Feature 5 | UNMANNED VEHICLES Sensing gliders survey water column


Engineers at the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), perform pre-deployment inspection on littoral battlespace ‘sensing gliders’ aboard the Military Sealift Command oceanographic survey ship USNS Pathfinder (T-AGS 60). Each glider hosts a payload suite of sensors that will measure the physical characteristics of the


development undertaken in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division. This unmanned vessel autonomy executive function has at its core an artificial intelligence engine originally developed for Mars Rover vehicles. ACTUV Phase 1 studies, each running


Sensing gliders are used to survey the water column.


water column as the glider routinely descends and ascends in the ocean. The gliders were deployed during an at-sea test aboard Pathfinder in November.


worth about US$500,000 each, have been placed for the development and demonstration of key technology enablers:


• Spatial Integrated Systems (SIS) will undertake development and at-sea


• the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory has been contracted


• Sonalysts will pursue the development of an exploratory crowd-sourced tactics


for the testing of high-frequency active sonars to acquire and track submarine targets;


simulator; and


demonstration of unmanned surface vessel autonomous algorithms for submarine tracking and ‘rules of the road’ compliance.


Under its contract, SIS will demonstrate


the technical feasibility of an autonomous maritime navigation and control system that leverages technology from an earlier


for six months, will shape a preliminary performance specification to be used as an input to the ACTUV Phase 2 solicitation. Tis follow-on programme of work, with a duration of 18 months, is planned to fund a single contract through to a Critical Design Review. Phase 3, also lasting 18 months, projects


the build of an integrated prototype vessel and initial sea trials. Tis is expected to be awarded as a firm fixed-price option under the Phase 2 solicitation. DARPA’s


science and technology


effort will culminate, in Phase 4, with a programme of mission-oriented sea trials and experiments to support a US Navy military utility assessment. DARPA is expected to fund six months’ activity, aſter which test and acquisition activities will be assumed by the US Navy. WT


Fire Scout ready for unrestricted flights from USS Halyburton


I


n preparation for deployment later this year, Northrop Grumman Corporation and the US Navy recently verified that


the MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical unmanned aircraſt system is functionally compatible with communications systems on board the USS Halyburton (FFG-40). This process, known as integration verification, cleared the way for Fire Scout to conduct unrestricted operations from Halyburton. Performed in early November in the


western Atlantic Ocean, integration verification included functional checks on the ship, verification that Fire Scout payloads worked properly, and completion of a long-duration flight at distance from the ship. A team of Northrop Grumman engineers and operators on board the ship helped re-familiarise navy operators with


26


Northrop Grumman’s MQ-8B Fire Scout recently completed shipboard integration trials from USS Halyburton.


Fire Scout’s control systems. Northrop Grumman is the US Navy’s Fire Scout prime contractor.


“Tese verification flights will support


the navy’s decision to deploy the Fire Scout system for continued operational use,”


Warship Technology March 2011


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