Dca N6258309C0151OCEAN DESIGN, INC.

Description of requirement

GATEWAY SBIR - AS U. S. NAVY AND OTHER UNDERSEA SENSOR AND DATA TRANSMISSION NETWORKS HAVE BECOME MORE COMPLEX, THE NEED HAS EMERGED FOR A RAPID, COST-EFFECTIVE, STANDARDIZED MEANS FOR INTERCONNECTING THEM ON THE SEAFLOOR. PROJECT GATEWAY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO MEET THAT NEED. THE GATEWAY CONCEPT HAS EVOLVED TO PROVIDE A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS APPROACH TO INTERCONNECTING NETWORKS AND COMPONENTS FOR DATA TRANSMISSION, AND FOR SENSING THE SUBSURFACE AND SURFACE OF THE LITTORALS AND OCEAN FLOOR. THE SUBSEQUENT GATEWAY SYSTEM SHALL BE A FUNDAMENTALLY ENABLING TECHNOLOGY CONSISTING OF NODES WITH HYBRID WET-MATE CONNECTORS, INTERCONNECTING OPTICAL FIBER AND ELECTRICAL CABLE SYSTEMS. THIS HYBRID ELECTRO-OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY SHALL PROVIDE A NUMBER OF ELECTRO-OPTICAL INPUTS AND OUTPUTS TO STATIC OR DYNAMIC SUB-SEA ASSETS FOR INFORMATION AND/OR POWER CENTRIC ACTIVITY IN THE SUB-SEA ENVIRONMENT. DESIGNED TO SURVIVE THE HARSH UNDERSEA ENVIRONMENT AND WITHSTAND HIGH PRESSURES AND HIGH VOLTAGES, THE GATEWAY SYSTEM IS INTENDED TO SAVE INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS BY REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF TIME REQUIRED TO ADD OR CHANGE SENSORS AND BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF SHORE LANDINGS. ADDITIONALLY, IT SHALL ENABLE NEW CAPABILITIES FOR POWER DISTRIBUTION AND DATA COLLECTION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, AND SURVEILLANCE. POTENTIAL FUTURE GATEWAY APPLICATIONS INCLUDE ASW SYSTEMS, ROV AND AUV POWER DOCKING AND DATA COLLECTION STATIONS.