Distinguished Speaker Series

In 2023, the Government of Canada (GoC) issued numerous reports about Arctic security and sovereignty. This talk will open by reviewing some of those key outcomes augmented with scientific evidence and data. Canada being a maritime nation, the primary focus of this presentation is about the monitoring of the oceanic and underwater domains. Then, the presentation will provide an overview of the main challenges and extreme conditions facing the development and use of monitoring systems in underwater and Arctic conditions. The speaker’s recent research will help convey the impact of constrains, and technological solutions, related to power and energy, communication, sensing, and endurance, just to name a few. The talk will conclude by highlighting opportunities for future research. Through this talk, the audience will gain a high-level and better understanding of the R&D efforts that will help enable a sovereign Arctic.

Speaker

Stéphane Blouin is a Defence Scientist with Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) since 2010. He received degrees in mechanical (Laval University, 1992), electrical (Ecole Polytechnique, 1998), and chemical engineering (Queen’s University, 2003). He has acquired more than 12 years of industrial R&D experience through various positions in technology development and commercialization of automated solutions. He currently holds three Adjunct Professor positions at Canadian universities. He has (co-) authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific documents, holds eight inventions and patents, and is the Canadian technical lead on international projects. Dr. Blouin was the recipient of the Technology Investment Funds, two best-paper prizes, one MARLANT Appreciation Coin, and three Assistant Deputy Minister (DRDC) awards. His research interests include dynamic modeling, real-time monitoring, control, optimization and experimental research applied to underwater networks of autonomous systems.