Skip the lines and check-in early!  

Mr. Mike Tucker, Chairman, NDIA Undersea Warfare Division  

RDML Deltoro, Commander, Naval Undersea Warfare Center  

Mr. John Holmes, Chairman, Spring NDIA Joint USW Technology Conference  

Mr. John Holmes, Chairman, Spring NDIA Joint USW Technology Conference  

The Undersea Communications & Integration Program Office’s vision is to assure undersea dominance in an era with quickly changing technologies and evolving threats. To support CNO’s tenet to “Strengthen Our Navy Team for the Future” and address forthcoming challenges of assuring undersea dominance between 2030 and 2070, it is imperative to have a network of integrated capabilities that fosters continuous communication between shore infrastructures and manned, unmanned, and unattended sensors operating on and below the surface around the world.  

A new classroom design is being implemented at Fleet ASW Training Center, San Diego, using virtualization capable hardware to host multiple A(V)15 USW Combat System software variants. This scalable, flexible hardware approach is much more cost effective than the previously installed tactical hardware, and provides continuous access to the tactical software for trainees. The classrooms facilitate an increase in "hands-on" time with the tactical software by over 300%, and will drastically improve sonar operator performance in the fleet. Training tools are being developed for the learning management system resident on the classroom network to complement the traditional curriculum and provide a more motivating and challenging learning environment for trainees.  

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) sponsored Future Naval Capability (FNC) effort titled USV Payloads for Single – Sortie Mine Countermeasures (SHD-FY13-07) is focused on the development of enabling technologies and autonomous behaviors that support USV-based Mine Countermeasures operations to include initial mine detection, identification, and neutralization. It is envisioned that the resulting capabilities from this FNC will be incorporated into a future USV payload that could be included in a next generation LCS Mission package. Additionally, this effort will develop technologies to facilitate USV-based neutralization of mines. Specifically, this FNC is focused on the following technologies: autonomous launch, handling and recovery of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) from Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) in support of maritime Mine Counter Measure (MCM) missions; and the development of enabling technologies and autonomous behaviors that support the autonomous power replenishment, mission data transfer, and mission planning between the UUVs and USVs. This FNC effort is also develop enabling technologies that: improve the navigational accuracy of MCM UUVs, improve the reacquisition of maritime mines for neutralization, and support the autonomous assessment of mine neutralization sorties. Principle issues to be addressed are: the reduction of manufacturing cost of UUV subsystems and systems; the advancement of autonomous behaviors and the reduction of reliance of ‘man-in-the-loop’ for MCM operations; and the integration of multiple unmanned systems and subsequent mission planning decision algorithms.  

In this talk we present the PMS-485 FSS R&D Strategic Planning efforts. We will illustrate the approach and analysis used including IUSS stakeholder engagement, technology maturity assessment, metrics, etc. This briefing is intended as an update to the 2017 Fall NDIA “Clam Bake” Conference with a prioritization of IUSS/FSS needs that will lead to a technology roadmap. The presentation will include, but not be limited to the following areas of focus: • Identifying issues in the IUSS/FSS component that need to be solved (capability gaps) to improve future robustness of IUSS/FSS capability, with accompanying operational vignettes help provide clarity. • Current and future opportunities for industry partners to participate in PMS-485 FSS challenges and solicitations. • Description of the current and near term fiscal and resourcing environment.  

This brief provides an overview of undersea weapons status and plans, to include MK48 heavyweight torpedo, MK54 lightweight torpedo, High Altitude ASW Weapon Capability (HAAWC), Contender, Advanced Lightweight Torpedo, and ASW targets. There will also be a discussion of the revised SW development process that seeks industry involvement.  

