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Approaches to Directly Measure Heave, Pitch and Roll Onboard Navy Ships
Navy SBIR 2008.1 - Topic N08-058 NAVSEA - Mr. Dean Putnam - [email protected] Opens: December 10, 2007 - Closes: January 9, 2008 N08-058 TITLE: Approaches to Directly Measure Heave, Pitch and Roll Onboard Navy Ships TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Sensors ACQUISITION PROGRAM: DDG 1000 Program - ACAT ID OBJECTIVE: Develop an innovative, ruggedized sensor that will directly measure the heave of a ship and can be integrated with other ship systems. DESCRIPTION: The use of advanced hull-form designs, such as the wave-piercing tumblehome hull form for DDG 1000, necessitates the requirement for more accurate measurements of heave than are currently available through existing COTS solutions. This will allow the crew to ensure the hull form is operating within its respective safe operating envelope. Currently available solutions (Ref 2, for example) derive heave measurements by the double integration of heave acceleration, which is measured by a linear accelerometer internal to the ship. This method is tedious and time consuming and is prone to error. Specifically, small offset errors in acceleration can accumulate into large offsets in the reported heave such that the ship can appear to be rising out of the water or sinking deeper in the water with time when it is not. In order to ensure safe operation of these new, advanced hull form designs, crews need to know more about their local environment and ship response than can be currently derived from normal meteorological and oceanographic (METOC) weather reports and currently available heave sensor technology. The Navy seeks innovative, alternative approaches capable of directly sensing heave. This data is a required input into weapon systems and will be used to ensure the hull form is operating within its respective safe operating envelope in large seas. Concepts proposed should have minimal weight impact and power demands with minimal requirement for shipboard maintenance. All concepts should be based on Open Architecture (OA) principles where practicable to ensure the solutions are able to integrate as needed with existing and future naval sea keeping, navigation and weapons systems. Sensor concepts should address wired solutions; however, extra consideration will be given to concepts capable of providing both a wired and a wireless connectivity. Concepts can be either interior or exterior to the ship. In all cases, the solution should be robust enough for a harsh marine environment and must not contribute to the Radar Cross Section of the ship. PHASE I: Demonstrate the feasibility of a solution that can directly measure heave onboard Navy ships. Develop an initial concept design and establish performance goals and metrics to analyze the feasibility of the proposed solution. Develop a test and evaluation plan that contains discrete milestones for development for verifying performance and suitability. PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate the prototypes(s) as identified in Phase I. Through laboratory testing, demonstrate and validate the performance goals as established in Phase I. Refine and demonstrate the capabilities of the system. Develop a cost/benefit analysis and a Phase III testing and validation plan. PHASE III: The small business will work with the Navy and commercial industry to transition a full-scale system for shipboard installation and testing. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: This technology can cross over to both future commercial and military ship designs as well as back fit aboard legacy commercial and military systems to increase ship survivability or to counter obsolescence issues. Applications in addition to ship safety include heave compensation for offshore drilling and bathymetry. REFERENCES: 2. SMC heave motion sensor, http://www.shipmotion.se/products/S-108 KEYWORDS: Heave, Ship Motions, Seakeeping, Survivability, OA, Sensor TPOC: Dane Hendrix
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