SOLUTE Expertise Helps U.S. Navy in
Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Operations

With the help of systems integrators from SOLUTE Consulting, the U.S. Navy continues to make major strides in the operation of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) in two specialties of Under Sea Warfare (USW).

UUVs are the first, truly unmanned autonomous systems deployed by the U.S. military. These vehicles must be able to operate independently for extended periods while using only small bandwidth communication systems. Consequently, the supporting Command and Control (C2) systems must be optimized to provide the right information and capability to compete in a non-real-time environment. Thanks to the expertise of the SOLUTE team, the Navy has been successful in integrating a disparate group of vendor applications with Navy applications and hardware to create effective Under Sea Warfare systems.

SOLUTE currently supports two separate Under Sea Warfare UUV projects for the SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific (SSCPAC). As a prime contractor for SSCPAC, SOLUTE has been responsible for the integration of the C4ISR systems that support the USW program. This effort includes the build-out of the Command and Control (C2) facilities and the integration of various proprietary and government provided applications and hardware. In April of 2011, SOLUTE completed the first build-out of a prototype UUV Command Center for SSCPAC within one of the government’s laboratory facilities.

The UUV Command Center houses the optimization systems and command links that permit the control of vehicles located in remote locations. Within the command center, the vehicle position and contact data is fused within U.S. Navy Common Operating Picture (COP) applications. In-situ data provided by the vehicles is fed to other applications with the UUV Command Center for senior performance prediction, mission planning, and collaboration. SOLUTE engineers were critical to the integration of these systems into a coherent system of systems that allows operators to visualize and shape the battle space while operating in a non-real-time realm. This facility gives the Navy a platform from which to refine the C4ISR capabilities and configurations before they become operational Navy systems. This facility also provides the Navy a facility to train future UUV operators and refine UUV tactics throughout the lifecycle of the projects.

For this UUV Command Center to be effective in supporting operations and training for UUV’s, it must have access to secure Navy networks for data communications. SOLUTE has been responsible for the Information Assurance (IA) work on the C4ISR hardware and applications, as well as obtaining the required Interim Authority to Operate (IATO) for the respective test events. SOLUTE IA professionals have performed extensive hardening on system hardware and applications in order to achieve accreditation to connect to secure Navy networks. To date, SOLUTE has obtained two ITO’s and has supported the successful Platform IT (PIT) designation for one of the two UUV projects.

SOLUTE continues to support these USW systems as they continue through their testing and development, with more advanced and capable systems on the way for evaluation.