According to RADM Darrah, there is “limited distribution and cooperative processing of sensor data and machine aided analysis, fleets fight with [a] platform centric mindset”. Within many parts the DoN, data is stateful and often served by independent information silos. This is likely due to certain fundamental attributes of data which must be understood. Data has mass: it takes time to move it where it is needed and resources to store it. Data has value: it is a protected asset for all governments and especially within the scope of the tactical Navy. Data has temperature: it has different degrees of accessibility, viability and impact to operations at any point in time. All of these properties of data are dynamic, which makes comprehensive data management necessary. Within the DoN today, data in the tactical Navy, has evolved into incompatible data silos, which brings additional challenges, including: • Inability to move information. Once tactical information rests in a particular data silo, it is difficult or impossible to move it to a different one. • Difficulty managing information. Each environment has a different set of tools, policies, and procedures that make it difficult to apply consistent policies to data. This slows down decision making and the fleet must apply different techniques to manage information within each silo. • Limited choice. New technologies and services that do not integrate with existing environments are difficult to adopt. As a result, the Navy may be limited in its technology choices, affecting abilities to exploit the capabilities of existing and new environments. To overcome these challenges, the DoN needs a secure, seamless way to manage information across a tactical information grid, regardless of their underlying data platforms. When the grid is connected, the DoN will be able to draw from the resources of each, move information to and from any endpoint within the grid, creating data fusion and enabling rapid, integrated decision making. Within the commercial space, a subsidiary of media and entertainment leader, Technicolor, Virdata is the cross-industry cloud service provider for the emerging “Internet of Experience.” Virdata provides businesses with cloud-based connectivity, monitoring, management, and big data analytics services for any asset, device, and/or application. Information sharing is paramount for the IoT, and Virdata has built a capability that can support billions of users. The DataFabric enabled Virdata to maintain full control of data across a blend of resources in the data center, near the cloud, and in the cloud, while increasing scalability and flexibility to support billions of users. Data Fabric is NetApp’s vision for the future of data management, and for the DoN’s tactical grid. It can enable the DoN to respond and transform decision making because information is free to be accessed where it is needed most. With Data Fabric, the DoN can realize the full potential of the tactical grid. NetApp products, services, and partnerships can help the DoN seamlessly manage data across diverse resources, spanning the air, surface, and undersea domains. The DoN will have the flexibility to choose the right set of information resources and the freedom to change them whenever needed. NetApp will provide a Data Fabric that fuses data from tactical assets and leverages commercially available data management software to create a near real-time network of connected platforms and sensors in the Integrated Tactical Grid to the Navy.  

In an ongoing project sponsored by PEO-IWS-5B, researchers from Pacific Science & Engineering (PSE) are tackling these challenges and providing evidence-based solutions to ACB modernization training. PSE is taking a task-based and scientifically-principled human systems integration approach to the problem. For what to train, PSE is building a comprehensive, detailed series of task flows for each operator position and end user, pinned at the ACB-15 build. This task flow features operator goals and sub-goals for performing the work, say, of passive sonar. The OMIs of each ACB can then be conceived as the changing means for achieving these goals, and curriculum built that are indexed by operator goals. As each ACB is released, the curriculum update is organized, intuitively as the changing means in the new build to achieve the goals. In this way, modernization trainers can build responsive curricula indexed by the way they, and their trainees, think – in terms of how to do things, such as build a sonar search plan, say. A second part of the talk will review progress on how to train the build. The training analysis consists of two activities: a training situation analysis, which provides a baseline description of how current training is done, and a training gap analysis, which identifies areas of improvement needed to provide more effective ACB-15 training. One key feature of the analysis is building of a learning approach matrix which will help identify the most effective training methods for the tasks described by the task flow analysis. The impact of the project will to improve ACB modernization training efficiency and effectiveness, through taking a novel, top-down approach to the challenges facing trainees and trainers. The evidence-based approach to recommending appropriate learning approaches provides training managers the information to make informed decisions about resource allocation. Finally, the extensibility of this novel approach to other undersea warfare training challenges will be discussed.  

The Naval Postgraduate School Thesis Equivalent and multi student projects are routinely focused on high interest Navy and DOD topics. This presentation will provide overview descriptions of some 2017 & 2018 completed and on going projects that have MIW interest and/or applications: "Mine Warfare after LCS" - 8 Navy Laboratory students determined capability gaps and analyzed and researched evolving and potential needs for Naval Mine Warfare from today to the 2040 time frame. "Next Generation MIW UUV's" - 9 Navy Laboratory students analyzed current needs of UUV's in Minehunting missions; developed appropriate simulation capability; developed, modeled, and analyzed candidate architectures; and recommended paths for improvements. "Project Leviathan - SEABED WARFARE & XLUUV" - 5 NUWC NEWPORT students are exploring SEABED WARFARE operational concepts and mission architecture, developing a simulation capability to assist in analysis, and analyzing XLUUV as a SEABED WARFARE asset. (Complete in June 2018) "A Cost Effectiveness Analysis for Sensors for Expeditionary MCM UUV's" - 4 active duty resident students will assess available sonar capabilities and determine appropriate analysis techniques to assist in matching sensors to missions considering key attributes and performance of each sensor.  

Acoustic vector sensors have shown significant benefits in oil-exploration applications and have the potential to improve future undersea surveillance capabilities. Acoustic vector sensors measure particle velocity as well as pressure, increasing the directivity gain of an array. ARL:UT has provided detailed analysis of measured vector-sensor data, including performance measurements and descriptions of signal-processing algorithms. This brief presents a summary of the vector-sensor analysis provided by ARL:UT. Examples from a recent experiment with prototype vector sensors will be presented along with descriptions of the signal-processing algorithms. The examples demonstrate improvements to operator-level displays and quiet-target detection due to vector-sensor processing.  

This paper presents the MTB development efforts and concept of operations. PMS-485 will present the features of this common infrastructure capability, with accompanying concept of employment, to help provide clarity. Besides using the MTB for test, PMS-485 needs help from industry, academia, and government labs to evolve and improve upon the MTB itself. The MTB goal is to advance the development of undersea devices that would potentially take advantage of a common distributed power and data infrastructure by providing a test bed to reduce at-sea cost, rapidly test undersea devices, and promote competition.  

STRATUS: Overview General Dynamics Mission Systems is leveraging relationships with PMS401, PMS425, PMS435, IWS5B, and NAVSEA07TR, to bring STRATUS to the training communities. STRATUS is a cloud-based distance learning prototype that was recently deployed to Naval Submarine School (NSS) Groton, CT. This prototype demonstrates distributed learning technologies that improve capability dispersal and training agility. The Tactical Local Area Network Encryptor (TACLANE), an NSA-approved encryptor capable of transmitting TS/SCI data over unclassified lines, is being integrated with STRATUS to eliminate restrictions on training locations. Used together, STRATUS and TACLANE can become the training vector needed to improve warfighter performance anywhere and everywhere.  

When electrically connected and immersed in a sea water electrolyte, dissimilar metals used in ship building produce measurable off-board electric fields that can adversely affect platform susceptibility during mine warfare (MIW) operations. Surface ship analytical models that predict these underwater electric potential (UEP) signatures have been verified against full-scale electric signature data collected at Fleet magnetic silencing facilities (MSFs). These signature predictions are used as input to speculative UEP mine models funded by the Office of Naval Research and developed by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division. The surface ship analytical model and UEP mine model results are then used to understand the impact of quieting technologies on UEP signature, susceptibility, and maneuver area for multiple surface ship classes in areas of interest.  

Mr. Scala will provide an update for the PEO IWS5 Undersea Advanced Development systems including future SONAR and AxB programs.  

This brief provides an overview of the squadron's capability, recent unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) operations, and tactical development. Updates will be provided on the Micro-UUV homing initiative and the efforts supporting Theater Anti-Submarine Warfare using the Transformational Reliable Acoustic Path Systems (TRAPS).  

USW DSS is installed on CRUDES, Carriers, SURTASS, LCS as C2AV. It is planned for shore sites to include the CTF Watchfloors, NAVOCEANO, Training Shore sites, P-8 TOCs Employing net-centric decision-making tools, it enables near-real-time collaboration and sharing of key ASW tactical data and shortens the ASW kill chain. It provides tools to improve mission planning and assessment of current plans at the SG and TASW levels. It provides shared CTP, COP, mission planning, mission execution metrics, and collaboration, and interfaces to IC sensors and analytics from DCGS-N.  

Increased complexity of undersea network systems has in turn increased the interdependence and connectivity between network devices. This “connectivity” creates a level of increased traffic / noise within the systems network which can allow adversaries to hide in plain sight. Sorting through network traffic, real time, is a very daunting task for even the most seasoned network / cyber security professional. Utilizing the concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence allows threats to the network to be rooted out real time, with minimal human interaction / human in machine time.  

UTC Aerospace Systems presents a SECRET/NOFORN level briefing on existing and fielded airborne multi-spectral imaging (MSI) systems that are effective in the Mine Warfare and ASW mission sets. Passive Multi-Spectral Imaging (MSI) EOIR sensors have proven the ability of this technology to accomplish both these missions. The USAF has fielded such a system, and will field another one by mid 2020. UTC Aerospace Systems will present imagery from fielded and operational systems that provided a unique standoff MSI mission capability in the USW area of interest. The presentation will cover threats, imagery from the field, sensor solutions capable of providing such mission capability, platform compatibility and DoD customer plans forward.  

The brief outlines current schedules, status, operational test results, and plans for future transition to a Program of Record (POR) for Deep Water Passive (DWP), Deep Water Active (DWA), and Mobile Passive System (MPS) deployable systems. Included are discussions on recent deployable system performance as well as opportunities for industry participation in the near and far term.  

The objective of this project is to develop a system architecture for enabling an autonomous and collaborative execution of TASW that can search, detect, classify, and track a submarine using passive sensors across multiple platforms in an open ocean environment. Given mission tasking and constraints, the architecture relies on existing environmental models, historical operating patterns, and past collection data to autonomously conduct TASW. Using passive sensors prevents adversarial knowledge of overt prosecution and search area avoidance in open ocean environments.  

Programs within PEO IWS 5 include: Submarine and Surface Ship Advanced Development products such as Advanced Processing Build (APB) for submarines, Advanced Capability Build (ACB) for surface ships, Advanced Surveillance Build (ASB), and Sonar Sensor Development; SQQ-89A(V)15, Scaled Improved Performance Sonar (SIPS), Multi Function Towed Array (MFTA), Foreign Military Sales (FMS), ILS & Installation, In Service Support, Undersea Warfare – Decision Support System (USW-DSS), Carrier Tactical Support Center (CV-TSC) and ASW Systems Engineering.  

The contested environment threat to the Navy is growing, and advanced offensive mining (“smart” mines) could effectively counter the threat, meeting the needs of a relevant PACOM JEONs and supporting JROCM. Led by Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) personnel, the Smart Mining project is an RPED project developed specifically to address these needs. Successful execution of this project will improve mining by integrating modern technologies and systems under a Smart Mining Command and Control (C2) Architecture and will provide leave behind component prototypes for the Fleet. This enhanced capability will lead to future Smart Mining systems capable of: - Providing data exfiltration from the minefield - Enabling remote C2 (arm/de-arm, mission change) - Detecting, Classifying, and Identifying targets - Delivering variety of both kinetic and non-kinetic effects/payloads - Providing ability to change location  

This paper describes an advanced, next-generation seafloor sensor system for detection of nuclear explosions. A team of the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), the NAVFAC Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center (NEXWC), Leidos, Inc. and Sound & Sea Technology, Inc. (SST) designed and installed an undersea sensor system for detection of nuclear explosions. The system is designed to be compliant with the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) specifications for both hydroacoustic and seismic monitoring.  

Converging factors are compelling the simultaneous evolution of undersea and cross-domain manned platforms, unmanned vehicles, and systems used in both military and commercial applications. The evolution of the VIRGINIA Class (VACL) SSN has resulted in considerably more cross-community and cross-domain capability from the undersea domain. With multiple follow-on V ACL blocks in the design phase, combined with designing and building the COLUMBIA Class SSBN, a family of UUVs, and the follow-on SSN(X), the FCG under OPNAV N97 has developed the TSEP as the coordinating effort. The required indepth supporting body of work behind the TSEP will evaluate near, mid, and long term operational needs, threats, capability, and acquisition improvements. The TSEP itself will drive the rigorous and deliberate process of developing targeted time/phased solutions across complex parallel efforts - delivering the right platform with the right capabilities at the right time.  

General Dynamics Mission Systems has 60+ years of experience in developing, manufacturing, installing, operating and maintaining undersea systems, supporting acoustic sensing and undersea networking applications. We are now producing our eighth generation of undersea systems and fifth generation of acoustic sensors.  

This brief will focus on the integration of the Submarine Launched Unmanned Aerial Systems into the Submarine Combat System (AN/BYG-1). I will provide a brief history of Submarine Combat Systems evolution, and then move quickly into how the integration of current and future UAVs will be streamlined. The discussion will cover the steps PMS-425 is taking to allow for quicker fielding of UAVs. I will discuss the current capabilities and limitations, as well as how Industry can contribute to the effort.  

