Ocean Aero Inc., PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL

Recent Advances Utilizing Autonomous Underwater, Surface and Aerial Vehicles for Operational Field Logistics

Neil TrenamanEric Patten

October 5th 2017

PACIFIC 2017 International Maritime ConferenceOctober 3-5

Sydney, Australia

ANTX 2016 “Cross Domain Communications and Command & Control”

Annual Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) 2016 Theme

• Common Air, Surface & Subsea Control System Exercise

• Participants at ANTX 2016 demonstrated the benefit of combining operationsacross these domains to optimize the Navy’s collective effectiveness throughout themaritime environment

• The event highlighted communication and command and control, the connectinglinks that allows the disparate parts to operate collectively, such that thecontribution of each will enhance the effectiveness of the greater whole

Common Air, Surface and Subsea Control System Exercise

SCOPE AND OUTCOME OF THE EXERCISE.

During the 2016 Annual Navy Technology Exercise (ANTX) in Rhode Island’sNarragansett Bay, a three-day Naval exercise conducted by Lockheed Martin andOcean Aero Inc.

The purpose was to demonstrate an alternative to the traditional U.S. Navy chain ofcommand, deferring administrative mission control from Naval and Air Forcecommanders to a series of coordinating autonomous vehicles.

During the display, an unmanned surface vehicle coordinated the launch of anunmanned aerial vehicle from an unmanned submersible — the world’s first multi-domain, autonomous unmanned vehicle chain.

Common Air, Surface and Subsea Control System Exercise

Participating technologies

Ocean Aero Submaran™ S10 hybrid ASV/AUV• The Ocean Aero Submaran™ S10 is the first wind and

solar-powered hybrid autonomous unmanned surfaceand subsurface vehicle designed for extendedautonomous ocean observation and data collection

• Hull length of 4.2m (13.8’)• Payload capacity of 23kg (50lbs)• Top speed of 5.5kts• Submergence Depth of 10m (30’)• Transition from surface sailing to fully submerged in 2-3

minutes• The Submaran™ S10 is ideally suited for autonomous

missions that require speed, stealth, long endurance andpersistence under demanding ocean conditions

Lockheed Martin “Marlin Mk2” AUV

• The Marlin MK2 is a battery powered, fullyautonomous underwater vehicle

• 10 feet long with a 250-pound payloadcapacity

• 18 to 24 hours’ endurance, depth rating of1000 feet

• weighs approximately 2,000 pounds

• Its open architecture design and modularityallow new mission packages to be quicklyintegrated into Marlin to meet emergingcustomer needs.

Participating technologies

Lockheed Martin “Vector Hawk” UAV

• Lockheed Martin’s Vector Hawk isdesigned for canister or hand-launch inall-weather, maritime environments

• Vector Hawk is capable of fullyautonomous flight and landing

• The four-pound Vector Hawk can fly for70-plus minutes, at line-of-sight rangesup to 15 kilometres

Participating technologies

The exercise began with instructions from a ground control station to Ocean Aero’sSubmaran™ S10 autonomous unmanned surface and subsurface vehicle (AUSSV).

The Submaran™ S10 in turn, relayed command instructions to Lockheed Martin’ssubmerged Marlin MK2 autonomous underwater vehicle (UAV) via underwateracoustic communications.

The Marlin cruised below the surface of the bay to a designated launch site asinstructed.

Once surfaced, the Marlin followed supplementary instructions to ready its payload, acanister containing a Lockheed Martin Vector Hawk a lightweight, multipurposeautonomous drone (UAV) capable of surveillance and delivering a scalable payloadup to 9 miles (line of sight).

Common Air, Surface and Subsea Control System Exercise

The autonomous Vector Hawk maintained communication and data linkage usingadaptable high-bandwidth software-defined radio, mesh networking (including 3G, 2G,and LTE cellular), and employs over-the-air reconfiguration.

The system also incorporates fail-safes to ensure that it can safely return to the user orauto-land when communication or power failures occur.

Meanwhile, the Marlin and UAV transmitted electro-optical (EO) and infrared (IR) videoto the Submaran™ S10, which relayed images to the ground station.

The Submaran™ S10 provided additional surface reconnaissance and surveillance forthe mission.

Common Air, Surface and Subsea Control System Exercise

This is the first time that three autonomous vehicles in three different domains(air, surface, and underwater) have worked together to execute a mission.

The operational status of each vehicle was communicated to and monitored bythe ground station, allowing operators full situational awareness and control overeach asset.

The collaborative demonstration is another step forward to realizing a futurewhere different unmanned systems work in cooperative operations to supportfirst responders, military operations, and commercial users.

Future civilian and military applications for the coordinating of autonomousvehicles is endless as it helps shift operational focus from commanding andcoordinating vehicles to conducting the mission at hand.

Summary

ANTX 2017 “Ship to Shore Maneuver Exploration and Experimentation (S2ME2)

Exercise S2ME2 ANTX 2017 included members of industry, academia and the NavalResearch and Development Establishment, including the Office of Naval Research andseveral research laboratories associated with the US Navy.

