Assessment of rapidly evolving sub-mesoscale features from UUV glider systems
Abstract
Uncrewed undersea vehicle glider systems have been in oceanographic use for nearly 30 years. Originally conceived as slow-and-steady observing platforms, running #half-a-knot at half-a-watt,# they were not well equipped for sampling the rapid sub-mesoscale timeand spatial physics of the ocean. More recently, new glider systems have been designed to have enhanced flight capabilities, in particular with the inclusion of larger buoyancy engines and propeller equipped thrusters. These innovations allow contemporary gliderUUVs to survey at speeds of 1 m/s (2 knots), typical of towed ship-based systems (SeaSoar, Tri-Axis, etc). Moreover, at these survey speeds, undersea gliders can match the surface transect speeds of many USVs (wave gliders, sail drones, etc). The focus of the proposed work is two-fold: 1) to develop and test concepts of operations for the use of fast UUV glider systems in conjunction with a cooperative surface asset (USV or otherwise), and 2) to use to developed conop to sample the evolution of sub-mesoscale features subject to timescales poorly resolved by traditional glider UUV sampling. While this methodology could be applied to multiple ONR programs, we anticipate focusing on the 2023-2024 ARCTERX field efforts.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 15, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312403
Entities
People
- Louis St. Laurent
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Washington