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Lincoln Maritime

Airborne Expendable Ice Buoy (AXIB)

Suitable for Polar Ice Zone Deployment

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The AXIB project is being developed under an SBIR grant sponsored by the NOAA National Ice Center, Dr. Pablo Clemente-Colon, Director

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AXIB-PENGUINTM Air-Deployable Meteorological Buoy

• Adaptable to ice or water

• Stays erect

• Withstands extreme weather

• Long life

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LBI presents the

AXIB-PENGUIN TM

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AXIB Principal Features• Hull Design and Construction• Sensor Mast

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Ice Anchor

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Erection Leg System

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Parachute Deployment System

• Develop the preliminary deployment package design.

• Solicit comments and input from JCOMMOPS, Coast Guard and U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office

• Produce 5 dummy air drop shapes in the same configuration and weight as an operational AXIB for air drop tests.

• Conduct air drop certification tests

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Clearwater Oceanographic Instrumentation

• Innovation and low cost have been hallmarks since the company's founding in 1989.

• Worked with Scripps to develop prototype WOCE/SVP surface drifters

• ClearSat 4.0TM provides great flexibility in adding new transducers and configuring transducer sampling and data conditioning.

• ClearSat 4.0™ has been certified by Service Argos

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Sensors and Communications Package

• ClearSat 4.0

• ARGOS or Iridium GPS Transmitter

• Barometric Pressure

• Air and Ice Temperature

• Lithium Battery Pack

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AXIB Enhancements

• Long life batteries (Lithium Thionyl Chloride)

• Legs to erect to vertical on ice

• Ice anchor

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Testing and Certification• Battery package and electronic system.

– Hot and cold temperature and temperature shock.

– Shock and vibration.

– Battery life and endurance

• Complete AXIB tests.

– Deployment shock.

– Water born stability.

– Leg and mast deployment.

– Sensor performance.

– Data processing and communications.

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Prototype Tooling and Fabrication

• Developed vacuum resin infusion tooling to yield a very strong hull with a high glass to resin ratio.

• This allows efficient production of prototype buoys and additional operational units.

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Deployment Systems and Certification

• Projected air deployment certifications.

– USCG HC-130

– DOD C-130

– Dehaviland Twin Otter

– Helicopter

• Sea deployment from ships

• Potential for submarine deployment.

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Field Deployment Tests

• Local test installation in ice.

• Sea surface deployment of 2 operational prototype AXIB’s in a Marginal Arctic Ice Zone and 1 air drop

• Planned participation in Feb ’09 ice camp

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Lake Champlain Test

• Installed in prepared hole in 1-ft ice

• Position tracked by ARGOS

• Submerged during ice breakup

• AXIB recovered intact

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USCGC Healy Test• Two AXIBs to be installed

by ship in Chukchi Sea during August ’08 ice minimum

• One AXIB in water at edge of ice shelf with 7-ft themistor chain

• One AXIB in multi-year ice

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Marketing and Commercialization

• Attending various conferences and symposia

• Applied for international patent

• Developed marketing brochures

• Contact with research and industrial organizations

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SBIR Phase III Commercialization

• Joint consortium effort of LBI, Lincoln Maritime and Clearwater.

• Potential commercial applications.– International agencies and research institutions– Military and naval activities– Commercial activities such as offshore

petroleum platforms– Polar tourism, excursions, and entertainment– Environmental groups, polar life conservation

and fishing industries

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Marketing Plan– Market survey

– Target customers• Government Agencies• Ocean Research Organizations• Weather Services• Oil & gas industries

– Generate Capital

– Refine production costs

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Summary• AXIB-PENGUIN consortium is highly capable

of performing the proposed work.

• The system will be a versatile and robust platform for collecting polar meteorological data.

• We can develop other variants on this platform which is suited to many data gathering tasks in extreme northern and southern latitudes.