OCEAN AERO I
Ocean Aero has made its name pioneering hardware and software to revolutionize maritime exploration. Not content with merely creating the Triton, the world’s first Autonomous Underwater and Surface Vehicle (AUSV), the company is continuing to develop the vessel in new and innovative ways. Marketing Director Anastasia Flaherty explained more to Hannah Barnett.
The Triton, the flagship AUSV developed by Ocean Aero, is defined by its ability to collect data from both above and below the ocean’s surface, relaying it any time, anywhere.
“Versatility – specifically what we call ‘dual modality’ – is what sets us apart,” Anastasia Flaherty, Marketing Director, said. “The Triton’s ability to oscillate between surface and subsurface operation is unique. Not only does it yield better data collection, but it allows the Triton to avoid operational sur face threats. We are proud to be the world’s only AUSV.”
Ocean Aero builds and operates both the Triton and its communication platform, offering ready-to-deploy packages and custom payloads for an array of applications
The company operates with more than 60 full-time employees from a new, state-ofthe-art, 63,000 square foot facility in Gulfport, Mississippi, which was opened in October 2023.
Dual modality in action
Ocean Aero is the sort of company that is always striving to improve. As a result, the Triton has undergone continued development and evolution over the last few years. The latest generation of the AUSV includes a solar-panel clad wing sail and the subsequent ability to harness increased power, more efficiently than ever before.
“ To improve endurance, we’ve also made a lot of internal changes to power
distribution, internal comms networks, and edge processing capabilities,” Ms. Flaherty explained. “Our Obstacle Avoidance and Threat Evasion technologies are especially important; we use a vision-based computer approach that ties above-surface cameras together with underwater sonar sensing for full situational awareness and autonomous decision-making.”
The company’s projects vary greatly depending on the industry. Ocean Aero has technology suitable for a range of sectors including defense, research, and energy. For example, the Triton is advantageous in the defense industry as it can accelerate maritime domain awareness missions with a minimal logistics footprint,
while still carrying an array of tools in its agnostic payload bays. Easily transported by air or ground and deployable from ship or shore, the Triton offers a variety of mission sets performed independently and can connect seafloor to space for a more networked approach with other crewed and uncrewed systems
Selected for the toughest of missions in the most challenging environments, Tritons represent a significant force multiplier, thanks to the ability to evade and avoid detection by diving whenever the situation calls for it.
Work in the energy industry has included contracts with several major oil and gas firms. This has given the Ocean Aero
OCEAN
a chance to test and evaluate Triton pipeline inspection capability with real world trials. The results have been successful and promising.
One upcoming project of note within the energy sector involves using the Triton in the inspection of a pipeline more than 100 miles long. “Bathymetry and side scan sonar will be utilized to provide a persistent view of potential anchor strikes, sediment drift, human interference, and any other structural risks,” said Ms. Flaherty. “This level of continual evaluation will usher in an unprecedented option for security and maintenance requirements.”
The Triton also offers a disruptive solution for ocean surveillance and monitoring capabilities. Payloads, including visual and IR cameras, acoustic arrays, salinity, temperature, wind speed and direction, and bathymetry sensors can provide the intelligence, communication, cooperation, and
coordination required to surveil the ocean safely and effectively.
Tritons can operate without an escort or mothership and cost a fraction of crewed vessels. The AUSVs can be used to collect ocean data or record violations. They can also dive to collect water column data, avoiding detection and threats of collision or vandalism.
Energy transition ready
The Triton is a net zero vehicle - it operates using only wind and solar. What is more, the AUSV is consistently rechargeable using its 740W-capacity solar panels and lithiumion batteries.
“Not only can the Triton be used to conduct environmentally beneficial mission sets like habitat monitoring, seabed mapping, water chemical testing, early leak detection, and more,” Ms. Flaherty said, “but it does so without a carbon footprint in its wake.”
Much of the company’s continued evolution of capabilities is owed to strong supplier relationships.
“We like to form meaningful relationships with our suppliers, not just engage in transactional touch points,” she said. “We think of our suppliers as partners - without them our technology would not be whole. While all our suppliers are important to us, NVision, subCtech, Gocherman, Sonardyne, and Numerus have been particularly great partners.”
Of course, challenges remain. For example, size, weight, and power constraints dictate how much payload can be onboard, and for how long.
“Ocean Aero’s biggest challenges today are the same as those our customers face when evaluating activities at sea,” Ms. Flaherty added. “Over-the-horizon communications with high bandwidth data transfer requires marinizing emerging low-earth-orbit satellite devices. Configuring the Triton for even deeper missions will provide more coverage of our customers’ infrastructure. All of these challenges, and more, are on our product roadmap in the near future.”
Future perfect
As a result, Ocean Aero has mapped out its future with a solid dedication to continuing to better solve its customers’ problems. The company intends to do this by not only answering their needs but anticipating them.
This means developing technology with applications that customers can utilize to achieve their objectives, opening up a whole new world of effectiveness, possibility and innovation.
“We see swarms of Tritons in the future, acting as one, for wide-ranging, persistent, autonomous monitoring,” Ms. Flaherty concluded. “We see continued machine learning to make our vessels smarter. We see more data. We see better data. We see improved maritime decision making.
“Ultimately, we are solving problems that have not been solved before with technology that has never been made before – ever. This translates to more secure oceans, and subsequently a safer global community.” n