This presentation will discuss some of the analysis underway to determine details of the ocean environment by leveraging the acoustic sensors on the submarine. The algorithms being developed will be proposed for future STDA and onboard signal processing builds.  

The DDS Modernization program will significantly improve clandestine SOF Insertion as well as provide a unique large ocean interface as the Navy continues to develop and refine the Unmanned Undersea Vehicle mission area. As a Chief of Naval Operations special interest program, MASTT is the world’s largest ocean-going autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) developed in response to a critical fleet need for a threat-realistic undersea training target.  

This paper describes critical fundamental technology building blocks and the integrated architecture and functions which leverages the full benefit of core undersea C5ISR operations. The Fleet and Joint Forces can communicate and perform C5ISR at operational ranges and significantly increased data rates in an Electronic Maneuver Warfare protected environment. This “Force Protection Shield” and Information Backbone (transport layer) can be extended to Maritime, Land, Air, Space, and Cyber domains of warfare for total protection. This paper: • Outlines the Optical technologies which facilitate and improve the ability of USN and Joint Forces to complete Mission and CONOPS requirements from Mine Counter Measures to Time Critical Strike. • Describes the foundational MWIR (Mid Wave Infra-Red) and Visible Optical Information transport layer which sustains its own defenses while providing dominant offensive non-kinetic and kinetic warfare capabilities. • Shows how sensors, non-kinetic payloads, UxVs, and 3rd party targeting efforts in all physical and warfare domains can be commonly linked and coordinated by advanced C5ISR FSO technologies. • Identifies the optical ranges of the EMS (Electro-Magnetic Spectrum) allowing the Fleet to maneuver undeterred, disrupt the adversary’s kill chain, and create new force projection opportunities. • Describes the Integration of the Optical Information transport layer across all physical/warfare domains to enable Distributed Lethality, Information Operations, and Electronic Maneuver Warfare strategies/tactics.  

For this brief, we will cover the Navy’s objectives, high-level architectural details, TED summary, metrics and challenges that were faced during the effort. We will summarize the talk with the current state of UGW-based efforts and where it is being used to assist data exchange efforts in the future. The technology has matured to the point of targeting production environments including the CS Boundary Defense Capability. The significance and importance of these findings is that Progeny has a capability, developed for the US Navy, that provides ubiquitous data exchanges with a variety of systems, protocols and data models. By improving the Undersea Warfare community’s situational awareness of this functionality, other efforts could leverage the UGW to reduce cost, risk and deployment timelines.  

Two different flexural disk applications are presented which show advances over the state-of-the-art in underwater acoustic transduction for ASW applications. In the first application, the mutual radiation impedance is exploited to make a multi-modal device which can operate at nominally 500 Hz and 1000 Hz. The transduction elements fit within an A-size sonobuoy form factor and facilitate a low-frequency active sonar transducer for numerous applications. In the second application, a flexural disk transducer is used as a reciprocal device which facilitates transmit and receive capability for the submarine large vertical array. The presentation will outline both design problems, provide analytical and numerical modeling results, and show model validation data.  

The Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2017 (ANTX 2017) provided an excellent opportunity to showcase this first demonstration of a comprehensive, effective, truly autonomous, IPOE data collection solution with COLREGS-based obstacle avoidance. Hosted by both Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Newport, RI and the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Panama City, FL the combined operation enabled both a tactically meaningful IPOE environment using an area off of Panama City, Florida, and the opportunity to display optional real time remote control and data management in ANTX facilities in Newport, RI. In this method, Leidos collected over 15 hours and 63nm of IPOE data, during which Pathfinder conducted 25 maneuvers in response to a combination of real world contacts and artificial contacts injected to prove the completeness of the maneuvering capabilities. At no time during the conduct of the event did safety personnel embarked on R/V Pathfinder have to take over vessel control due to inappropriate or unsafe autonomous commands. The full paper will explore this demonstration in greater detail and review the technical and performance results derived from ANTX 2017.  

This paper focuses on USN and Joint UUV Requirements to communicate at Speed and Depth with other submerged assets and also to platforms in the air. It first identifies USN and Joint Missions, the Concept of Operations and Optical Technology/Product Scenario and Solutions associated with each Mission. Acoustic, Radio Frequency, Hard Wired technologies will continue to satisfy certain applications but in most cases can be upgraded to new levels of performance. Trade decisions are discussed as an example of how legacy systems could be transformed affordably. The end objective is always to communicate with underwater and air assets at operationally useful depths/ranges and data rates with total immunity from disruption.  

