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Covering more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface, the
maritime landscape can be vast and unforgiving, presenting extremes
in temperature, depth, and hazards.
But the Naval team of
physicists, engineers, researchers and developers at Surface Warfare
Center Panama City, Florida, continues to bring the “force of the
future” to today's warfighters, delving deeper, so to speak, into
underwater counter-mine and irregular warfare technology that saves
lives, ships and dollars.
Nestled along St. Andrew Bay, the
Fanselau Coil Facility is a prominent, two-story, dome-shaped
structure lined with towering wooden beams supporting coils that
create a magnetic field ... a setting appearing at once dated and
modern, and somewhat resembling a mad scientist's dream realized.
One of only two such complexes of its type in the world, the
facility was developed in the mid-1980s to simulate Earth's
inconsistent magnetic fields, which enables scientists to measure
magnetic effects on unmanned underwater vehicles and characterize
foreign sensors over a vast area.
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The REMUS MK 18 unmanned underwater vehicle sits mounted on a support system made of wood and fiberglass composites in the Fanselau Coil Facility at Naval Support Activity Panama City in Panama City, Florida July 12, 2016. The complex is designed to simulate Earth's inconsistent magnetic fields, which enables scientists to measure magnetic effects on UUVs and characterize foreign sensors over a vast area.
(DoD photo by EJ Hersom, DoD News)
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“Since we can simulate the magnetic field of anywhere on the
Earth, we can actually measure its effect on something like a UUV
when it's operating in that location,” said Randy Horne, NSWC
technical program manager at the coil facility.
Why Use UUVs?
A Remote
Environmental Monitoring Unit, or REMUS, MK 18, is mounted at the
center of the dome. The REMUS is an interoperable, programmable UUV
that processes and transmits critical test data at the magnetic
measurement facility and offers real-life seafloor mapping and
buried target detection data to explosive ordnance disposal
personnel and operators.
According to the Naval
Research Center web site, “naval mine strikes are the root cause of
77 percent of U.S. Navy ship casualties occurring since 1950.” In
years past, modern warships such as the guided missile frigate USS
Samuel B. Roberts, the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton and the
amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli sustained severe damage due to
mines in the Persian Gulf.
Beyond the dome, while the
contractor-developed MK 18 is currently deployed in Bahrain, the
NSWC Panama City team organically created the specialized detection
sensor integration software it uses today to develop and refine
littoral tactics, identify vulnerabilities and make the vehicles
autonomous, Horne said. “It's a collaboration [among] industry,
academia, the National Research Laboratory, as well as a number of
Navy and applied physics laboratories in the [United States].”
Building on Existing Technology
The use of UUVs is hardly new, but in the decades since their
addition to the fleet, Navy scientists have sought to expand their
use through a modular interface and software that can locate
submerged wrecks and obstacles ... and even locate and digitally
document underwater archaeological sites ... with a solid foundation
of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
One
objective for magnetic testing in conjunction with the REMUS program
is to equip the UUV with “smart” technology, which Horne said is
progressing quickly, and moving closer to enhancing the systems with
decision-making abilities without the need for a pre-programmed
path.
“It's a
fleet system and will be all-military in its operation,” Horne
noted. “And it's going to progress far beyond where it is now.”
More UUVs Mean Safer Sailors
At the heart of the mission is safety, Horne explained, adding
that an increase and sophistication of UUVs will proportionately
reduce the number of humans necessary to mitigate underwater
challenges, whether in diving with gear or in manned submarines.
“The idea is to get the man out of the
minefield,” Horne said. “The MK 18 and all of these small UUVs are
just one of the tools that are used.”
NSWC Panama City's
unique geographic location offers scientists and fleet users
distinct training, testing and evaluation opportunities as the gulf
waters replicate Persian Gulf temperatures, depth, salinity and
clarity in relation to sonar performance, thereby offering intended,
real-world environment results.
NSWC, a field activity of the
Naval Sea Systems Command, employs more than 1,300 service members,
civilians and contractors, and provides innovative, technical
solutions to complex problems, specifically in the areas of littoral
and expeditionary warfare.
By Amaani Lyle
DOD News
Copyright 2016
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