Scott Nicholas
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has completed the initial phase of a program to develop concepts and technologies designed to restore connectivity for U.S. troops when conventional tactical networks are offline or unavailable.
DARPA said Thursday its Tactical Undersea Network Architecture program has moved into the second and final phase to demonstrate a prototype of the system at sea.
LGS Innovations helped the agency design a neutrally buoyant cable for the TUNA initiative under a $1.9 million contract awarded in September 2015.
“Phase 1 of the program included successful modeling, simulation, and at-sea tests of unique fiber-cable and buoy-component technologies needed to make such an undersea architecture work,” said John Kamp, program manager of DARPA’s strategic technology office.
“Teams were able to design strong, hair-thin, buoyant fiber-optic cables able to withstand the pressure, saltwater, and currents of the ocean, as well as develop novel power generation concepts,” Kamp added.
The University of Washington’s applied physics laboratory developed a Wave Energy Buoy that Self-deploys concept that works to generate electricity from wave movements to help supply power to floating buoy nodes.
DARPA implemented the program with the goal to create and demonstrate optical-fiber-based technology options and restore radio frequency tactical data networks in contested environments with the use of an undersea optical fiber platform.
