Sable received a 1st Class Honours MEng degree at QUB in Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, where she specialised in drivetrain control during her final year.

Sable spent the summer of 2010 in Beijing, China as part of the Prime Minister’s Initiative (PMI2), where she led the team through a joint project with students from Tsinghua University on the theme of sustainable energy.

PhD Project: An Obstacle Detection and Avoidance System for an Unmanned Marine Vehicle
Supervisor: Dr W Naeem

Autonomous marine vehicles (AMVs) are now in operation with applications ranging from subsea pipelines inspection to mines clearing operation and shallow water surveying. Generally, AMVs are classified into two main types:

• Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and
• Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs)

The autonomy of those systems largely depends on the robust design of an integrated navigation, guidance and control system. A key ingredient in the navigation process is the obstacle detection and avoidance (ODA) module. This is imperative to ensure minimal human intervention and hence improving the performance of the overall system specifically in a hazardous environment where there is a potential danger to the human life.