U.S. Navy Funds University to Develop "Naviator" Drone Equally
Adept at Flying and Swimming
Source: Carl Blesch / Rutgers University
The Office of Naval Research (a U.S. Navy office that coordinates, executes,
and promotes the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and
Marine Corps) has awarded Rutgers University (the state university of
New Jersey) a grant to develop a drone – equally adept at flying
through the air and navigating underwater – that could speed search-and-rescue
operations, monitor the spread of oil spills and even help the Navy
rapidly defuse threats from underwater mines.
Part submarine, part aircraft, Rutgers University researchers have developed
a drone that is just as at home underwater as it is flying through the
air. Image: courtesy Javier Diez
Javier Diez, a professor in the Department of Mechanical
and Aerospace Engineering, had been dabbling with the concept for years
with the help of his graduate and undergraduate students. But when he
demonstrated it to U.S. Navy research officials earlier this year, they
almost immediately funded his work on new versions of the air-and-water
craft.
“They told me they’d never seen anything like it,”
said Diez, who at first compared the vehicle to what nature does. “There
are birds that dive into water and fish that fly,” he said.
But that comparison breaks down quickly. “Waterfowl are still
better at flying than swimming, and flying fish are still better at
swimming than flying. Our device is equally adept at both,”
he said. ”In a sense, we are defying nature rather than emulating
it.”
Diez predicts many potential applications. For search and rescue, for
instance, the vehicle could scan the water from above to locate missing
swimmers and sailors, and upon spotting shipwreck debris could dip underwater
to further examine the scene. At an oil spill site, it could map the
spread of a spill and see how deep the plume reaches.
Rutgers
video on the Naviator drone
An air-and-water drone could also help engineers
inspect underwater structures, such as bridge and dock piers, ship hulls
and oil drilling platforms.
But what specifically makes the concept attractive to the funding agency
– the R&D arm of the United States Navy – which awarded
the $618,000 grant?
“Mines are probably the biggest problem for the Navy,”
said Diez. “They need to map where mines are. Now there are
a lot of false positives. This could be a better technology to rapidly
investigate these potential threats.”
And in naval warfare, a fleet of drones could be stationed out of sight
in an underwater base or on a submarine. The drones could emerge quickly
from the depths, get a quick glimpse of enemy ship deployments, and
then hide again.
Diez acknowledges that much work needs to be done. For example, the
models that he and his students have demonstrated are tethered by a
thin wire to a controller, as typical radio signals can’t penetrate
the water. To cut the cord, engineers will study ways to control vehicles
acoustically – with sound pulses instead of radio waves.
“By next summer, we plan to demonstrate a vehicle that can
swim in a seawater environment and do complex manuvers,”
he said. “At that point, we’ll start to outfit it with
whatever sensors the Navy wants to have, such as cameras and sonar detectors.”
