Page 46: of Marine Technology Magazine (June 2018)

Through an exclusive partnership with L-3-Open Water Power the micro-

UUV will pioneer the use of aluminum seawater batteries. This new technol- ogy harnesses the energy of a chemical reaction between seawater and specially developed, high-purity aluminum alloys. The result is an inher- ently safe energy storage solution with a dramatic increase in energy density. con? gurations built in the ? rst year of production. Government. Draper developed MOAA for the US Govern-

Since then, as the product lines have expanded the ? exibility ment. MOAA capabilities have been demonstrated at-sea on and fast delivery has enabled other distinctive con? gurations. several autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) classes with ap-

One example of a faster, and deeper UUV is the deep vehicle plication to various undersea mission areas. This work repre- developed for DARPA. sents a signi? cant investment, millions of dollars and decades of research and development.

Case Study: Deep Acoustics UUV Draper requested and received approval from the Naval

Under a SBIR program Riptide has modi? ed their 1 MP Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) to provide MOAA as an

UUV to support acoustic telemetry research programs. option on all Riptide UUVs sold to the US Government or

The deep UUV is rated for 1,500 meters depth but still only Government purposed vehicles. This will be a no cost option 7.5 inches in diameter. Its payloads include CTD, acoustic on all Riptide UUVs for eligible customers. The availability of modem and a towed acoustic receiver array. With industry MOAA on Riptide UUVs is a direct result of their ? exible and leading low power hotel load this system can deliver over 48 open software architecture. MOAA adds signi? cant value for hours of endurance for ? eld testing. The purpose of the ve- Government UUV customers and Riptide UUVs with MOAA hicle is to demonstrate long range, medium data rate acoustic will be available for delivery in the second quarter of 2018.

underwater communications for a mission critical project. To accomplish this the client needed to operate for long periods Faster Further Deeper in the deep sound channel. These waters, around 1000 me- The unmanned undersea vehicle market is undergoing a pe- ters deep, are typically out of reach of smaller, more afford- riod of rapid evolution. Legacy providers have been acquired able UUVs. Riptide’s open source software and ? exible me- by large defense primes, to support increasing programs of re- chanical design enabled the rapid development of this custom cord. Meanwhile barriers to entry have been lowered through

UUV and ensured the research program could be executed as new manufacturing techniques, state-of-the-art electronics planned. Figure 6 shows this vehicle as delivered. and open source software architectures. Riptide has leveraged all of these trends to deliver a ? exible family of solutions. The

Case Study: Open Architecture technology approach has ensured faster delivery of UUVs that

In addition to hardware versatility the Riptide approach en- can range further, while diving deeper, than ever before pos- ables software ? exibility as well. Working with Draper, Rip- sible in compact vehicles. With nearly 100 Riptide vehicles tide has agreed to implement Maritime Open Architecture delivered to date, the market has clearly indicated it is moving

Autonomy (MOAA) on all Riptide UUVs delivered to the US faster as well.

Figure 6: A Deep Rated, customized, compact UUV

Photo: Riptide

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