SBIR-STTR Award

The objective of this proposed effort is to develop a highly autonomous hull-grooming system that can be operated easily and cost-effectively with minimal supervision. This system will meet the rigorous standards of current manned-grooming operations using a rotating brush tool and will ensure complete coverage of the groomed area by providing on-hull positioning accuracy of 0.15m. We will develop this system initially for use on DDG-51 class destroyers as well as both Freedom and Independence-variant Littoral Combat Ships though due to the tremendous commercial potential for such a capability, we will also design for multi-purpose ship grooming use. Building on the significant developments already realized for on-hull underwater vehicles, vehicle-to-hull attachment methods, tooling, and grooming methodologies, our research will focus on providing an accurate navigation, control, and operations scheme to these existing capabilities. Our proposed technical approach is based on the development of a multi-modal aided Inertial Navigation System (INS) specifically for hull-relative orientation, localization, and navigation combined with a proven autonomous control architecture for miniature water-borne robots and an intuitive mission-planning, quality assurance, and visualization Human Machine Interface (HMI) for supervising the hull grooming robot.

Benefit:
The proposed autonomous hull grooming system will recoup its full investment in less than two years for a typical DDG-51 class destroyer and in less time for a commercial container ship. The over all cost savings this system will provide by cutting propulsive fuel costs and mitigating intensive cleaning processes by maintaining a low biofouling rating are significant. This system will find wide commercial adoption in both military and commercial ship husbandry applications.

Keywords:
ship hull navigation, ship hull navigation, autonomous vehicle, Ship Hull Inspection, Hull Grooming, Hull Cleaning

The objective of this STTR is to develop a highly autonomous hull grooming system that can be operated easily and cost effectively with minimal supervision. The focus of the Phase 1 effort was to design and characterize the navigation system that can provide the required accurate on-hull navigation. The focus of the Phase 2 Base effort is to demonstrate closed loop autonomous control for relative positioning from primary fixes established on the hull. In Phase 2 Option, we will deliver a complete hull-grooming system to a program sponsor customer for fleet integration and evaluation. Our Phase 2 proposal develops an autonomous hull grooming vehicle prototype providing less than 0.15m RMS error over 1200m of grooming area, the equivalent of the groomable region on one side of a DDG-51 hull. Implemented through an open architecture software model, our solution is vehicle agnostic and provided in a stand-alone attachment containing the navigation system, system autonomy, sensor, hull crawling tracks, hull attachment method, and grooming tool. The proposed navigation strategy is based on an Inertial Navigation System utilizing a novel alignment method and aiding sensors for error correction and bounding while on the ship hull.

Benefit:
This development provides an autonomous hull grooming system for the US Navy as well as commercial vessels. Hull grooming provides a low impact means to keep a ship hull free of biofouling without the need for intensive cleaning that removes coatings or requires containment. The overall benefits of hull grooming are realized in reduced propulsive fuel costs due to lower drag, reduced in-water cleaning costs, and reduced dry dock costs. Hull grooming is not viable without a robotic solution and the greatest cost benefits are realized if the system can be automated. This program delivers a fully autonomous solution for grooming to maximize these benefits. This program also develops and qualifies a precise hull-relative navigation solution for hull crawling robots. This technology is extremely beneficial to US Navy EOD interests requiring the deployment of hull-crawling vehicles to search ships for IEDs. The navigation and control capabilities developed in this program are vehicle agnostic and directly available for EOD to apply to their existing assets.

Keywords:
Biofouling, ROV, Autonomy, Hull Grooming