Inside Unmanned Systems

APR-MAY 2016

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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54 unmanned systems inside   April/May 2016 AIR, SEA OPPORTUNITY "IF I CAN'T HAVE MY WIDGETS TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER, I'm still limited by those domains. We want to be able to cross-communicate among all our domains in an unmanned world." Dorothy Engelhardt, DASN director of programs N99 then works with the technical experts in the office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research Development Test and Evaluation (RDT&E;) to develop a list, in priority order, of what's needed by the war- fighters. Together they look for ways to meet those needs, relying mostly, so far, on technol- ogy already developed for the Navy. "They work to match up the technologies that are out there to say, 'These are emerging tech- nologies that are in an area that we can use to prototype and demonstrate, to help fill these needs and kind of collaborate to match those up,'" Murphy said. Until now this kind of work typically would have been handled in separate directorates, Murphy said. Now there is someone looking across domains so that, for example, a sensor designed for an unmanned aircraft can be repur- posed for an autonomous vehicle—searching out ideas that might otherwise be overlooked. The Navy's new unmanned-strategy team is reaching out to a number of different organizations for technology solutions including the Department of Defense's newly established outpost in Silicon Valley. The Defense Innovation Unit Ex- perimental, or DIUx, was created as a nexus, and perhaps something of a translator, between the innovative startups in Silicon Valley and the Department of Defense—two com- munities immersed in technology but with markedly different cultures and operating tempos. Since its launch in August, DIUx has a met with more than 500 entrepre- neurs, venture capitalists, corporate leaders and academic researchers and has been instrumental in the launch of more than 20 pilot projects. The offce is part of the Defense Innovation Initiative, a concerted effort launched in 2014 by then-Secretary of Defense Chuck Ha- gel to tap into the technology sector as a way to sustain America's military advantage. DIUx is not only located in Mountain View, Calif., it reportedly has experienced entrepreneurs among the reservists on its team who have launched and sold multiple companies. The group held its frst round of ven- ture capital-style quick pitches in March with frms describing their technology to a broad audience of military offcials including Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logis- tics Frank Kendall, the Penton's top ac- quisition offcial. Among those presenting was Sail- drone, an unmanned frm with a tough- as-nails, wind-powered sailboat able to travel at 3-5 kts and withstand tropical storms. The frm has already sailed its composite-built craft more than 50,000 nautical miles without loss or damage. "(The saildrones) use the wind to autonomously navigate to any part of the ocean, carrying a suite of science grade sensors and they collect data real time and send it back over satel- lite link," said Sebastien de Halleux, the frm's chief operating offcer. "They DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SEARCHING FOR UNMANNED INNOVATIONS IN SILICON VALLEY "You have somebody that can tie in a full pic- ture," Murphy said. N99 also helps by identifying duplicative ef- forts and looking for ways to leverage particular strengths. We're "kind of pushing each other to make sure we're innovating in the right technology," Murphy said. Rapid Prototyping Like private sector startups, N991 will do rapid prototyping to determine if an emerging tech- nology will work for a particular mission. It has a working window of two years to determine if the Navy should acquire a particular technol- ogy, refine it or drop it from consideration. That does not mean that technologies that are promising but still immature after two years are dropped, said Murphy. Such projects can be shifted over to section N992, which Murphy leads. His group helps keep potential break-

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