in ,

Charles River Analytics Develops MOANA Coastal Survey Platform for Navy

Charles River Analytics Develops MOANA Coastal Survey Platform for Navy - top government contractors - best government contracting event

A lightweight system was introduced by Charles River Analytics, with funding support from the U.S. Navy, to allow kayaks to autonomously collect parameter data in coastal environments.

The company said Tuesday its Modular Oceanographic Autonomous Navigating Assessor, developed under a $500,000 Navy contract, works to measure bathymetry, water column constituents, benthic properties, hyperspectral radiometry and other parameters of coastal environments.

The effort aims to simplify a process that currently requires operators to manually measure the said parameters via a customized kayak.

MOANA’s environmental sensors supporting power/onboard communications module are inside an ama hull. Meanwhile, the platform’s outrigger provides an electromechanical interface that allows for integration with any kayak. The outrigger also delivers autonomous navigation and kayak-to-shore communications.

Operators can carry MOANA in portable shipping cases to coastal environments, and may set the platform up on common, rentable kayaks.

“We can imagine future implementations of MOANA to collect environmental data for climate change studies, enable ocean mapping or provide disaster relief services,” said Jeffery Prisco, director of hardware engineering at Charles River Analytics and principal investigator of the MOANA effort.

MOANA builds on a concept originally made by Steven Ackleson, an oceanographer at the Naval Research Laboratory.

ExecutiveBiz Logo

Sign Up Now! ExecutiveBiz provides you with Daily Updates and News Briefings about Government Technology

mm

Written by Nichols Martin

a staff writer at Executive Mosaic, produces articles on the federal government's technology and business interests. The coverage of these articles include government contracting, cybersecurity, information technology, health care and national security.

CACI to Prototype Multi-Spectral Sensor Laser Under Air Force Research Lab Award; John Mengucci Quoted - top government contractors - best government contracting event
CACI to Prototype Multi-Spectral Sensor Laser Under Air Force Research Lab Award; John Mengucci Quoted
New IARPA Program to Develop Tech for Measuring Ionizing Radiation Exposure - top government contractors - best government contracting event
New IARPA Program to Develop Tech for Measuring Ionizing Radiation Exposure