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Expendable Glider for Oceanographic Research
Navy STTR FY2008A - Topic N08-T016 Opens: February 19, 2008 - Closes: March 19, 2008 6:00am EST N08-T016 TITLE: Expendable Glider for Oceanographic Research TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Sensors, Battlespace ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PEOC4I, PMW120, Littoral Battlespace Sensing Fusion & Integration ACAT The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation. OBJECTIVE: Develop a low cost expendable glider to enable efficient wide area oceanographic sensing to support environmental characterization and predictive systems in support of Battlespace on Demand persistent environmental surveillance, mine warfare (MIW) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions. DESCRIPTION: The need to acquire oceanographic observations is increasing. This data is used by Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (COMNAVMETOCCOM) through the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), to characterize the operational environment, constrain predictive models for MIW and ASW mission planning, to predict sensor performance, and guide future platform and sensor placement. Current oceanographic sensing is accomplished using specialized ships, specialized floats, reusable ocean gliders, and moored instrumentation that requires deployment and retrieval from either ships or small boats. The Navy’s highly capable T-AGS class ships, managed by COMNAVMETOCCOM, conduct multi-mission oceanographic survey in response to Fleet Commander tasking. However, they are few in number and have significant operating costs - $30,000 to $40,000 per day. The present generation of profiling floats can be air or surface ship launched and provides one affordable form of environmental measurements via satellite. However, these sensors float with the current and can not station keep, direct their motion or adapt to new desires to exploit the environmental field. The present class of Ocean Gliders are able to persist for a few months measuring the environment and transmitting the findings back to shore. These gliders use buoyancy engines as propulsion to maintain position or move to a new specified location. These gliders cost roughly $100,000 per instrument and due to their relative scarcity and high desirability are used repeatedly and refurbished regularly requiring ship launch and recovery. The Oceanographer of the Navy (OPNAV N84) acquisition program "Littoral Battlespace Sensing, Fusion and Integration" (LBSF&I) is in the process of procuring approximately 150 current generation ocean gliders for Navy operational use. A new lower-cost, surface ship or air deployed Expendable Glider (XG) is desired that will last sufficiently long that recovery is not required. One can clearly see the economics of a slightly lower cost glider to provide data and adaptation without the added cost of ship launch and recovery. To achieve the cost savings and certifications for air deployment, the XG should be a sealed unit that should not have to be opened for operation or maintenance. It should be able to activate and self locate, communicate with a ground station over Iridium, receive mission plans, and run the planned mission, transmit the data back to shore site, and at the end of its life sink to the bottom of the ocean without causing environmental harm. To meet the cost benefit ratio, the XG should cost less than $50K. It should carry a CTD (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth sensor) and optical backscatter sensors at a minimum. The XG should have an endurance of 2-4 months and be capable of transecting major ocean currents, similar to existing ocean gliders. The XG should be depth rated to at least 1000 meters in order to maximize its navigability. Detailed performance tradeoff studies (comparing options involving maximum depth-payload-persistence-speed, etc.) are desired to help inform Phase II and Phase III. The LBSF&I program is the logical transition program for this STTR. PHASE I: Complete and deliver detailed performance tradeoff studies comparing options involving maximum depth, payload, persistence, battery types, cost and speed. Develop a preliminary design for the XG. Develop operational concepts for air and surface launch. Perform and deliver results of bench-level testing to demonstrate a proof of concept as applicable. PHASE II: Complete the system design based on Phase I study results and fabricate 4 prototype XG vehicles. Test prototype(s) in the ocean verifying the XG’s endurance, mission control, environmental data collection, and data transmit functionality. PHASE III: Test ship and air launched operational concepts. Complete certification for shipboard and aircraft usage. Build 10 additional XG for certification testing. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The XGs could have extensive use in academic organizations to provide a low cost approach for environmental data collection for oceanographic research. The Oil and Gas industries could use the XGs for environmental data collection during oil exploration and in preparation for installing drilling rigs. REFERENCES: 2. Navy UUV Master Plan Update 2004 KEYWORDS: Oceanographic sampling, gliders, UUVs
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