Automated Launch and Recovery of Un-tethered, Mini-Unmanned Underwater Vehicles from Unmanned Surface Vehicles

The US Navy will use growing numbers of unmanned autonomous vehicles to perform a variety of functions including mine surveillance and subsurface mapping, particularly in connection with missions for the Littoral Combat Ship. These functions are often performed by deployment of sensors, sources and arrays from organic offboard vehicles (OOVs). During Phase I of this project, Bluefin Robotics Corp. (Bluefin) and Brooke Ocean Technology Ltd. (BOT) conducted a study to developing and evaluating innovative concepts for automated launch and recovery (L&R) systems for the deployment of multiple mini-UUVs from USVs, and for deploying Towed Sensor, Source and Array Systems (TSSAS) from USVs. In this Phase II (Base plus all Options), Bluefin and BOT propose to combine their collective expertise to build, test, demonstrate and evaluate at-sea performance of a "full scale" multi-functional prototype UUV Launch & Recovery system and TSSAS Deployment & Recovery system based on the most effective concept designs developed by the team to date. These L&R systems include provision for unattended recharge of UUV energy systems while onboard the USV, and for transferring of data between a USV and its multiple mini-UUVs.