Hybrid Unmanned Air / Underwater Vehicle for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and Mine Countermeasures (MCM)

Prof. Diezs group at Rutgers University has developed a small platform for an unmanned aerial and submersible system that it is capable of operating in air and underwater with seamless transition between both mediums. This small platform is currently being optimized by his group for improved (1) control and (2) robustness, and it will be incorporating capabilities to it include (3) communication and (4) navigation under a previous ONR grant with Rutgers. A small vehicle prototype is being developed to demonstrate those four areas. In order to address the mission requirements in N16A-T025, we are proposing to perform a detailed feasibility study that will evaluate if the above platform can be scale up to the mission requirement of carrying a payload of 10-30 pounds. SubUAS LLC was started with the intent to commercialize this disruptive and promising technology.