Singh, Gurminder

There is a significant gap between emerging state-of-the-art commercial off the shelf (COTS) remote sensor networks, and those currently employed by the US Navy. Through recent advances in sensor, processor and network technologies, the idea of an unattended, expendable, and deploy-for-purpose sensor network is neither cost prohibitive nor science fiction. With expendable sensor nodes the operations and maintenance costs (O&M) are drastically reduced and the end user is provided with a wider range of deployment locations where persistent presence may not be a requirement. This research intends to identify the essential characteristics and capabilities of current unattended maritime ISR systems and compare those to the capabilities of emerging low-cost devices. Further, it intends to provide a proof-of-concept architecture and concept of implementation utilizing these emerging devices to address the operational requirements of Seventh Fleet forces. Key items of analysis will include overall system cost, ease of deployment, sensor networking/device-to-device communication, bandwidth requirements and limitations, network robustness and security, means of data exfiltration and aggregation, sensor life and power limitations/requirements, and classification concerns.
NPS Naval Research Program
NPS Naval Research Program
Navy
2017