Spectr A

n a v a l r e s e a r c h l a b o r at o r y

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NAVYS CORPORATE LABORATORY

WINTER 2014

updates on

NRLS
AUTONOMY
RESEARCH

NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY

THE

LEAD I N G EDGE
Commanding Officer

CAPT Mark C. Bruington, USN

Director of Research
Dr. John A. Montgomery

Welcome to the fourth issue of SPECTRA, a magazine

designed to inform you of exciting science and technology
developments at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).
In the spring of 2012, NRL opened the Laboratory for
Autonomous Systems Research (LASR). Our vision for this
shining, state-of-the-art facility was that it would be a focal
point for basic and applied research related to unmanned and
autonomous systems a place to develop, integrate, and
test systems and prototypes, to advance the Navys scientific
leadership in this domain. Now, a little more than two years
later, the LASR has become the collaborative and energetic
research space we envisioned, with scientists and engineers
from all across NRL working together on interdisciplinary
projects in the one-of-a-kind facilities and environments that
LASR offers. Autonomy research for the Navy and Department
of Defense benefits greatly from this convergence of diverse
talent and expertise.
In its simulated desert, jungle, and littoral environments
and other well-equipped laboratories, the LASR is hosting
creative and innovative research in intelligent autonomy,
sensor systems, power and energy systems, humansystem
interaction, networking and communications, and platforms.
This issue of SPECTRA provides a snapshot of some of the
LASR projects now moving forward:
an autonomous underwater vehicle named WANDA that
borrows its design from a coral reef fish,
a next-generation hydrogen fuel cell built using 3-D printing,
a battery that draws its power from the ocean bottom
sediment,
a robot that is learning to understand how people think, and
a vehicle that travels through air and through water a flying
submarine.
We hope you enjoy this issue of SPECTRA and share it with
others. To request additional copies or more information, please
email spectra@nrl.navy.mil.

An official publication of the Naval Research Laboratory

Publisher

NRL Office of Public Affairs

Richard Thompson, PAO

Managing Editor

Donna McKinney, Deputy PAO

Editing, Design, and Production

NRL Technical Information Services
Kathy Parrish, Head

Editing

Claire Peachey

Design and Production

Jonna Atkinson

Photography and Archives

Gayle Fullerton
Jamie Hartman
James Marshall

4555 Overlook Ave, SW

Washington, DC 20375
(202) 767-2541
www.nrl.navy.mil/spectra

Contents
features
ON THE COVER

2 Bio-Inspired Designs for Near-Shore AUVs

6 Flimmer: A Flying Submarine
10

Cognition for HumanRobot Interaction

14

NRL Autonomy Lab Hosts Shipboard Fire

Robotics Consortium

18

NRL Technology Assists FDNY

20

The Benthic Microbial Fuel Cell

24

3-D Printing in Hydrogen Fuel Cells for

Unmanned Systems

28

More LASR Projects

news
30

Flight-testing the Flimmer UAV.

See page 6.

briefs

Navy Launches UAV from Submerged Submarine

31 Captain Mark C. Bruington Relieves Captain Anthony J. Ferrari

and Captain Anthony J. Ferrari Receives Legion of Merit

t e c h n o l o g y t ra n s f e r
35

New York City Tracks Firefighters to Scene with

NRL Radio Tags and Automated Display

focus on people
outreach
32

NRL and Aerospace Industry Host 10th Annual

CanSat Student Challenge

36

Dr. Jeremy Robinson Receives Presidential Early

Career Award

37

In Memory of Richard J. Foch

making connections
34

Sharing Science ... Starting Conversations

NRL FEATURES

Bio-Inspired Designs for

Near-Shore AUVs

Autonomous underwater vehicles

(AUVs) have demonstrated many

capabilities in inspection, surveillance, exploration, and object detection in deep seas, at high speeds,
and over long distances. However,
the low-speed, high-maneuverability
operations required for near-shore and
littoral zone missions present mobility and sensing challenges that have
not been satisfactorily solved, despite
nearly half a century of AUV development. Very shallow water and littoral
environments are complex operating
zones, often turbid, cluttered with
obstacles, and with dynamically
changing currents and wave action.
AUVs need to be able to maneuver
around obstacles, operate at low
speeds, hover, and counteract surge
and currents. To develop AUVs that
can successfully navigate and operate in these dynamic and challenging
environments, Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) researchers have taken

inspiration from nature from fish,

in particular to design and develop
novel underwater propulsion, control,
and sensing solutions.
For AUV propulsion and control, NRL
has developed an actively controlled
curvature robotic fin based on the
pectoral fin of a coral reef fish, the
bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius). In
the most recent fin iteration, four rib
spars connected by a flexible synthetic
membrane define the fin geometry,
and control of each rib deflection angle
enables the shape deformation needed
to generate 3-D vectored thrust. Using
computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
tools in conjunction with experiments,
sets of high-thrust-producing fin stroke
kinematics, or fin gaits, have been
identified. This kind of artificial fin technology can adapt to varying flow conditions and provide the thrust control
necessary for low-speed maneuvering
and precise positioning.

The NRL artificial pectoral fin has

been integrated into a man-portable,
unmanned vehicle named WANDA,
the Wrasse-inspired Agile Near-shore
Deformable-fin Automaton. Four
side-mounted fins, two forward and
two aft, provide all the propulsion and
control necessary for the vehicle. A
set of custom control algorithms uses
information about the vehicle motion
and surrounding environment to inform changes to the fin stroke kinematics. By weighting and combining
various fin gaits, the magnitude and
direction of thrust generated by each
fin can be controlled to produce the
desired effects on vehicle motion.
Computational and in-water experimental results have demonstrated
WANDAs capabilities. WANDA can
perform low-speed maneuvers including forward and vertical translation,
turn-in-place rotation, and station
keeping in the presence of waves.

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NRL FEATURES

The bird wrasse (Gomphosus varius) is

a coral reef dwelling fish operating in
depths of 1 to 30 meters. It is known to
use its paired median pectoral fins to
produce thrust for maneuvering in these
complex environments.

The geometry of the bird wrasse was modeled and computational fluid
dynamics simulation was validated against experimental results.

Following design studies for a robotic pectoral fin, CFD simulation

was used to determine effectiveness of this device as a means of
propulsion and control for an AUV.

WANDA can also successfully coordinate maneuvers to achieve waypoint

navigation. WANDA is designed to
operate at speeds in excess of two
knots, or hold position in the presence
of two-knot currents, giving it the propulsion and control authority needed
in many harbor and other near-shore
operational zones.
Solutions for vehicle propulsion and
control address only part of the challenge of operating in shallow under-

WINTER 2014

water areas, so NRL is also developing new sensor systems for AUVs,
and again looking at fish for ideas. A
reliable system for navigating littoral
environments requires real-time knowledge of current velocities and object
positions. Conventional onboard sensors such as sonar and vision-based
systems have shortfalls in a cluttered,
shallow environment: sonar can suffer
from multipath propagation issues, and
vision-based systems are limited by
turbidity.

Additionally, these are active systems that emit sound or light, which
uses energy and exposes an AUV to
detection.
Fish use a system of hair-like flow
and pressure sensors, called a lateral
line, to detect changes and obstacles
in the environment around them. NRL
has studied these natural systems
and is developing an artificial lateral
line, a system of pressure sensors
mounted on the AUV hull to provide

NRL FEATURES

Demonstrating the WANDA AUV in the Littoral High Bay pool in NRLs Laboratory for
Autonomous Systems Research. The four-fin design enables the propulsion and control
needed for station-keeping and maneuvering in the presence of external disturbances
such as waves and currents. The cameras in the foreground of the top photo are used to
capture the three-dimensional motion of the vehicle in real time.

passive sensing of surrounding water

velocities and near-field objects. This
system uses quartz crystalbased
pressure sensors with high sensitivity
to measure minute pressure differentials between various points on
the vehicle hull. The amplitude and
phase differences between sensor
signals provide information about the
surrounding environment that the ve-

hicle can use to perform maneuvers

such as orienting into a flow or avoiding obstacles. NRLs artificial lateral
line will help WANDA and other AUVs
achieve better performance in environments where sonar or vision alone
cannot be relied on.
Much of the development and testing
of the WANDA platforms takes place

in NRLs Laboratory for Autonomous

Systems Research (LASR). This facility houses vehicle prototyping tools,
such as 3-D printers and metalworking equipment, and large-scale test
environments. The 45 foot by 25 foot
pool in the LASR Littoral High Bay
serves as the primary underwater
test environment for WANDA, where
a 16-channel wave generator creates
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NRL FEATURES

The WANDA AUV deployed for testing in the Littoral High Bay in NRLs Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research.

