Department of the Navy scientists and engineers collaborated on Government Acceptance Testing (GAT) a new type of unmanned, underwater vehicle at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division during the week of Aug. 22-26, 2016.
Technical personnel from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Keyport and Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SPAWAR) worked to determine if a particular type of micro-UUV met the U.S. Navy’s requirements for specific mission areas to include mine countermeasures.
A bench test was conducted to ensure sensors and other aspects of the UUVs worked properly and during the latter part of the testing week, the engineers operated and tested the UUVs in the intended salt-water environment.
The goal of this collaboration was to better understand the product and how it applies to the science and technology work that is done at NSWC PCD, as well as other labs.
The manufacturer of the Riptide Micro-UUV, Riptide Autonomous Solutions, calls the smaller UUV used in this the GAT “highly flexible, open source autonomous undersea vehicle that provides users a state-of-the-art, low cost development solution ideally suited for developers of autonomy and behaviors, power systems, subsea sensors and new payloads.”
The micro-UUV’s length ranges from 25 to 72 inches, diameter is approximately 4.9 inches and can typically weigh anywhere from 12 to 36 pounds. In contrast to many of the commercial UUVs currently available, this is a vast reduction in size. Once testing is complete, the engineers will reconfigure the systems to meet their needs.
According to NSWC PCD UUV Operator of Unmanned Systems Technology, Ana Ziegler, the Micro-UUVs are smaller, lower cost and more accessible than other UUVs on the market. Zeigler said the micro-UUVs will be beneficial in conducting a wide variety of research and other missions that would be more difficult to do with larger UUVs. As of now, said Zeigler, these vehicles can't do what the Fleet vehicles do, however, once testing is complete, the engineers can reconfigure the systems to meet their needs.
Zeigler said the micro-UUVs cost less than 1/20th the price of the Fleet vehicles that are currently used.
“Until now, there were no low cost vehicles, at least not with enough capabilities to demonstrate what we can do,” she said. “That's the beauty of these micro-vehicles.”
Now, said Zeigler, NSWC PCD scientists and engineers are experimenting with higher levels of autonomy and are moving toward communicating with the vehicle to teach it how to survey the area on its own without having to be programmed step-by-step in advance.
Ziegler added that it is useful to have the manufacturer, who already holds a contract with the government for this work, present when the equipment is being tested to ensure that everything is working properly before it is accepted.
NUWC Keyport UUV Project Lead, Steven Figueroa, said that a benefit to having the manufacturer present to address issues for the GAT, it gives them a chance to hear feedback on the product.
“Having this collaboration with the manufacturer can offer better ways to do something or if the vehicle were to fall short in some way,” said Figueroa. “If there is a better design, the manufacturer can take the lessons learned and make the next iteration better.”
Riptide Autonomous Solutions Principal Software Engineer, Dr. Dani Goldberg, said the feedback from the customers is essential.
“We work together to operate these vehicles so it is a learning experience on both sides,” said Goldberg. “They’re learning how to use the vehicle and how to service it. We are learning what works and what doesn’t work for our customers.”
Zeigler said the GAT was a success. She is looking forward to using the micro-UUVs for autonomy research and believes discoveries will be made using the micro-UUVs that will be valuable to the Fleet.
Thus far, 18 Riptide Micro-UUVs have been manufactured. Six of these micro-UUVs were delivered to NSWC PCD and three of them to SPAWAR Pacific. All six of NSWC PCD’s micro-UUVs were involved in the GAT, as well as one micro-UUV from SPAWAR.
NSWC PCD: Technical Center of Excellence for Littoral Warfare and Coastal Defense.
| Date Taken: | 09.07.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 09.13.2016 09:45 |
| Story ID: | 209088 |
| Location: | PANAMA CITY, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 149 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NSWC PCD Acceptance Tests Micro-UUV, by Katherine Mapp, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
