Research Progress
U.S. Navy's newest addition to fleet could be a robotic spy 'fish'
Post: 2014-12-12 15:53  View:1785

Project Silent Nemo is exploring the possible uses of Ghost Swimmer; a biomimetic device developed by the Office of Naval Research and made by Boston Engineering. Testing of the tuna-sized vehicle has provided significant data for development of future 

 

It's a fish. It's a sub. No, it's Nemo.

The Navy's newest drone is an underwater robot disguised as a fish — a tuna to be more specific, though the project has been dubbed Silent Nemo, after the popular Disney film about a clown fish.

 

 

Currently under testing by the Chief of Naval Operations Rapid Innovation Cell and Boston Engineering, the unmanned underwater vehicle is able to make tight turns and move through the water quietly, making it ideal for surveillance and reconnaissance missions. Once in the fleet, it could be used to inspect the hull of a ship, check waters for threats such as mines or protrusions, deliver payloads including sonar and guidance packages, and access otherwise denied areas.

 

Capt. Jim Loper, head of the concepts and innovation department at the Navy Warfare Development Command in Norfolk, couldn't say when Nemo would be fully integrated into the fleet. It could become operational as soon as next year, he said.

 

The 5-foot, 100-pound armature was modeled after a bluefin tuna and uses a rear caudle fin to move through the water just like the fish. The fin is about 10 times quieter than a rotating propeller.

 

"The idea is to take millions of years of evolution," said the project's manager, Marine Corps Capt. Jerry Lademan. "This fish has perfected itself by swimming around the water for millenia, so what we are trying to do with this project, the idea of biomimicry, is to reverse engineer what nature has already done to optimize design for us."

 

So the final product looks like a fish and swims like a fish. "It looks alive," Lademan said.

 

On Thursday, the black robotic fish — also known as GhostSwimmer — glided through the waters at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek controlled by a joystick. It can swim autonomously, but that feature is in the early stages of testing and development.

 

Loper and Michael Rufo, director of the advanced systems group at Boston Engineering, which specializes in unmanned systems and robotics, said it would take only months to complete the technology for Nemo to swim on its own.

 

Rufo said the fish's combination of "efficiency, maneuverability and speed" make it relevant for naval operations. It can submerge up to 300 feet, he said, though it has not yet been tested at those depths.

 

While no weaponry has been developed for Nemo, Loper said the full scope of applications hasn't been exhausted. "Let your imagination run wild," he said.

 

The Chief of Naval Operations Rapid Innovation Cell, or CRIC for short, picked up the project about a year ago after initial development by the Office of Naval Research in 2008.

Loper said CRIC's mission is not to bypass the typical military acquisition process, which is extremely costly and time consuming, but to speed up the testing of innovative ideas and get practical feedback from sailors at sea.

 

"We like to think of ourselves along the lines of a venture capital model," he said. "It takes years and years to get stuff from the drawing board out to the fleet. The CNO realizes that that time line needs to be compressed dramatically.

 

"What better way to do that than take the ideas that are coming from the young folks that are out there in the fleet and turn those around into prototypes and get them moving," Loper said. "That's where something like Silent Nemo comes."

He called it "harnessing the brainpower of youth." Lademan, the Marine leading the project, is just 27.

 

Nemo is just one of about a dozen projects that CRIC is overseeing, Loper said. The cell provides management and overhead costs.

 

So far, the Nemo project has cost about $1 million, according to Loper. Once fully developed and tested, CRIC works with private companies to see it produced then the Navy puts in its order.

 

Read more at:  http://www.dailypress.com/news/military/dp-nws-navy-nemo-20141211-story.html

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