PANAMA CITY, Fla. (NNS) — Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division personnel are making final preparations for a two-week demonstration of the U.S. Navy's emerging autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), to be held at Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NAS PAX) Sept. 12-25.
The event, PAX River 2015, is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and will bring together 150 participants, 26 technology teams and unmanned systems to jointly explore Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV) technologies in common, at-sea environments along Maryland's shoreline.
"Through the display of various emerging AUV-related technologies, the objective of the demonstration is to increase effectiveness in mine-hunting exercises, ordnance surveys, maritime archeology, and infrastructure inspection, such as bridges, shoreline, or sea walls," said Robert Gibson, PAX River 2015 project manager.
Since 1997, ONR has hosted eight AUV Fests and Science and Technology Demonstrations (S&T Demos) in Panama City, Florida. This is the first UAV demonstration hosted by ONR to be held at PAX River.
According to Gibson, military and commercial sectors are drastically increasing investments in unmanned systems, autonomy, automation, and systems-of-system solutions.
Those approaches require earlier and more frequent interactions between the user and developer communities and this event will facilitate interactions by actually focusing on the system in their intended environments.
"During the two-week demonstration, operators, developers, and stakeholders will have the opportunity to demonstrate capabilities, collect data and gain knowledge for operational gains," he said. "This event will bring the unmanned users and developers together in intended environments to learn from each other and further our AUV capabilities."
An additional benefit expected from this event is the completion of a Technology Transition Agreement that will allow the government, academia, and industry that will allow and enable the data collection and sharing with the intent to further develop future naval capabilities.
"AUV systems from ONR's mine countermeasure (MCM) Future Naval Capability Program will demonstrate exit criteria from their technology transition agreements," said Gibson. "The U.S. and international partners will conduct joint experimentation to investigate interoperability, usability, and enhance joint development efforts for the benefit of these emerging capabilities."
Participants will present their technologies findings from the prior two-week demonstration, Sept. 23 and Distinguished Visitor Day will be held, Sept. 24.
For more news from Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, visit www.navy.mil/local/NSWC/.