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and mission con? dence in long-range undersea operations. rity Accelerator and the United States Defense Innovation Unit.

The agreement establishes a cooperative framework to layer The project, led by FAU’s Center for Connected Autonomy

Integer’s DIGIT COMMAND operator software with Cel- and Arti? cial Intelligence (CA-AI) in collaboration with Hy- lula’s mission control software for its UUV platforms. DIGIT dromea, aims to develop a next-generation underwater commu-

COMMAND is a multi-agent mission manager designed for nication and networking system designed to help autonomous shoreside operators that feeds existing command and control underwater vehicles, seabed sensors and maritime operators with a decision-support layer across all operations. Integer’s share information more quickly, reliably and securely.

DIGIT Mission Assurance Platform fuses high-? delity digital “Today’s underwater communication systems typically force twins with real-time environmental forecasting so that opera- operators to choose between range and speed,” said George tors can assess, coordinate and adapt mission plans. By inte- Sklivanitis, Ph.D., principal investigator at FAU. “Acoustic grating real-time sensor data with physics-based models, plat- communication signals can travel long distances but offer forms can adapt automatically to evolving threats. limited bandwidth, while optical communications can trans- “The next generation of defense technology will be de? ned mit data quickly but only over short distances.” by software that can anticipate, not just respond,” said Duke The FAU-Hydromea solution will combine both technolo-

Hartman, Integer CEO. “From platform-level introspection gies into a single programmable platform. Long-range acous- to global ? eet orchestration, DIGIT provides the software ar- tic links will provide resilient command-and-control com- chitecture to win the ? ght. It represents a fundamental shift munications, while high-speed visible-light links will enable toward mission-aware technology, giving operators and au- rapid data sharing among nearby autonomous vehicles and tonomous systems the foresight to make con? dent decisions sensors. The system will be capable of adapting to changing to deliver successful mission outcomes.” underwater conditions and maintaining connectivity even in

Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is advancing subsea com- congested or contested environments.

munication technology with a one million dollar grant through The researchers anticipate the technology will provide a the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge, a defense innova- pathway toward future operational deployment for allied mar- tion initiative supported by Australia’s Advanced Strategic Ca- itime forces while supporting broader applications in scientif- pabilities Accelerator, the United Kingdom’s Defense and Secu- ic research, environmental monitoring and offshore industries.

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