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Brooke Ocean Technology USA receives STTR contract
New Bedford Economic Development Council
 Brooke
Ocean Technology USA Inc. is teaming up with Professor
Louis Goodman at the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science and Technology and
VCT Inc. on a project entitled, “Automated Launch and
Recovery of Small, Untethered Unmanned Underwater
Vehicles from Unmanned Surface Vehicles.”
The partners received a Phase I Small Business Tech
Transfer Program (STTR) contract totaling $70,000 for
the work which is expected to take six months.
The STTR Program provides up to $850,000 in early-stage
research and development funding directly to small
companies that work cooperatively with researchers at
universities and other research institutions.
Roger Race, general manager of BOT USA said, “All of us
at Brooke Ocean Technology USA are excited to be
partnering with UMass Dartmouth and creating a new and
innovative solution to Launching and Recovering AUVs for
the Navy. This will lead to new systems that will be
designed and built here in New Bedford."
Prof. Goodman said, “This is a great opportunity to
bring together the unique resources of a state
university with that of an international company. I am
looking forward to expanding our programs with Roger in
an area which takes advantage of the research capability
of the university’s School for Marine Science and
Technology (SMAST) Marine Turbulence Laboratory and the
superb engineering of Brooke Ocean Technology.”
The U.S. Navy would like to use Unmanned Surface
Vehicles of approximately 35-40 ft. for mine-hunting
operations. These USVs would be capable of autonomously
launching and recovering smaller vehicles. The
researchers envision having the larger vehicles carry
one or more small, untethered, unmanned underwater
vehicles (UUV) measuring 9-12 inches in diameter and
equipped with side-scan and forward-looking sonars.
According to Mr. Race, the UUVs would periodically
return to the USV to have their batteries charged,
download sonar data to the larger vehicle and upload new
mission parameters. The launch and recovery system would
have a connection to allow these tasks to be
accomplished.
An autonomous system is needed for launch and recovery
of UUVs from the larger vehicle as well as a mechanism
to handle them on-board, explained Race.
“In the recovery phase, the launch and recovery system
would consist of a homing device on the UUV to bring it
to the proper position, a coupling mechanism between the
UUV and the launch and recovery system and a mechanism
to lift the smaller vehicle onto the larger one,” he
said.
These operations would be reversed during the launch.
“The desired benefit of this approach is to impart a
longer time-on-station to the UUV since its battery
power would not need to be used to transit to the
operational area and the USV would be available to
recharge the UUV’s batteries,” said Race.
“Marine science and technology represent real job growth
potential for New Bedford in the next 10 years,” said
Matthew A. Morrissey, executive director of the New
Bedford Economic Development Council. “We are fortunate
to have Brooke Ocean Technology in the Quest Center and
will continue to do whatever we can to support Roger and
his team.”
In addition to military uses, small boat-builders and
machinery automation industries could benefit from this
new automated system. Possible commercial applications
include use on oceanographic survey vessels, off-shore
oil exploration and salvage ships.
The Department of Defense’s STTR and Small Business
Innovative Research Programs annually fund $1 billion in
early-stage research and development projects at small
technology companies for projects that serve a DoD need
and additionally have commercial applications.
Brooke Ocean Technology USA Inc. is located on Purchase
Street in the Quest Center, a technology incubator whose
mission is to support the development and growth of
technology-focused small businesses. The Center’s
“high-support” environment assists new early-stage
companies with growth and job-generation potential.
Housed in a refurbished industrial building, the Quest
Center represents a collaboration between the city of
New Bedford, New Bedford Economic Development Council
and UMass Dartmouth.
December 11, 2007 |
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