Mikros Systems Corporation has received a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I contract delivery order from the Naval Sea Systems Command for Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) and Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Autonomous Behavior Development. The company will develop a Sensor In-stride Diagnostic, Correction, and Confidence Component (SID3C) that can integrate with current and future USV and UUV vehicle platforms.
SID3C will monitor shipboard sensors and sensor data to detect degradation or failures, correct recoverable sensors, and assist the autonomy systems with appropriately filtering unreliable sensor data. The Phase I objective is to demonstrate proposed solution feasibility, and Mikros Systems will be developing a limited scale system to illustrate the concept.
“The Navy’s call for in-stride sensor degradation solutions aligns well with our AN/SYM-3 heritage on LCS,” said Corey Friedenberger, Sr. Systems Engineer and Program Manager for this effort, in a statement. “This Phase I award is an exciting opportunity for us to grow our capabilities with machine learning technology and support the future of autonomous vehicles.”
This system could be used by the Navy to further advance unmanned, autonomous vehicles where sensor data quality can impact decision making and mission success. The requirements for near-real-time, unattended problem detection and correction are an opportunity for merging Mikros Systems’ existing “expert system” techniques with machine learning capabilities. This approach could potentially be used on platforms such as the Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV), Large Unmanned Surface Vessel (LUSV), Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV), and Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV).
“We see multiple future applications for this new technology across Navy and other DOD applications,” added Tom Meany, CEO. “We have built our business on developing new technologies through the SBIR process and continue to work diligently to seek additional awards which oftentimes lead to large DOD procurement programs.”