563 



14 EXPANDING THE USES OF NA VAL OCEAN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



in support of these programs. The Navy is exploring innovative methods to 

 reduce weight and lower cost; these methods include the use of high-powered 

 lasers for welding and cutting and for application of surface coatings. One such 

 application on Navy ships involves fabrication of corrugated steel panels (termed 

 LASCOR) that provide high strength-to-weight ratios and significant fire retarda- 

 tion properties. Techniques under development include in situ repair and fabrica- 

 tion using fiber-optic delivery of laser energy. The science and technology 

 efforts on advanced composite materials for marine applications are aimed at 

 high-strength materials that are lightweight and damage resistant. Through con- 

 siderable research into marine corrosion and biofouling, the Navy has also devel- 

 oped new mitigation techniques (see Tables D6 and D7 in Appendix D) that 

 could benefit the entire marine industry. 



Remote Vehicle Design and Operation 



With its strong background in undersea vehicle design, ONR has under way 

 numerous efforts applicable to the development of deep submergence and re- 

 motely operated or piloted vehicles. Vehicles such as the MEDIA/JASON fam- 

 ily and the ALVIN are examples. Additional programs support a new group of 

 vehicles called AUVs (autonomous undersea vehicles). These new designs would 

 be untethered, remotely controlled, autonomously programmed vehjcles, with 

 both navigational and robotic capacities. These and similar technological devel- 

 opments are potentially exploitable by the coimnercial marketplace: 



• Sensors, including acoustic, laser, and magnetic systems 



• Structures, including remotely operated vehicle (ROV) designs and meth- 

 ods, materials, and handling 



• Cabling/communications, including fiber-optic tow cables and acoustic 

 communications 



• Autopilot/control, including laser gyros, fiber-optic sensors, and motion 

 compensator systems 



• Power/energy systems, including energy-efficient thermal and electrical 

 systems such as "wick" combustors and lithium-seawater batteries 



• Thrusters/propulsors, including advanced, significantly quieter and more 

 efficient thruster designs 



• Robotics, including manipulators, tools (e.g., rock drills), nonlinear con- 

 trol systems, adaptive sampling, and mini-winches 



• Data assimilation/display, including data fusion techniques and virtual 

 displays 



• Simulators, including distributed and interactive simulators for design 

 and training 