Reduced Effect on Windage Wind has a range of effects, the first being the effect of making the projectile deviate to the side (horizontal deflection). From a scientific perspective, the "wind pushing on the side of the projectile" is not what causes horizontal wind drift. What causes wind drift is drag. The same supercavitating effect that allows our rounds to ‘swim’ reduce drag in air by a factor of 30% directly correlating to less effect of wind greater distance and effect on target. Over the Beach Operations The beach is one of the most difficult areas to secure, as such it is one of the favorite insertions points for SOF. However, since water isn't as compressible as air, when a round is fired in a submerged or semi-submerged barrel the pressure has a high probability of causing the weapon system to malfunction or worse case explode. Due to the ballistic characteristics of DSG supercavitating rounds we have changed this vulnerability into a strength. Lethality and Destructive Capability Stopping power is the ability of a firearm or other weapon to cause enough ballistic trauma or damage to a target to immediately incapacitate (and thus stop) the target. The human body is made up of 70% water, therefore our rounds do not only make a hole, but the dynamic opening and closing of the supercavitating cavity significantly damages tissues ~ 4-7” radius around the ballistic hole. The rounds can be used in many ways to increase the effectiveness of the warfighter.  

This brief will be an overview of the surface ship ASW portfolio within PEO-IWS5. Working towards the surface ship type commander’s vision of Distributed Lethality, surface ships have become an increasingly important part of the ASW team. ASW improvements delivered to surface ships as part of the SQQ-89A(V)15 Advanced Capability Builds (ACB) are part of the reason. The increasing number of surface ships with ACB directly impacts the conference theme of a larger, more distributed, more capable USW force. The brief will include current status of ACB build development and delivery. Because of the two year update cycle for ACB, various builds are in fielding, production, and development at the same time. Efforts funded by IWS5 under this program vary from TRL 3 through delivery of the fielded capability to the fleet. There are opportunities through the entire development cycle. For industry, the brief will include current and future focus areas where development is still required and industry can help.  

he US Navy's submarine escape and rescue program supports US and foreign submarine services, providing needed capability to rescue sailors in the event of a distressed submarine (DISSUB) as demonstrated recently in support of the missing Argentinian submarine ARA SAN JUAN. This presentation will serve to update government and industry partners on the status of our capabilities, current acquisitions and procurements, and to share perspective on future technology objectives.  

Radio waves cannot propagate through seawater; accordingly, access to the GPS signals for position determination is impossible. We propose to develop an underwater Optical-Global Positioning System (Optical-GPS) to enable an underwater terminal to precisely establish its position. Position information is valuable for optical communications and all sorts of logistics. Undersea terminals can use position information to facilitate up- and down-links to aerial and space-based terminals. For example, an underwater terminal can move to a pre-arranged location to receive a downlink by a narrow beam. For optical uplinks, the underwater terminal can determine the best beam pointing from its position and the deterministic position of a satellite in, say, low earth orbit. Location awareness also enables all-underwater rendezvous. Long term, mobile assets like UUVs can meet at pre-appointed times and places to transfer data, material or supplies like fuel.  

The Program Executive Officer for Air Antisubmarine Warfare, Assault, and Special Mission Programs, PEO(A), RDML Dean Peters, will provide a briefing on overall Air ASW at the USW Technology Conference Plenary Session, covering Air ASW platforms, P-8A and MH-60R, and air ASW Systems, sonobuoy production and R&D.  

Mutual interference and continuous waveforms have created increasing challenges for cooperative forces. In 2011 IWS 5.0 embarked on a series of efforts to investigate the feasibility of exploiting emissions from other ships to enhance the likelihood of detection and coverage beyond that possible for an individual ship. Bob Goan discusses real world data obtained when a ship was unable to transmit, while Newell Stacey and Terry Bazow discuss development of a strike group active sonar exploitation capability.  

