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 ![Coastal research landscape used as the Northmoor University hero image.](/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2026-01/camilo-botia-k4vFDPJoDZk-unsplash.1600x1200.jpg.avif?itok=ujHvC8nC)

 

 



The basin is 30 meters long, 12 meters wide and 5 meters deep at one end, with a movable false floor that lets a shallow-water trial run in the same tank as a deep one. A gantry crane spans the length. A wave maker at the far end produces a regular sea state up to about half a meter, which is enough to find out whether a control system works and not enough to make anyone seasick.

## What it is for

Testing before the ocean. A vehicle that fails in the basin fails cheaply, on a Tuesday afternoon, with everyone watching and the fault visible. The same failure offshore costs a day of ship time and usually leaves no evidence.

## What runs here

Undergraduate teaching in MENG 340 Underwater Robotics uses the basin every week during the spring term. Graduate work on autonomous systems has priority outside teaching hours. The basin is also where the student competition team builds up to its trials, which is how a first-year project ends up in the water beside a doctoral one.

## Access and booking

Booking is through the Department of Marine Engineering. Anyone operating equipment in the basin needs the safety briefing first, and a second person present. Nobody works alone over open water, indoors or otherwise.

The viewing gallery on the mezzanine is open to visitors during open days and by arrangement.