Unmanned System Data Protocol and Format

Unmanned System Data Protocol and Format

Summary

            The United States Navy will benefit from a Department of Defense (DOD) investment of $600 million in Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UAV). (Pomerleau, M., 2016).  The capabilities include Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, inspection and identification, oceanography, communications, and more.  (Pomerleau, M., 2016).  The Remus 6000 made by Hydroid will likely be one of the systems the United States Navy acquires given the company has just been awarded $36.32 million of that DOD investment. 

Discussion

            The Remus 6000 is able to operate in up to 6000 meters of water for applications ranging from Organic mine countermeasures, hydrographic survey, area search, and surveillance and reconnaissance.  The sensor suite is reconfigurable to meet unique mission requirements.  A common element throughout the Remus fleet of systems is a common software and interface system for vehicle maintenance, permission checkout, planning, and data analysis on a Microsoft Windows platform.  (Hydroid, n.d.).  Full system specifications can be found on the Kongsberg website.  The 28 inch diameter vehicle is 12.6 feet long and weighs 1900 pounds, and operates with rechargeable Li-ion batteries which give it a 22 hour on station capability.  Communication between the vehicle and the remote station is accomplished through two connectors, one for shore power and one for data.  Alternatively the system can use 802.11 wireless connectiveity.  Communications is provided via acoustic modem, iridium, modem and 802.11G WiFi.  Navigation is provided via Long Baseline Transducer (7-15 kHz upwar looking transducer and Dead Reckon with ADCP inertial Navigation System (INS).  The acoustic link allows operators to monitor the AUV’s mission progress.  (Konsberg.com).

    Data export is accomplished via export from the vehicle in either ASCII text or Metlab format into spreadsheets for processing, and can include vehicle position, depth, altitude, time and other parameters.  (Konsberg).

    The reconfigurable sensor suite may include Naval sonar ASW and mine hunting, multibeam sonar, side-scan sonar, single-beam sonar, and synthetic aperture sonar.

      Alternative systems include the Remus 100, and Remus 600 which meet many of the same specifications, but lack the depth capability provided by the Remus 6000.

    Because this is an underwater system, it is necessary for the system to surface to transfer large amounts of data.  The previously discussed connection methods are used for this, as well as the WiFi capability.  An alternative method seen with other systems is via satellite linkup when those systems surface, though the transmissions are sometimes smaller.

Conclusion

            The Remus 6000 provides the United States Navy in incredible capability for sensor data collection.  There are few systems that can provide this level of data collection.

 

References

Kongsbert.  (n.d.). Retrieved 4/17/16: http://www.km.kongsberg.com/ks/web/nokbg0240.nsf/AllWeb/96066CED6C722354C125738D004DCD85?OpenDocument

Pomerleau, M. (2/4/16), DOD Plans to Invest $600M in Unmanned Underwater Vehicles.  Defense Systems.  Retrieved 4/17/16:  https://defensesystems.com/articles/2016/02/04/dod-navy-uuv-investments.aspx

Remus 6000.  (n.d.) Hydroid, A Kongsberg Company.  Retrieved 4/17/16:  http://www.hydroid.com/remus-6000-defense