Demonstrated Environment/Harware Cooperation˙for Expanded Riverine Coverage Navy STTR FY2010.A Sol No.: Navy STTR FY2010.A Topic No.: N10A-T024 Topic Title: Demonstrated Environment/Harware Cooperation˙for Expanded Riverine Coverage Proposal No.: N10A-024-0514 Firm: Barron Associates, Inc. 1410 Sachem Place Suite 202 Charlottesville, Virginia 22901-2496 Contact: Nathan Richards Phone: (434) 973-1215 Web Site: http://www.barron-associates.com Abstract: The Barron Associates/Virginia Tech team believes that intelligent use of ambient riverine environmental factors together with novel drifter design and low-energy articulation is the key to enabling large non-overlapping river coverage. The proposed phase I research program focuses on (1) identifying key river characteristics which may be leveraged by riverine drifters, (2) fabricating a novel riverine vehicle with a motion control system which respects and cooperates with the river environment, (3) on-line learning to update a priori environment models with new information based on observations, and (4) in-river demonstration of the composite design. The overarching goal of the proposed program of research and development is to leverage known and learned characteristics of the riverine environment to demonstrate efficient non-overlapping river coverage through intelligent vehicle design, mission planning, and real-time reaction to unforeseen characteristics. The team believes that an approach that explicitly considers and cooperates with the riverine environment has the potential to significantly outperform a system that treats the environment as a disturbance. Also, the ability to learn and update a priori models enables the system to function efficiently in situations where the environment has changed significantly or situations where little or no a priori information is available. Benefits: The expected result of a completed Phase II research effort will be a complete, functionally-verified vehicle which leverages features present in the riverine environment to improve area coverage and reduce energy expenditure. An emphasis on low-cost, commodity hardware in the design will result in a system with an attractive price point for commercial applications. The potential commercial applications of such a system are numerous. In recent years, efforts to monitor environmental quality of rivers around the world have increased dramatically. Larger, more capable survey vehicles are available but are often prohibitively expensive. As such, a niche market for a low-cost, expendable survey device with a suitable sensing suite is created. Hydrographic surveys are also conducted in riverine environments for investigation and mitigation of contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency reserved $35.2 M in its 2009 budget for water security efforts to protect drinking water sources. In these applications, a rapid, low-cost expendable means to measure river characteristics with limited human intervention is beneficial. Finally, a low-cost design will enable academic institutions to acquire the system for research purposes. The development of a low-cost drifter system with expanded coverage capability represents a considerable market opportunity. Return