Mary-Louise Hoffman
Several technology companies are developing power generation systems and methods to operate unmanned undersea vehicles for an extended period of time, National Defense Magazine reports.
Yasmin Tadjdeh writes Rich Granger, business development lead at Battelle‘s maritime systems business, told the magazine that the company has designed a platform that aims to transfer power and data underwater.
“We’ve been progressively improving the underwater efficiency for this power transfer technology to enable more rapid underwater recharging of UUVs so you don’t have to surface,” Granger added.
Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ Proteus system is designed to work as a manned or unmanned platform and is powered by lithium polymer batteries from Battelle and Bluefin Robotics.
Some companies have built sea-powered unmanned platforms, according to National Defense Magazine.
Gary Gysin, president and CEO of Liquid Robotics, told the publication that the firm’s SHARC autonomous craft works to create propulsion once it reaches the backside of a sea wave.
Liquid Robotics and Boeing partnered to create a system for SHARC to operate alongside the ScanEagle drone, built by Boeing unit Insitu.
Egan Greenstein, senior director of autonomous maritime sales at Boeing’s military aircraft division, was quoted as saying the goal is to enable manned submarines, remotely operated underwater vehicles and seafloor sensors to transmit real-time information to aircraft.