The exercise provided direct feedback and technical evaluations from participatingpersonnel and senior leaders, which may help change the way the US Navy and USMCaddress prototyping and the rapid procurement of technology.

The technologies demonstrated during the exercise comprised unmanned andautonomous vehicles integrated with sensors to gather intelligence in the air, on landand underwater.

During each amphibious beach demonstration, unmanned surface and underwater vehicles approached the shore first, gathering intelligence about battlespace conditions, including threats and obstacles.

The S2ME2 exercises were organized not by technical categories but by missions, whichrequired experts in different fields from different agencies and companies to integratedisparate technologies towards a single purpose.

Six mission areas were defined and given codenames:

Shield: early intelligence (and) reconnaissance

Spear: threat identification

Dagger: follow-on reconnaissance and threat elimination.

Cutlass: maneuver ashore

Broadsword: combat power ashore

Battle Axe: amphibious C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers,Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance),

The Missions

Ocean Aero Inc. teamed with the San Diego based Space and Naval Warfare SystemsCenter Pacific (SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific or SSC Pacific) to demonstrate

Cooperative Unmanned Systems Hydrographic Survey Mission (CUSHSM) capabilities.

The backbone of the mission was supported by two unmanned autonomous technologies

housing a variety of specific sensors and communication systems designed to seamlessly

integrate data collection and data delivery in field conditions, simulating early

reconnaissance in advance of an autonomous amphibious landing exercise.

The Scope of the Cooperative Unmanned Systems Hydrographic Survey Mission (CUSHM)

addressed aspects in three of the six primary mission areas:

Shield: early intelligence (and) reconnaissance

Spear: threat identification

Dagger: follow-on reconnaissance and threat elimination

Cooperative Unmanned Systems Hydrographic Survey Mission (CUSHM)

The Mission: was to provide hydrographic survey for amphibious landings,nearshore reconnaissance and nearshore threat identification.

The Challenge: currently sensor data from unmanned maritime vehicles supportingnaval warfare operations is not available until the mission is completed and thesystem recovered, extending the time required for processing the data, assessingthe intelligence, developing courses of action, and executing follow-on operations.

The Solution: Getting critical information to analysts and decision makers fastercan be achieved by networking multiple unmanned systems across operatingdomains.Using an unmanned aerial vehicle to serve as a communications link to anunmanned maritime vehicle means the data can be sent to the decision makerswithout having to recover the vehicle first.

Cooperative Unmanned Systems Hydrographic Survey Mission (CUSHM)

Ocean Aero Submaran™ S10 hybrid ASV/AUV• The Ocean Aero Submaran™ S10 is the first wind and

solar-powered hybrid autonomous unmanned surfaceand subsurface vehicle designed for extendedautonomous ocean observation and data collection

• Hull length of 4.2m (13.8’)• Payload capacity of 23kg (50lbs)• Top speed of 5.5kts• Submergence Depth of 10m (30’)• Transition from surface sailing to fully submerged in 2-3

minutes• The Submaran™ S10 is ideally suited for autonomous

missions that require speed, stealth, long endurance andpersistence under demanding ocean conditions

Participating technologies

• The Pulse Aerospace Vapor 55 a battery powered,single rotor helicopter capable of autonomous flightand waypoint navigation

• Payloads can vary from integrated electro-opticalinfrared cameras, to communications relaypackages, to a host of other sensors.

• For the S2ME2 exercise, the Vapor 55 carried anin-house designed communications packagecapable of carrying data from the in-situSubmaran™ S10 UASSV to a shore based or ship-based Command & Control (C2) node, and relaymission commands.

SPAWAR provided Pulse Aerospace Vapor 55 UAV

Participating technologies

Multi-beam image of sea floor & objects

The Ocean Aero Submaran™ S10 AUSSV, equippedwith an acoustic multi-beam sonar, was deployed froma remote location to collect hi-definition imagery of thesea bed in a designated area of interest in the littoralzone offshore of a potential amphibious landing site.

The high resolution data was then transmitted to theVapor 55 UAV, which had flown autonomously from asimulated over horizon asset, hovering above theSubmaran™ S10.

Sample processed Hydrographic Data

On completion of the data transfer from the Submaran™ S10, the Vapor 55 UAV returned toits point of departure, the data set recovered and then processed to provide acoustic imagemaps of the sea floor and identify hazards and threats.

The multi-beam data provided near-real time bathymetric images detailing possible hazardssuch as mine like objects and subsurface structures designed to thwart amphibious landingcraft gaining access to the beach.

Rapid advances in the development of sensors that are specifically designed to beintegrated and hosted by autonomous unmanned air, sea and subsea vehicles forintelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance missions will help drive the acceptance anduse of these technologies for Operational Field Logistics.

The utilization of autonomous technologies in air, sea and subsea environments tosupport cross-domain communications, command and control was successfullydemonstrated in the 2016 and 2017 ANTX events.

The correct pairing of unmanned systems and communications technology has the abilityto shape future operations by providing detailed information about the battel space well inadvance of operations or as operations unfold.

SUMMARY