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Is this the new wave of submerged communications?
By: Kelsey Atherton
The ocean hides what it contains, and it is in that hiding that submarines have their power. Lurking under seas, at first with just enough capability for an attack run and now with the ability to lurk for months at a time, submarines remain power out of reach, unseen until engaged in combat or resupplying in a friendly port. That stealth comes at a cost, however, besides the simple perils of existing underwater.
When submerged, submarines are more or less on their own until they resurface again, since radio waves do not travel well through seawater. Or they are for now. New research by MIT, presented at a conference in late August, devised a way for submerged submarines to communicate wirelessly with people on the surface by combining hydroacoustics and acoustic radars.
Presently, submarines communicate either across normal radio frequencies when surfaced or through hydroacoustic signals and listening posts underwater that can transmit the messages back to counterparts on shore. Very and extremely low-frequency radio waves can be transmitted in a way that submarines can listen to below the surface, but it's a one-way form of communication, from stations on land to submarines. To get something responsive, with the flexibility to communicate away from static seabed hydrophones, needs something else.
Specifically, it needs a way to combine hydroacoustic transmission from the submarine through water that can then be converted into a useful data.
“We present a new communication technology, translational acoustic-RF communication (TARF),” write paper authors Francesco Tonolini and Fadel Adib of the MIT Media Lab.
“TARF enables underwater nodes to directly communicate with airborne nodes by transmitting standard acoustic signals. TARF exploits the fact that underwater acoustic signals travel as pressure waves, and that these waves cause displacements of the water surface when they impinge on the water-air boundary. To decode the transmitted signals, TARF leverages an airborne radar which measures and decodes these surface displacements.”
In testing, they demonstrated that the communication technique can transfer data at standard underwater bitrates up to 400bps, and even do so with surface waves 6.3 inches crest-to-crest, or 100,000 times larger than the surface perturbations made by the acoustic transmitter.
Right now, this communication is one-way. While the signal transmitted up from the water produces useful information at the boundary with the air, a signal transmitted through the air downwards would disintegrate on integration with water. This one-way is distinct from previous forms of communication with submarines, however, as it lets the submarine talk without revealing its position to surface sensors.
Despite the limitations, and the earlierness of the research, Tonolini and Adlib see a bright future for the technology, as a way to enable a host of new technology in machines. The technology, they write, can enable “many applications including submarine-to-drone communication, deep-sea exploration, and subsea IoT (Internet of Things).
https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/2018/08/28/mit-discovers-way-for-submarines-to-talk-to-drones
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Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - January 10, 2020
NAVY Dignitas Technologies JV, LLC,* Orlando, Florida, is awarded a $99,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides total life cycle support for the Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D® and the Virtual Interactive Shipboard Instructional Tour 3D™ programs to include development, production, integration, test and evaluation, delivery and sustainment. Work will be performed Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed in January 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business set-aside, competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; four offers were received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity (N61340-20-D-0008). MTS Advantage LLC (MTSA), Dumfries, Virginia (N65236-20-D-8002), is awarded a $90,820,000 single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, performance based service contract utilizing cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders. The contract is for Cyber Red Team and operational test support services and provides for information assurance, cyber defense, cyber systems security and network infrastructure program management. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by January 2026. If the option is exercised, work would continue until July 2026. If all options are exercised, the cumulative value of the contract will increase to $99,902,000. Contract funds in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract includes a five-year ordering period and one six-month option-to-extend-services in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.217-8. The single award contract was competitively procured by full and open competition after the exclusion of sources via the Naval Information Warfare Center e-Commerce Central website and the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four timely offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity. The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $42,297,380 modification (P000163) to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm target, firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-14-C-0067). This modification exercises an option for integrated logistics services and site activation support of P-8A aircraft for the Navy and the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington (56%); Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (38%); and Brisbane City, Australia (6%), and is expected to be completed in September 2021. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $39,820,706; and Royal Australian Air Force unique funds in the amount of $2,476,674 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the Navy ($39,820,706; 94%); and the government of Australia ($2,476,674; 6%) under a formal cooperative agreement. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Alutiiq Solutions LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded a $7,519,828 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide support services to include research and analysis, strategic initiative support, executive leadership management support and administrative, operational and technical program support to the Naval Air Systems Command Strategic Leadership Services Team. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (60%); and Arlington, Virginia (40%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was a small business 8(a) set-aside competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal; one offer was received. The Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-20-D-0007). Marathon Construction Co.,* Lakeside, California, is awarded a $7,375,000 firm-fixed-price task order (N62473-20-F-4093) under a multiple award construction contract to repair the deteriorated quay wall at Naval Base San Diego. The work to be performed provides for the renovation of several sections of the quay wall along the piers at Naval Base San Diego. Work includes repair of the quay wall substructure, steel sheet piles, relieving platform and berthing system defects. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by January 2022. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $7,375,000 is being obligated at the time of this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Two proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-16-D-1802). AIR FORCE ArmorSource LLC, Hebron, Ohio, has been awarded a $17,374,500 firm-fixed-price contract for Next Generation Ballistic Helmets. This contract provides for the manufacturing and delivery of up to 24,300 LGD Sniper Gen II Ballistic Helmets with delivery to continental U.S. and outside the continental U.S. active duty Air Force security forces squadrons. The ordering period for the helmets will be complete by Jan. 8, 2023. This award is a result of a competitive acquisition with nine offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $9,996,415 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8003-20-D-0001). ARMY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $7,741,646 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and firm-fixed-price) contract for General Electronic Test Station test equipment, installation, test program set, hardware, software, upgrades, training, engineering services and repair parts. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed in Huntsville, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 8, 2024. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $880,405 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W31P4Q-20-C-0016). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY American Water Operations and Maintenance LLC, Camden, New Jersey, has been awarded a $7,288,260 modification (P00017) to a 50-year utilities privatization contract (SP0600-17-C-8322) with no option periods incorporating an increase to the operations, maintenance, renewal and replacement charges for water and wastewater utility service systems. This is a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract. Location of performance is Ohio, with a Nov. 30, 2068, performance completion date. Using military service is Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 Air Force operations and maintenance funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2053783/source/GovDelivery/