Uncrewed Platforms Geared for Persistence
Maritime awareness has long depended on ships, aircraft and OCIUS satellites. Each powerful, but each inherently constrained. Crewed vessels are costly and finite in number. Aircraft offer reach, but not persistence. Satellites provide coverage, but not the requisite resolution at the tactical edge and significantly cannot hear under the water. A new layer is quickly emerging: scalable fleets of persistent uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) delivering distributed awareness across large areas of oceans and choke points.
Catch the Wave
A recent collaboration between San Diego State University, Chilean aquaculture technology company Innovex, and the Valdivia Yacht Club took the rare opportunity to study the effects of a tsunami on rivers affected by tides. The team used a Nortek Eco ADCP to gather critical in-situ data which will inform future models and help enhance tsunami forecasts.
The Future of Hurricane Forecasting
Extreme failures in hurricane forecasting remain a notable problem even as modeling technology delivers improvements in average forecast accuracy. In fact, some of the most notable breakdowns in the history of forecasting have occurred in the past few years despite today’s super computers using multi-model forecasts, machine learning, and AI.
Tunnel Vision
Submerged tunnels are components in hydroelectric power plants used to transport water under challenging conditions of high turbidity and near-zero visibility.