By Geoff Fein
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is working a number of efforts examining everything from autonomous systems to human performance to exploring alternative fuels.
“The CNO (Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead) is very interested in the next big thing,” Rear Adm. Nevin Carr, chief of naval research, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
“The next big things may very well be a lot of little things, and by that I mean distributed, netted, autonomous systems. This is a major area of focus for us,” he added.
ONR is looking at how to control distributed, netted, autonomous systems, how to make them reliable and robust, provide them power to operate for longer periods of time and how to make them affordable, Carr said. “There are a lot of interconnecting pieces just revolving around this…area of autonomy.”
One of the bigger issues is power and energy, he added.
“We are looking at some near-term gains and some more long-term challenges…solutions,” Carr said. “Fusion is always an interest. There are different flavors of fusion. We are funding some work there.”
In the near term, ONR is working with Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to help develop a hybrid drive for DDG-51. Carr said the drive is an attachment on the reduction gear that helps recover some of the energy in the reduction gear and store it.
“What that allows you to do, it allows you to run one generator and, if you have a spike demand that exceeds the capacity of your single generator, you won’t lose your entire electrical load,” he said. “Or, if you lose that generator, [you’ll] have enough energy to fill in the gap while you bring up the second generator. The current practice today is to run two generators.”
While there are what Carr calls “whiz-bang…weaponry” efforts ongoing at ONR, there are also efforts focused on human performance–improving learning, training, and care.
There is a lot of effort in hearing protection, Carr said, to help reduce noise at the source, help protect the person who has to be exposed to that noise, or maybe help them operate in such way that he or she doesn’t have to be so close to the source of noise. “And then help them mitigate what noise they are exposed to, and if they are injured or suffered hearing loss, we are working to try to restore hearing loss.
Coupled with the efforts in human performance is understanding social networks, Carr said.
“There is a lot of interest in understanding how terrorists networks form, how they communicate, being able to observe their behavior and predict from it,” he said.
“It’s a kill chain approach no matter whether you are looking at ears or directed energy weapons,” Carr added.
“We need to get to the speed of light…to where we can fight at the speed of light…our ability to maneuver more aggressively,” he said. “We are investing in free electron lasers, we are demonstrating solid state lasers. Each has different application. One…isn’t going to do it all for us.”
Another challenge ONR is tackling is power management. Carr said this is a good example of a kill chain approach.
“You need a power source, you need fuel, once you have it you need to convert it to mechanical energy, so you need to burn it…do something with it, then you need to store it, then you need to distribute it and then use it,” he said. “We are looking across all five pillars of [that].”
On the fuel end, Carr said the Navy would like to be able to use alternate fuels. “We are looking at some of the Air Force efforts, make hydrocarbon fuel out of coal. Of course, you have to put significant energy in to do that.”
There are also efforts to look at more efficient turbines and blades for power generation as well as a large capacitor approach–spinning a large mechanical flywheel and storing energy that way, he added.
And as the Navy looks at the all-electrical ship, power distribution will be key, Carr said.
“As you have to portion energy among the radar, propulsion, directed energy weapon, maybe a rail gun, hotel services…you have to do that all at the same time, and you still have to keep going,” he said. “Once the ship is all-electric that will become a challenge.”
ONR is also looking at shore based power systems, too. For example, Carr said they are looking at photovoltaic. “Not just to save energy on ships and aircraft, but also at shore stations.”
In October, ONR, along with OPNAV, will be sponsoring the Naval Energy Forum.
Carr also pointed out that the Navy is the greenest service right now. “If you look at all our aircraft we fly, the ships we push through the water…a third of our ships are propelled by nuclear power…[it’s] clean safe…no gas fuel involved.”
Although most Navy efforts revolving around nuclear power fall under the purview of NAVSEA-08 (Naval Reactors), ONR does look at technologies that can help them with some of the systems they build.
“We are looking at fusion. [NAVSEA-] 08 is showing some interest in fusion, but we are just doing supportive S&T for it,” Carr said “Obviously, fusion…that’s the Holy Grail. If you can control it and do it safely…”
ONR is working with Penn State University on a hybrid power systems for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV), Carr noted. “It triples the endurance over the current battery system.”
But maybe one of the biggest challenges ONR is facing is making sure it can attract the best and brightest personnel, Carr said. “It’s always a challenge. We are competing with industry, with other disciplines, we are competing internationally now for talent,” he said. “There is great interest in reversing that trend…we are interested in that, too. [We have] world-class people…we have many of them. We are always trying to get more.”