{"id":11879,"date":"2026-09-06T02:01:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T02:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/about-2\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T02:01:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T02:01:43","slug":"about-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/about-2\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"
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About HAF<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mapping the unseen currents of the North Atlantic<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

The Hydro-Acoustic & Aerial Networks Lab at the University of Iceland studies how sound, magnetism and radio can stitch together ocean, air and shore into a single sensing fabric \u2014 without ever anchoring a buoy.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Our vision<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fjord as a laboratory, a coastline as an antenna<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Iceland’s glacial fjords compress every hard problem in underwater and aerial networking into a few nautical miles \u2014 steep bathymetry, cold thermoclines, volcanic seabed noise, and weather that turns in an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAF treats this geography as an open-air testbed: acoustic links strung between autonomous vehicles, drones relaying above the surface, and a shore station tying it all back to a fibre backbone \u2014 all without a single moored buoy.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Coastal<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Objectives<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the lab is built to answer<\/h2>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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01<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replace the buoy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Design acoustic and magnetic links robust enough that AUV-to-UAV coordination no longer depends on a surface relay, cutting deployment cost and environmental footprint.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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02<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scale underwater bandwidth<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Push Ultra-Massive MIMO architectures into shallow, high-multipath fjord waters where classical sonar-rate links break down.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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03<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Power the fleet in place<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Develop inductive and acoustic power delivery so vehicles can recharge mid-mission from docked stations or from each other.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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04<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engineer the medium itself<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Shape acoustic metasurfaces that redirect, focus and filter sound in the water column, turning the seabed into part of the network.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Organization<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affiliation & structure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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HAF operates within the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and Natural Sciences, University of Iceland, and collaborates with international partners on next-generation underwater and aerial networking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lab is directed by its principal investigator and organized into three coordinated groups spanning acoustics, robotics and communications theory.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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  • Director’s Office \u2014 strategy, funding, external partnerships<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Acoustics & Metasurfaces Group \u2014 physical-layer design<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Robotics & Field Operations \u2014 AUV\/UAV fleet, testbed logistics<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Communications Theory Group \u2014 MIMO, coding, network protocols<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Affiliated with the Icelandic Marine and Freshwater Research Institute<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    Facilities<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Testbeds built for open water, not tanks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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    Our shore station overlooks a working fjord, feeding fibre backhaul to a fleet of AUVs, surface craft and fixed-wing UAVs launched directly from the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A dedicated acoustic tank complements field trials for controlled metasurface and MIMO array characterization before vehicles ever leave the dock.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    \"AUV<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    Funding acknowledgment<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    HAF’s research is supported by the Icelandic Research Fund (Rann\u00eds) under Grant 239994-051<\/strong>, with additional infrastructure support from the University of Iceland.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    About HAF Mapping the unseen currents of the North Atlantic The Hydro-Acoustic & Aerial Networks Lab at the University of Iceland studies how sound, magnetism and radio can stitch together ocean, air and shore into a single sensing fabric \u2014 without ever anchoring a buoy. Our vision A fjord as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/full-width-no-title.php","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","inspiro_page_layout":"narrow","inspiro_hide_title":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11879","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"featured_media_urls":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haf.hi.is\/is\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}