The Coast Guard is evaluating several types of unmanned systems during this summer’s annual Arctic Technology Evaluation aboard the medium icebreaker Healy, including surface, subsurface and aircraft systems.
The testing is being done by officials from the Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center aboard the Healy, and also includes technology for oil spills, low visibility imaging, buoy deployment, 3-D printing, and diving operations.
“Now more than ever, Arctic research is critical to positioning the Coast Guard for long-term success in the region,” Scott Tripp, the RDC’s chief scientist for the technology evaluation, said in a statement.
The evaluation includes a small unmanned aircraft systems that will be used to evaluate how the technology can enhance mission performance in the polar regions. The center will use the InstantEye Mk-2 Gen4 sUAS system supplied by Physical Sciences Inc. can be rapidly deployed and carries an infrared camera for night imager and visibility in foggy conditions, and a video color camera, and a fog light.
The InstantEye can stay aloft for 30 minutes and reach altitudes up to 12,000 feet but for the Arctic evaluation will remain 300 to 500 feet. Potential applications of the sUAS include search and rescue, ice condition reconnaissance, buoy locating, oil spill response, and drug interdiction missions.
For subsurface evaluations, the RDC is using the Micro-Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) supplied by Riptide Autonomous Solutions for potential use as a remote sensor for oil spill response or acoustic vehicle tracking. The RDC says the evaluation will help it better understand how to control a UUV and gauge potential applications for the Arctic.
The UUV evaluation will also test the clarity of the system’s side scan sonar at various depths and experiment with ice profiling to examine ice edge and thickness.
The unmanned surface vessel, which the RDC refers to as the Unmanned Maritime System (UMS), was developed by the center and will be used to evaluate remote controlled operations in open water areas, autonomous operations, oil spill detection using a fluorometer sensor, and exploring over all UMS capabilities in the Arctic.
“UUVs and UMSs have the potential to be fore multipliers for the Coast Guard,” the RDC says in a primer for the Arctic evaluation. “Proven technology could be used to supplement Coast Guard forces and provide increased maritime domain awareness, which is especially important in the Arctic due to the lack of infrastructure and vast harsh operating areas.”
The UMS is powered by batteries and solar panels and features a 360-degree electro-optical camera field of view and other sensors.
The low imaging system is a Northrop Grumman [NOC]-developed passive millimeter wave camera that the operators will use to try and see through fog to identify ice floes in front of the Healy. The evaluation will also test the utility of the camera for aiding navigation in low visibility conditions. Navy personnel will also be onboard to evaluate the 50-pound camera.
The Arctic Technology Evaluation got underway on July 21 and is scheduled to end in a couple of days.