Continued Development of Advanced Marine Vehicles by the South Florida Ocean Measurement Center.

摘要

This report is submitted by the South Florida Ocean Measurement Center (SFOMC) for collaborative marine vehicle research at SFOMC. It serves as an introduction to the separate reports for the two experiments conducted under this grant by SFOMC. A third section outlines range and infrastructure upgrades and support provided by the South Florida Testing Facility, a detachment of NSWC Carderock Division, and a partner in SFOMC. The US Navy has identified the enhancement of its littoral warfighting capability as a major priority. Clandestine rapid environmental assessment and mine reconnaissance are two very significant parts of that capability, with AUVs playing a crucial element in performing each of these tasks. These vehicles are an important technology for the Navy because they provide the ability to survey shallow water regions in a systematic manner, using a number of small, inexpensive, unmanned vehicles. The primary goal of this project was to provide additional specific AUV capabilities resident at SFOMC for related Navy projects that support specific analyses and experiments to further Navy ocean technology and scientific capabilities. The secondary goal was to provide the scientific community with a natural ocean observatory and an enhanced infrastructure within which to conduct this type of experiments.