Today’s unmanned military vehicles can trace their roots to Nikola Tesla whose 1898 U.S.
patent of the world’s first radio-controlled vessel, an unmanned ship, covered “any type of vessel or vehicle which is capable of being propelled and directed, such as a boat, a balloon or a carriage.”
Because Tesla was born in Croatia, it was only fitting that Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) Reserve Sailors traveled to Croatia to participate in “Breaking the
Surface” (BtS), a program consisting of plenary talks, hands-on tutorials and demonstrations of marine and unmanned technologies.
One of those demonstrations was the Heterogeneous Autonomous Marine Mobile Expeditionary Robots (HAMMER), a SPAWAR System Center-Pacific (SSC-PAC) project assisted by SPAWAR Reserve Sailors. In all, eight Sailors have supported the project spanning almost a year at El Centro and Camp Roberts, California, and finally Biograd, Croatia.
Dr. Vladimir Djapic, HAMMER project lead, attributes recent developments in technology for the rapid advancement of unmanned vehicle system combinations. “The U.S. Navy aims to create multiple unmanned vehicle systems containing unmanned surface vehicles (USVs),
unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for search, identification, and intervention missions at sea.”
Until recent developments in technology, the combination of USV, UAVs, and UUVs had only been visions for the future. Now, various research groups from around the world are making the connections needed for the successful implementation of this idea.
SSC-PAC plans on creating a successful combination of Unmanned Systems (UxS) for future missions at sea by using a Wave Adaptive Modular Vessel (WAM-V) catamaran USV as the central node and main transport mechanism to carry UAVs and UUVs to distances over
100 miles,” said Djapic.
During BtS, Djapic and his cadre of Navy Reserve Sailors focused on USV and UAV integration, noting that future developments will include the integration of UUVs. “Using preexisting software and prototyping programs, a framework was developed to integrate, collaborate, control, and interact with this project,” said Master Chief Fire Controlman
Richard Gaughen, SPAWAR 407. “This incorporates a framework for communications and control, as well as a mission control graphical user interface (GUI) that allows users to report and interact with the HAMMER system.”
SPAWAR’s Unmanned Vehicle (UMV) Program was originally founded in 2004 to support unmanned systems. Since then, UMV has evolved to support elements from SSC-PAC.
In the Department of Defense’s continuing mission to work towards joint security with NATO partners, SSC-PAC and UMV shared emerging technologies with one of those partners, the Croatian Army and Navy. UMV Reserve Sailors briefed them on the Vapor 55, SSC-PAC’s new prototype UAV that will someday land autonomously on a ship.
Working on UMVs provides opportunities to work with professionals from all over the world.
According to UMV Reserve Sailor Chief Information Systems Technician David Welling,
SPAWAR 1010, “Typically, we (UMV) only provide maintenance, logistics support and operator training of unmanned systems to U.S. military personnel. This was a great experience to work with a NATO partner.”
With any research, the testing phase can bring unique challenges and hazards. UAV testing requires a much higher degree of heightened awareness.
If an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) fails, a maintainer can walk over and troubleshoot it. If a USV or UUV fails and the water is not too deep, you can still retrieve it. If the USV or UUV is tethered, recovery is that much easier. If a UAV fails ... well, that’s when gravity takes over, and a lot of bad things can happen especially when propellers are involved.
“The event went extremely well,” noted Chief Electronics Technician Kyle Allen, SPAWAR 303. “We had achieved autonomous flight, i.e., you tell the Vapor where to go, it goes there and comes back.”
But complacency can lead to one of those testing “hazards.” Although the flights were autonomous, vigilance remained high. During one memorable test flight, the experience of one UMV Reserve Sailor thwarted a mishap.
“We immediately recognized a problem, and it turned out to be an issue with the LiPo,” recounted Chief Information System Technician Tommy Lu (SPAWAR 220). The Vapor runs on
lithium polymer (LiPO) batteries, and the LiPO that Chief Lu had referenced had swollen.
Standard safety protocol kept the team from injury. “I chalk it up to proper operational risk management (ORM) planning,” said Chief Welling. “We had safety observers to insure that all other personnel and guests were behind a barrier at a safe distance. We immediately collected the damaged lithium polymer batteries and isolated them in a safe place away from personnel. It was a great joint effort we pulled off with the help of our NATO partners.”
The team is confident that their work will eventually lead to full integration of all three unmanned vehicles.
“Over the next couple of years, the Center for Innovative Naval Technologies-Information Dominance (CINT-ID) HAMMER project aims to successfully integrate unmanned surface, aerial, and underwater vehicles,” said Djapic who also noted the importance of Reserve Sailor contributions. “Without these Reservists, I don’t know how I would get this project completed.”
For opportunities in the SPAWAR in the SPAWAR Reserve, contact Lt. Cmdr. John
Zablocki at john.zablocki@navy.mil.
This article was first published in the October edition of the Navy Reserve online publication TNR Magazine.