Impact

Economic Impact

"Marine technology centers can serve as incubators for innovations and new technologies necessary to achieve and sustain national competitiveness in ocean science and engineering research."

—The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy,
in An Ocean Blueprint for the 21^st Century

The Autonomous Undersea Vehicle Applications Center is physically co-located within Maine (PNSY) and New Hampshire (AUSI); both states gain the benefit of job growth and the increase in revenues associated with higher employment.

The Center's capabilities are unique in the world, and attracts the international oceanographic research, academic, and marine industry communities. AUSI currently holds an "Unmanned Untethered Systems Technology" conference every other year that is attended by over 200 people from over 15 different countries. This already successful conference will see significant growth under the AUVAC umbrella.

AUVAC's strategic location on the coastline of the Gulf of Maine is an area of significant resources relative to Oceanography, marine sciences, the Navy's manned submersibles, and industry supporting the Navy and the oceanographic/marine community:

• The Gulf of Maine Ocean Observation System (GOMOOS)
• The University of Maine
• The University of New England
• Bigelow Labs
• The Gulf of Maine Research Institute
• The University of New Hampshire's Center for Coastal Ocean Mapping

With a solid core capability (marine) in the area, other supporting activities develop in the area as well. With AUVAC's need for engineers, marine equipment operators, researchers, and technicians to support the development and use of AUVs, job creation in the NH-ME Seacoast is a natural side effect.

Scientific Impact

AUV technology is undergoing the natural transition from research to practical application; operational systems are ready to satisfy the needs of the ocean science community. In fact, several science programs rely solely on data acquired by autonomous systems. It is very clear that autonomous system technology will play a strong role in the future understanding of the oceans.

Capital costs and long-term life cycle costs associated with operation and maintenance are substantial, severely limiting scientific users' ability to evaluate new technology. AUVAC provides operational and engineering support to make it possible for various scientific users to utilize the technology without a large financial impact on their programs. This allows them to evaluate the potential of the technology and, if deemed appropriate, plan for future acquisition of the technology to meet their research goals.

Military and Government Impact

The development of Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs), specifically Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (AUVs), has matured to the point that they can be realistically considered as having a significant place in U.S. Navy operations:

• Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance
• Mine Countermeasures
• Tactical Oceanography
• Communications, Navigation
• Anti-Submarine Warfare

There are numerous AUVs commercially available, possibly providing capabilities to other militaries that are beyond that of the U.S. military. With forethought and organization today, AUV technology in the United States can be leveraged to rapidly increase the U.S. Navy's capabilities. The technology is available now, but the U.S. Navy does not have an efficient method to access academic institutions and/or private industry in order to support its AUV requirements. AUVAC provides the U.S. Navy a mechanism to freely communicate with academic and industry partners involved with AUVs and leverage these technologies for military use. Given AUVAC's focus on interoperability and modular design, the military can continue to take advantage of the expanding capabilities of AUVs while implementing combined and joint operating requirements such as those imposed by FORCEnet.

AUVAC provides a consolidation of AUV information and resources not previously available to the Navy. Although, the government (specifically the U.S. Navy) is well suited to test, certify, and maintain AUV technologies, it lacks visibility into the research and development of AUV technology. With the visibility gained as a partner in AUVAC, the U.S. Navy as well as other federal agencies will be better positioned to invest in technologies that can quickly be integrated into missions in the undersea battle space / undersea environment.

Commercial Impact

As industry gains confidence in the reliability of AUVs and determines the cost effectiveness of using AUVs to meet their needs, AUVs will become part of their normal operations. But AUVs will come in different forms, many modular, to meet specific requirements. It will not always be practical or cost effective for companies to own their own suite of AUVs. AUVAC provides industry with the optimum AUV solution to meet their particular requirement, either on on-going or case-by-case bases.