Photo By Dana Rene White | Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division Research Manager Jason Bickford...... read more read more
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Increasing innovation while driving down sustainment cost was the hot topic during Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Michael Gilday’s recent visit with senior leaders from Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) and technology researchers, who toured the command’s offsite Fathomwerx Lab.
Gilday and members of his staff, including Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith, visited Fathomwerx Lab on Feb. 26 and saw technology that served as a backdrop for discussions on the innovation pipeline, and demonstrations of how collaboration within and outside of the Navy drives increased readiness and decreased costs for the fleet, explained PHD’s Office of Research and Technology Applications Manager Alan Jaeger.
Jaeger briefed the admiral on Fathomwerx and its collaborative uses to source, curate, prototype and test ideas for fleet transition. Fathomwerx, a technology innovation hub created via a Partnership Intermediary Agreement with PHD and the Ventura County Economic Development Collaborative, operates in leased space at the Port of Hueneme. A fourth partner, Camarillo, California-based Matter Labs, aims to attract small, high-tech companies and other entrepreneurial organizations to use the lab and inspire collaborations between PHD personnel and each other.
“Adm. Gilday was eager to learn about Fathomwerx’s mission and the impact of the work being done there in support of the fleet,” said PHD acting Technical Director Jeffrey Koe.
Fathomwerx is also the home site of the NavalX Ventura Tech Bridge. Tech Bridges are relationship-based networks within regions of the U.S. where connections already exist among Navy and Marine Corps facilities, private industry and academia. A Tech Bridge provides a platform so those relationships can expand through a broader, national network to innovate new ideas, products and solutions for the Navy’s fleet and warfighter.
“As we adapt to an increasingly complex security environment, it is imperative that the Navy develop a warfighting network of networks to support a future fleet of manned and unmanned vessels,” Gilday said in a statement during a visit earlier in the week to Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC PAC) in San Diego.
During the tour, NSWC PHD Research Manager Jason Bickford highlighted PHD’s In-Service Engineering Agent of the Future (ISEAotF) campaign team efforts and other enterprise initiatives to identify solutions that diverse teams can collaborate on and demonstrate.
Specifically, Bickford explained the benefits of additive manufacturing (AM) and used as an example last year’s associated Hack-A-Thon event that resulted in a PHD engineering team’s production of a simple, yet impactful $5 wrench designed and 3D-printed in the command’s Engineering Development Lab. The future AM shipboard capability promises to both improve maintenance and drive down costs.
Bickford also provided a lidar scanning and data review demonstration that showed how a dimensional digital twin, using recently collected data of an amphibious transport dock ship, generates detailed measurements. PHD’s ISEAotF campaign team collaborated with NIWC PAC’s RESTORE Lab on the lidar scan.
“Lidar scanning efforts for installation and modernization is the result of active collaboration between all of the Naval Sea Systems Command warfare centers and NIWC PAC, with the goal of driving digital transformation to installation processes,” Bickford said.
Bickford also gave Gilday an estimated return on investment (ROI) of lidar scanning per CNO availability, but more could be recouped, according to the CNO.
“Adm. Gilday was impressed, but said the figure could potentially be higher, because ROI is additionally realized through better planning and processes as well as the drive down in rework beyond initial installations,” said NSWC PHD Commanding Officer Andrew Hoffman after the tour.
“Overall, we learned a lot, and we shared great examples of advanced technology with our leaders.”
Gilday, Hoffman and others also discussed the growing demand for onboard technical assistance and the resulting increased urgency and value of remote tech-assist tools—notably in travel-constrained environments such as COVID-19.
Additionally, Gilday received a training-focused virtual reality demonstration designed for Sailors supporting the Optical Dazzling Interdictor (ODIN) directed energy system. The command’s laser weapon ISEA training unit and NIWC PAC’s Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality Lab are collaborating on developing the virtual training.
Gilday expressed an interest in helping to maintain PHD’s ISEAotF campaign efforts by asking what he could do to support them. Bickford responded that Naval Innovation Science and Engineering Section 219 funding helps drive Navy-wide innovation to explore and deliver new capabilities, so its continued support is a critical element.
“Overall, our engagement was successful,” Koe said. “The CNO seemed genuinely impressed with our efforts to creatively train Sailors and provide innovative fleet maintenance solutions.”
| Date Taken: | 03.08.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2021 14:54 |
| Story ID: | 390948 |
| Location: | PORT HUENEME, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 353 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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