Flying Plug: A Small UUV Designed for Submarine Data Connectivity (U)

(U) In the context of an information-based society the ability to reliably retrieve, transfer and process large quantities of data in a timely fashion becomes a critical technology issue. In the context of integrating submarine offboard sensors and physically supporting data connectivity with terrestrial networks: reliable, high bandwidth communications ranks as an extremely difficult technical problem. Few operating environments place more limitations on the ability to transfer high bandwidth data than underwater. The conductive medium places strict limits upon RF propagation, visibility greatly restricts the bounds of optical transmission and noise, ray-bending and multipath dominate the acoustic environment. Data transfer rates are usually limited to at most a few kilobits per second unless a hard connection via a cable is established. But adverse logistics inherent with underwater cables and their associated infrastructure often renders a cabled system totally impractical from a technical or economic standpoint. (U) A small Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) can provide the means to establish the physical connection required for fiber optic data transfer [2]. A Flying Plug UUV can be launched from a submarine while it is in the vicinity of a cooperative data node. The node can be connected either to an offboard sensor to enhance the platform's situational awareness or can it provide a gateway to a terrestrial network to enhance its communications capabilities. Both the Flying Plug and the submarine deploy spools of fiber optic microcable while transiting: similar to a wire-guided weapon. This permits the submarine to remain fully connected during data transfer while not requiring it to loiter in the immediate vicinity of the underwater node. The UUV docks with the node and establishes a fiber optic data link between the submarine and the offboard data