Undersea Warfare Long Range Development Broad Agency Announcement

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NUWC Keyport is soliciting research of interest in support of longrange undersea warfare needs. The topicsof interest are listed below: 01: Expand Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) capabilities through artificialintelligence (AI) to improve autonomous perception and situational awareness,including generation of world models, self-localization, andobtaining/processing information for autonomous planning, decision making, andtask execution. 02: Novel methods for predictive analysis of UUVs though modeling andsimulation, considering sub-system, system, and multi-platform performance. Methods should allow exploration ofhigh-dimensional state-spaces and lend themselves to use for system design,validation and verification and/or mission planning. 03: Expand capabilities of Undersea Warfare(USW) tactical decision making through the use of machine learning and AI,enhancing environmental perception and deciphering of tactical information. 04: Investigate methods to enhanceidentification of anomalies in large datasets associated with performance testanalysis to include data analytics, machine learning, and statistical modelingto improve accuracy. 05: Investigate innovative methods for autonomouspredictive maintenance and intelligent failure detection of electro-mechanicalsystems. Methods should explore the useof data analytics and machine learning. 06 :Investigate methods for mitigating hardware obsolescence in test equipment forelectro-mechanical systems to minimize the Non-Recurring Engineering costsassociated with the mitigation strategy. Methods may include hardware architectures andcommunication protocols. 07 :Investigate and propose data analysis methods for the maintenance processingdata in maintenance activity logs, which consist of electro-mechanical assemblyand electronic component repair data. Developmethods to apply data analytics to the automated process control system used bythe maintenance activity which, in turn, identify opportunities for processimprovement initiatives and identify reliability trends of the subject trendsin this analysis. 08: Research in acoustic measurements and characterization,including novel methods of acoustic alignment that minimize the required motionof source and receiver and quantify the error of those measurements, measurementsin reverberant environments, and anechoic materials. 09: Research into novel methods for predictive analysis of maintenance thoughmodeling and simulation of weapons systems, mechanical and electronic devices(pumps, motors, valves), and electronics assemblies considering componentlevel, system and multi-platform solutions. Methods may include automated andself-learning simulated production environments to improve one or more of thefollowing areas of interest: supply chain and logistics; employee productivity;asset utilization; decision making; and task execution. 10: Research in novel methods for assessment of enhanced multi-use mixed realityuser interface (UI) capable of various Alternate Reality (AR) and VirtualReality (VR)operations with military maintenance and industrialapplications. Develop a gesture-based UIthat effectively demonstrates uses in AR/VR or mixed reality context within UUVplatforms, considering perception of the environment, decision making, and taskexecution. Methods may include modelingand simulation, physical platforms, or platform surrogates. 11: Investigate and proposeinnovative design methodologies for improving the manufacturability andperformance of propellers, including rapid empirical assessment. 12: Methods are sought for testing of autonomy in UUVs and assessment ofnon-deterministic AI within UUV platforms, considering perception of theenvironment, decision making, and task execution. Methods may include modeling and simulation,physical platforms, or platform surrogates. 13: Investigate methods to enhancethe capabilities of data processing systems utilized for system supportabilityand obsolescence forecasting of electro-mechanical systems through the use ofmachine learning and AI. 14: Investigate cutting edge methods related toadvanced software development and software deployment, to include datastandardization, shared infrastructures, automation, and cloud computing tomodernize legacy architectures. 15 :Evaluate and demonstrate the effectiveness of common fault tolerance strategiesrelated to voting and the Byzantine general problem by creating a Large Arrayof Sensors circuit card assembly test platform using Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS)parts that is capable of functioning during various sensor failure cases. The assembly would need to be able tosimulate both passive and active sensor failure and communicate an activitylog, system status, and reduced sensor array. Empirical evaluation of proposed method(s) is preferred. 16 : Investigatesensing/recording methods for specific environmental conditions (shock, strain,temperature, humidity, etc.) to allow users to better evaluate the state ofelectro-mechanical components after storage and transportation. Techniques should cover one or more of thefollowing key areas: Power Source,Sensing, Low Power Processing, and Data Transmission. Empirical assessment of proposed method(s) ispreferred. 17: Research to reduce hazards from electromagneticradiation to ordnance during research, development, prototyping, production,and maintenance of energetic systems that may address automation, digitizingmanual and analog processes, ergonomic/safe handling operations, hazardouswaste operations, tool and asset management, and culture change

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