Anti-Terrorism - Survivability and Denial

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. proposes to investigate the feasibility of a low cost, ship-wide fiber optic sensor network to detect and control damage during unconventional and conventional attacks. The chance of a near-term future attack on U.S. Navy ships, like that on the USS Cole, seems highly likely given the rise in terrorist activity around the globe. An integrated and automated damage control sensor network will reduce the physical crew requirements for U.S. Navy ships and will increase the effectiveness of damage control efforts by providing accurate and real time damage information to damage control teams. SPA's Phase II effort will focus on hardware and software modifications to the High-Speed Fiber Optic Interrogation System that are specific to the damage control application and will provide seamless integration with existing shipboard supervisory control systems. SPA will also refine the Phase I prototype damage control sensors for long-term shipboard use. The Phase II effort will culminate with full-scale testing of the fiber optic based sensor network on the ex-USS Shadwell, the Navy's premier test facility for shipboard fire and damage control. The sensor network will detect structural damage, shipboard fires, compartmental flooding, and door/latch closure using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors.