NSWC PHD and Aerial Alchemy looking into using UAS to enhance maintenance and fleet readiness for U.S. Navy

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Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division (NSWC PHD) and industry partner Aerial Alchemy are working together to research and investigate the use of UAS to enhance the U.S. Navy’s maintenance and fleet readiness.

The UAS are capable of visually capturing the exterior surface of naval ships, and this data could then be used to develop 3D digital models, to ultimately identify damage, corrosion, and alignment issues.

“Collaboration is key to rapidly increasing the lethality of our Navy,” says NSWC PHD Commanding Officer, Capt. Ray Acevedo, via the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

“Industry and academia are on the cutting edge of technology and are able to quickly advance these systems, allowing us to provide critical capabilities to the fleet.”

​Partnership efforts were formalized by representatives of NSWC PHD and Aerial Alchemy through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), which is part of NSWC PHD’s ongoing Naval Innovative Science and Engineering research focused on “innovative technologies and solutions designed to advance the future of in-service engineering.”

Thanks to the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, warfare centers and research laboratories can work with industry and academic in research, engineering and technology development.

“Our ability as in-service engineers to support the fleet currently requires extensive on-site personnel in order to identify configuration, damage, corrosion, and other mechanical issues,” explains Alan Jaeger, NSWC PHD Office of Research and Technology Applications manager.

“The concept of a ‘digital twin’ or as-built models of surface ships provides extensive opportunities to better serve the fleet.”

A “mission-based remote data capture and delivery company,” Aerial Alchemy designs and builds purpose-built, modular commercial UAS-based platforms developed on open standards.

The company provides unique data to civil and environmental infrastructure and ecological projects through the transformation of various types of oblique and multi-dimensional data into high-quality 3D models.