Remote MCM and Hydrography

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Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Remote Mine

Countermeasures &

Hydrography


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What is Mine Countermeasures &

Hydrographic Capabil ity ?

Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Capability allows the Royal Navyto reduce the threat from maritime mines and therefore operate inareas that would otherwise be denied

MCM includes a range of methods e.g. self-protection measures such

as reducing signatures, finding and clearing the mines, influence minesweeping

The Hydrographic Survey Capability is the collection of geospatialintelligence to support military operations

Many data types are collected ranging from beach surveying to deep

water bathymetry

Performed during peace-time and rapid environmental assessmentoften required during the build up to conflict operations

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15 MCM Platforms

8 Hunt Class 7 Sandown Class2193 Wideband Hull Mounted Sonar 2093 Variable Depth Sonar

Seafox mine disposal system

Fleet Diving Sqn

Fleet UUV Unit

Current MCM Assets

12 VSW (Remus 100) &4 Recce (Remus 600)

}

Influence Sweeping System



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Current Hydrographic

Survey Assets

HMS Scott (Ocean Survey Vessel)

HMS Echo & Enterprise (Coastal Survey Vessels)

HMS Protector (Survey & Ice Patrol Ship)

HMS Gleaner (In-shore Survey) Fleet UUV Unit



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Transformational Change The drive to reduce costs across defence and increase the flexibility and

adaptability of platform systems to further enable affordability has resulted ina vision for a transformational change in the UK approach to deliver MineCountermeasures and Hydrography

The vision for the transformational change is to deliver adaptable,deployable and interoperable mission packages, providing Mine

Countermeasure and Hydrographic capabilities through unmanned, off-board systems, which may be controlled remotely from a range of locations

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Challenges Comments

Detection and classification of mines in clutteredseabeds e.g. rocks, seaweed, buried mines,..

Dstl funding some sonar developments. New ideaswill be prioritised based on potential

Detection, classification, ID and disposal of

mines in the surf zone (3m depth to high watermark)

Dstl funding IR, hyper-spectral and LIDAR. New

ideas will be prioritised based on potential

Unmanned systems to perform MCM &hydrography over the horizon planning, C2 ofmultiple systems, autonomy

Dstl already funding this R&D. Unless difficultiesarise significant innovation may not be required

Security, legal and safety issues for use ofunmanned systems particularly over the horizon

Dstl already funding this R&D. Unless difficultiesarise significant innovation may not be required

Automatic Target Recognition for clutteredenvironments

Dstl already funding ATR ideas. However, newapproaches to reduce false alarms welcome

Unmanned Systems Deployment & Survivability improve transit speed to operational area,vulnerability to nets, enemy attack, .....

Currently thinking of using an unmanned surfacevessel for fast transit of UUVs to operational area,are there better options? Survivability improvements.

Unmanned systems - improvements tonavigation accuracy and robustness Reduce reliance on GPS for unmanned systems.UUVs need to surface for updated GPS fix. Systemsneed to be robust to a lack of GPS service

Remote methods for hydrographic datacollection

Innovative ways to collect the data rather thansensors on a ship

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Example Challenge

Gaining Environmental Data from a Distance

Can we gather environmental data more efficiently?

If we could gather the data without the need for a ship, this may give usmore flexibility and efficiency

e.g. airborne, satellite, unmanned systems, ....

What we are looking for to help with this:

Concepts, sensitivities, relationships, inferences, ideas (direct and/orindirect) that:

are sensitive to an environmental parameter(s)

can measure an environmental parameter(s)

can be used away from the position/area that needs to be surveyed

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Example Challenge

Defeating mines in the Surf and Intertidal Zones

The surf and intertidal zones are hugely dynamic and a real challenge! Currently assessing sensing technologies that are seen to be the most likely to

succeed in detecting the threat mines e.g. IR, multi/hyper-spectral and LIDAR

Hopefully, these can be used from unmanned systems in the future

What we are looking for:

Sensing methods that we may have missed could include novel sensors orexisting sensors with novel signal processing that can exploit the solution e.g.automatic target recognition or fusion

Completely different solutions to the problem can we do anything other thansensing the mines and then disposing of the mines?

Priority will be given to solutions that have the most potential, lowest cost andcan be used effectively within military operations

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Example Challenge Improving Navigation

Capability of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Currently unmanned maritime systems assume the availability ofGPS


Practical ideas to make the navigation less reliant on GPS

Practical ideas to improve the accuracy of underwater positioning ofUUVs and to reduce the burden on repeat GPS fixes

We are not looking for standard acoustic transponders, we wouldlike something easier, quicker, more practical to use

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Example Challenge Increased Survivability

of Unmanned Maritime Systems

The vision for Unmanned Maritime Systems is to operate in isolation, in some ofthe most difficult and dynamic maritime environments

Financial and operational cost associated with the loss of unmanned systems,means the UK needs to minimise the risks to the systems


Measures to improve the survivability of unmanned system

Counter threats from the natural and induced environment, and from physical andelectrical interference

Novel ideas for directly or indirectly improving survivability

Detecting threats, countering threats, different concept of use,......

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Example Challenge Reducing the size and

weight of underwater sensors

Size, weight and power of underwater sensors can reduce endurance,persistence, coverage, and available capability


Lightweight sensors, low-power devices, high-energy power supplies,low-power signal processing

Hosted by offboard and unmanned systems

Solutions that can provide timely and accurate information for MCM orASW

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Game Changing Ideas

The MCM & Hydrography programme is in Concept Phase which means a widerange of concept ideas to meet the capability requirement are being looked at

The programme is planned to be a transition over time from current methods, throughthe use of off-board systems from current ships to the full replacement capabilitydelivered with a new class of ships

The new platforms are not planned until ~2028

Ships and their personnel are expensive, they are slow to get to new areas

worldwide There is still time to change the course of this programme with game changing

technology

What opportunities are there to perform MCM & H differently in 10 - 20 years time?

Will we still be finding and neutralising mines? Or could we neutralise the threatfrom mines completely differently making use of e.g. Nano-technology, synthetic

biology, signature cancellation, .....

Could we gather the required hydrographic information remotely without theneed to deploy a ship to the area

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Documents

Remote MCM and Hydrography