Advanced Breakwater and Causeway Ultramarine System (ABACUS) Development

Subsequent Phase II Proposal, extension of Phase II contract N00014-11-C-0332Expansion of the Advanced Breakwater and Causeway Ultramarine System (ABACUS) research and development work accomplished under the Phase II Basic and Options 1 & 2 programs to full scale prototype systems and large scale demonstration models for both Seabasing and ship-to-shore logistics support operations. The ABACUS family of systems support a) the mitigation of waves about Sealift ships at the Seabase to enhance personnel safety during cargo transfer to ship-to-shore connectors, b) the lifting and omni-directional maneuvering of a broad range of deck cargos to enhance throughput and c) the enhancement of ABACUS components to meet multiple Seabasing mission requirements. The QED team's technical approach is based upon carefully defining the overall Seabasing ship-to-shore requirement, identifying those areas where safety issues and throughput bottlenecks occur, and developing concepts that can solve those problems. Having identified the problem areas and proposed solution, the QED team moves rapidly to design and fabricate Proof-of-Concept (PoC) demonstrators at either large-scale model or, as appropriate, full scale to test these concepts in real world operational environments.