High strength, lower ductility materials are a frequent choice for designing advanced unmanned underwater vehicles to improve payload and decrease handling weight. Unfortunately, the low inherent ductility and presence of structural discontinuities contributes to hull rupture in the elastic region, rather than making use of ductile performance in the inelastic region of the stress-strain curve. Also, hull rupture can be a source of shock damage from hull implosion that can be damaging to surrounding vehicles and structure. Use of highly rate-sensitive polymer coatings has demonstrated capability to extend the ductility range by delaying the rupture process and also has demonstrated a significant capability to limit the level of implosion-generated shock pulses in UUV-type scale models. The polymers can also support other stealth and corrosion resistant features. Incorporating highly rate-sensitive polymers in the design process is an effective method for improving UUV capabilities in using very light-weight, lower ductility high strength materials.  

Network functions virtualization (NFV) is a network architecture allows the virtualization of entire classes of network node functions into building blocks that may connect, or chain together, to create communication services. With NFV, functions like routing, firewalls, Intrusion Detection (IDS) and application acceleration are packaged as virtual machines (VMs) on commodity hardware. By allowing virtualized network functions (VNFs) to run as software, instead of hardware appliances for each network function, a significant amount of space, weight and power (SWAP) can be saved. Service Chaining is used to build more complex services where multiple VNFs are used in sequence to deliver a service. The potential SWAP savings are even more important in airborne platforms.  

A central consideration in multi-objective optimization problems is how to balance the objectives. For some such problems, simply averaging the objectives is sufficient, but often success is measured by the objective on which the estimated solution performs worst, as is the case in applications like multi-target tracking and outbreak detection. We address scheduling for deep water active sonar arrays, in which the goal is to transmit a signal and generate reflections off of a target that can be detected by the receiver.  

Numerous foreign submarine designs employ double-hull construction methods, with varying levels of structural-acoustic sophistication. First, the presence of the second hull allows structural optimization to occur using parametric approaches with more degrees of freedom than single-hull, suggesting that optimal double hull designs may be superior. Second, the presence of multiple hull surfaces allows greater opportunity to apply acoustic treatments.  

Data center architectures are evolving rapidly and a new approach called Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) is gaining adoption throughout DoD C4I systems. Government and industry are being inundated with marketing claims from manufacturers of these solutions, promising decreased cost and deployment flexibility. With all of the claims being made, it’s important to understand how these new architectures function and how they might benefit the US Navy.  

This presentation will review the current design configuration of the EA Buoy that is currently being built for special Navy data collection trials, and present results on recent ocean tests conducted at SCI. An overview of possible future updates and uses of the EA Buoy will also be provided, such as for detection, tracking, and possible classification of targets, or for self-measurements of E-field and acoustic emissions from surface and subsurface platforms.  

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) Common Submarine Coordinated Asset Planner for Engagement (C-SCAPE) Future Naval Capability (FNC) program will provide an integrated capability to the submarine PCS that supports collaborative planning, coordination, briefing, and execution through the use of decision support services and analytic tools that assist operators during the planning and execution of UxV and payload missions.  

The TacNet™ Tactical Radio (TTR) is the Smallest, Lightest, and Lowest Cost Link 16 terminal on the market today. The TTR requires No Cooling, produces No Noise, and was designed for Ease of Integration. The TTR has three Power Modes to meet various mission requirements and has Superior Anti-Jam Performance to meet the Warfighter needs and environments. The TTR has been selected for and integrated on various C-130’s, helicopters, and transportable gateways including the USAF TACP Tactical Gateway program.  

QinetiQ North America (QNA) has developed a multi-mode, expendable, micro-UUV (SEASCOUT) that can be launched from fixed and rotary wing aircraft for rapid response to any location. It can greatly increase the ability to deploy a UUV wherever it is needed, quickly. The UUV is equipped with satellite communications for over-the-horizon command, control, and data transfer. QNA will present the results of recent in-water testing of dynamic performance of the vehicle and applications for multi-vehicle collaboration. The Sea Scout AUV is a multi-mode vehicle in that it has low drag body to enable long transits in horizontal flight, with the ability to change pitch to float vertically in the water column for communications or data collection, and then return to the horizontal to maneuver. The platform stability is enhanced by active roll control. It has also been designed to withstand the higher levels of shock and vibration of launch from an airborne platform, including those associated with water entry, and execute its assigned tasks. QNA will present the test results of the position, speed, heading and depth control performance of the vehicle in the open water.  

