A New Research Vessel in Support of at-sea DoD-Relevant Research and Research-Related Education Activities at FAU
Abstract
A New Research Vessel in Support of at-?sea DoD-?Relevant Research and Research-?Related Education Activities at FAU Abstract Partial funding is requested to acquire a new 36ft boat that will replace Florida Atlantic University’s R/V Oceaneer, which has served the university’s at-?sea ocean engineering research and research-?related education activities for over 35 years, including in support of significant past and ongoing ONR-?funded research and development of ocean technologies. The R/V Oceaneer and its engines now show signs of significant wear, incurring frequent high maintenance and repair costs, and need replacing. A replacement boat has been identified that will facilitate at-?sea operations in support of DoD-?relevant research and research-?related education at FAU. The 36ft x 14.5ft boat will have a cruise speed of around 18kts and will include a bow thruster to facilitate future consideration of dynamic positioning (DP) system capability, and an A-?frame that will facilitate launch and recovery of AUVs and USVs. Historically, over 80% of FAU ocean engineering’s annual research expenditures of $3 – 5 million is associated with ONR-?funded research in the areas of underwater acoustics, marine vehicles and platforms, marine materials, and hydrodynamics and physical oceanography, as well as development of various ocean technologies. A significant portion of this research and development has required at-?sea operations involving the R/V Oceaneer. The proposed replacement vessel will continue to facilitate such operations. In particular, it will support ongoing ONR-?funded research and research-?related education at FAU in the areas of energy efficient automated USVs; collaborative ACCeSS program, led by Stevens Institute; testing of automatically generated behaviors for USVs in a collaborative research project with University of Maryland; AUV-?based electromagnetic field surveys on the NSWC-?CD’s in-?water facility off Ft. Lauderdale; research and development of a rapidly deployable spar buoy platform; in-?water testing and characterization of water-?jet propulsion systems as part of development of T-?craft tools; and the Perseus Program. The proposed boat will also benefit ongoing research in acoustic communication in collaboration with NSWC-?Panama City as well as the NEEC program at FAU. It will also enable at-?sea testing of senior design projects at FAU, many of which originate at CISD, NSWC-?CD during NREIP internships and support the NNRNE effort. The proposed boat will enhance at-?sea capabilities at FAU-? SeaTech through providing a better, faster platform that will extend the range of offshore boat operations, better facilitating studies in several DoD-?relevant topics, including in surveillance and monitoring, buried object detection and classification, underwater acoustic communication and target recognition, corrosion protection, physical oceanography, underwater AUV docking, and EM and acoustic signatures of ships and submarines.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 20, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512910
Entities
People
- Manhar Dhanak
Organizations
- Florida Atlantic University
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy