upgrade at the south end of COVE.

"The thing that drives a lot of these world-class marine sector companies to COVE and to Nova Scotia is this opportunity to work at the water's edge," said Jennifer Angel, CEO of Develop Nova Scotia.

The terminal upgrade will also raise a wharf and pier by half a metre to withstand projected sea level rise over the next 50 years.

Data-sharing and a training opportunity

Digital data will be shared with Dalhousie University's marine computing centre, Deep Sense, and with the Nova Scotia Community College, whose students will have access to the platform.

"The housing on shore will be a great training facility for some of these organizations," said Nadeau.

"Now we'll be able to use the visuals that are coming in underwater and use that as part of the training that's offered by NSCC or other organizations or ourselves for that fact and use what we're discovering underwater to get them to understand how subsea operations work."

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