The DARPA MOCCA program is developing an active sonar solution that mitigates the limits of passive submarine sonar sensors. The objective is to achieve significant stand-off detection and tracking range through the use of a submarine deployed UUV acting as an offboard, bistatic illuminator while the submarine remains passive as the bistatic receiver. The submarine will need to be able to control the UUV while minimizing blue submarine counter-detection.  

This presentation introduces analytical model and test results of a small diameter, lightweight, buoyant (tunable to a desired specific gravity), unpowered fiber optic cable (micro-cable) capable of surviving deployment and operation in the harsh ocean environment for at least 30 days. The micro-cable was designed for the DARPA Tactical Undersea Network Architecture (TUNA) program (Phases 1 and 2), to integrate a military tactical data network with a rapidly deployable temporary undersea network. However, because the design is modular and easily changed, this cable is relevant to many other strategically important undersea applications.  

PEZ is a new class of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) designed for ease of deployment, minimal cost, and dramatically reduced logistics. The flat disk shape of the PEZ UUV allows 15x to be stacked in a PEZ Dispenser placed in a vertical tube on a SSGN or SSN with Virginia Payload Module (VPM). The PEZ UUVs can be released one at a time or all at once to form a swarm or a team with dedicated roles.  

The Extended Range Directional Frequency and Recording System (ER-DIFAR) is an Office of Naval Research (ONR) project that will build and demonstrate an A-size sonobuoy system capable of delivering the required array gain in order to detect ultra-quiet submarines at tactically relevant ranges through exploitation of a unique feature of the sound channel. This new sonobuoy will include a highly capable cylindrical sonar array that will enable passive detection of very quiet targets by means of superior directional gain against noise. In order to successfully develop this technology, significant challenges for packaging the array will be addressed that will enable its use in an A-size form factor. Additionally, affordable low noise electronics and hydrophone units will be matured to meet the limiting packaging constraints while achieving the necessary performance standards for effective array operation. A future transition to replace or supplement the current AN/SSQ-53 DIFAR sonobuoy system is the goal of ONR’s S&T investment in this project.  

STR is teamed with the University of Washington to realize a High-Search Rate Off-board Transducer (HOT) for DARPA’s Mobile Off-board Clandestine Communications and Approach (MOCCA) program. The MOCCA program seeks to offset the risk of submarine-on-submarine engagement reliant on diminishing passive sonar ranges through active sonar. An active source organic to the submarine risks exposure, so the program envisions the use of an off-board UUV source to illuminate the target for bistatic reception at the blue submarine. Achieving detection without counter-detection is a central challenge to the system design. The effort is in Phase 1 where the team is developing the processing and assessing performance through lake measurements and modeling. DARPA envisions integrated at-sea demonstrations of the capability in Phase 2 which will include communications between the UUV and submarine. This presentation updates status for the HOT MOCCA effort where testing last Fall showed the feasibility of core spatially dependent processing gains required for the concept to work.  

In today’s dynamic economic environment, the ability to control cost is paramount. This paper describes a method to control cost by repurposing a platform traditionally designed and optimized for a single use. The platform in question is the low cost unmanned underwater vehicle MK39 Expendable Mobile ASW Training Target (EMATT) that has been fielded for more than 30-years, with more than 40,000 units delivered to-date. Capitalizing on the EMATT’s simple and mature design, this paper describes several new cost effective mission sets that are feasible while maintaining the EMATT’s inherent ASW training capabilities.  

The DOLPHIN technology enables sonar and acoustic comms to perform full duplex on a single frequency. The technology is frequency agnostic. The DOLPHIN technology applies patented algorithms and systems to cancel the transmitted signal at the receiver real time so that both can remain on for 100% duty cycle and be collocated. This is also referred to as Simultaneous Transmit and Receive (STAR). When applied to acoustic modems, the DOLPHIN technology enables swarms of moving UUVs to communicate effectively where other, half-duplex, modem networks would fail. We have also demonstrated significant improvement in network throughput (not data rate) in point to point comms and networked comms. In recent testing QinetiQ North America has demonstrated LPI/LPD acoustic comms in difficult (shallow water) environments. We have demonstrated effective communications between multiple nodes. This presentation will discuss the results of this testing in more detail and also discuss the results as they relate to the cyclostationary and noise floor. In addition, we will discuss the next steps in testing.  

Conference Adjourns, thank you for participating in the conference!