Daniel Toal
Principal Investigator
Principal Investigator
UL Observation & Operations
Overview

Daniel is a chartered engineer in Electrical and Systems Engineering: (Hons Dip Elec Eng, Dublin Institute of Technology; BSc (eng) University of Dublin (TCD) 1984; MSc – Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Cranfield University, UK, 1986; PhD Marine Robotics, University of Limerick (UL) 2004).

Current Activities

He is Chair of Electrical Engineering & Robotics at UL and has taught: Automation, Robotics, Instrumentation, Avionics, Sensors, and Electrical Machines.

Background

Daniel is the founder and director of the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Limerick (www.CRIS.ul.ie). With the CRIS research team, Dan has led the design & build and field ops of many Robots for operations support in the marine environment including ROV Latis – a 1,000m depth rated ‘smart’ vehicle, Marine Renewable Energy ROV Étaín, ROV Éad, along with many other field robotic platforms including long range long endurance unmanned airborne systems (UAS). On-going research addresses unique challenges of operating in ’high energy’ wind, wave and tidal regimes of marine renewable and airborne wind energy. Research also addresses robotic platform development for response in offshore marine incidents, search and rescue (SAR) and marine salvage. Daniel has been chief scientist for numerous off shore research surveys on Celtic Explorer, Celtic Voyager, INS LÉ Eithne, and other vessels. The vision of the team is that the Marine Technology, Ocean Environment, and Renewable Energy Sectors will grow in crucial importance.

Further Information

Further information can be found on Dan’s UL CRIS Research Profile or UL Research Profile.