real-world simulated near-shore conditions, and a 12-camera underwater

tracking system provides ground
truth position and orientation measurements for validation of vehicle
performance.
As WANDAs fish-inspired technologies are perfected, the AUV is being
prepared for payload testing. The vehicles modular construction enables
easy integration of different missionspecific payload packages, and one
such payload that will be developed
and tested on WANDA starting this
year is a biochemical sensing system
for trace level detection of chemical
signatures. This sensor system built
onto a capable low-speed platform
such as WANDA will enable missions
in plume tracking and target localization in shallow water environments.
WINTER 2014

The WANDA program has spawned

other related programs to enable
Navy critical missions using AUVs.
NRLs new Flimmer (Flying Swimmer) program seeks to develop an
unmanned platform that will be deployed from the air, glide to a water
surface landing in an area of interest,
and transition into a swimming AUV.
NRL is leveraging its expertise in
unmanned air vehicle (UAV) technologies to design and build the Flimmer
vehicle. Modifications have been
made to the WANDA fins to enable
them to function as aerodynamic
control surfaces and to survive the
impact of landing (see page 6 for
further details on Flimmer).

into capable propulsion and control

technologies for low-speed operation
in near-shore environments is helping
to close a clear gap in AUV technology. An unmanned vehicle that can
effectively operate in these areas,
where traditional platforms experience stability and control problems,
will improve performance for critical
missions including harbor monitoring and protection, hull inspection,
covert very shallow water operations,
and riverine operations.
By Jason Geder
NRL Laboratories for Computational Physics
and Fluid Dynamics

As the Navys focus on autonomy

and unmanned systems intensifies, NRLs bio-inspired research

NRL FEATURES

Flimmer:

Flimmer team (left to right): Trent Young, Jason Geder, Dan

Edwards, Marius Pruessner (not shown: Ravi Ramamurti).

A Flying Submarine
The Flimmer (Flying Swimmer)
program at the Naval
Research Laboratory (NRL) is
merging two research areas
to provide a novel airborne
delivery method for unmanned
underwater vehicles (UUVs).

Underwater vehicles are limited in

top speed by the drag produced in
water. However, air is approximately
1000 times less dense than water, so
the power required to overcome drag
is substantially reduced in air. By
flying over the surface of the water
rather than swimming long distances
through it, delivery of a UUV to an
operational area can be accomplished much more quickly, and delivery is possible to areas not directly
accessible through continuous water

pathways. The Flimmer program

seeks to investigate the potential of
rapidly flying a submarine over the
oceans surface into position, transitioning from flight to underwater,
and then enabling a swimming mode
once underwater.

Major Design Considerations

In general terms, an aircraft is a

specific outer shape held rigidly in
place with a series of internal structural elements. Weight is the enemy
of an aircraft designer: an increase in
weight requires additional lift to keep
the vehicle aloft. Drag is increased
due to this extra lift, which requires
more power to overcome that drag.
To keep aircraft lightweight, they are
typically manufactured as a thin skin

supported by minimal internal structures with low safety factor margins.

On the other hand, underwater
vehicles are built completely the opposite way. As an underwater vehicle
descends, the pressure applied by
the water column increases rapidly,
requiring the use of a strong pressure
vessel to protect the electronics from
water. These pressure vessels are
typically thick metal pressureresistant shapes with substantial
seals. Inherent to enclosing air volume is an increase in the vehicles
buoyancy, requiring sufficient ballast
weight to bring the overall vehicle to
near neutral buoyancy. Instead of using ballast weight, many UUV designers elect to make the pressure vessel
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NRL FEATURES
heavier than required for the desired
depth pressure.
Combining these two diametrically
opposed vehicles to design a flying
submarine comes down to a balancing act between buoyancy, weight,
and structural elements. For a submarine to fly, the enclosed air volume,
which is the main driver of weight for
a submarine, needs to be reduced as
much as possible. For an aircraft to
land on the water, its structural elements need to be more robust to survive the high impact of splashdown.
The Flimmer program adds a further
complication into the design: flapping
fins are used for underwater propulsion. As learned from NRLs WANDA
UUV (see article on page 2), a fourfinned configuration provides high
maneuverability and good stability
underwater. In air, however, the fins
add weight and are relatively fragile
mechanisms that need to be able to
survive the forces of splashdown.
Bringing all these design elements
together is the central challenge of the
Flimmer program.

Test Sub

The Flimmer program started with just

the combination aircraft and submarine, without the additional complexity
of fins. The Test Sub configuration
was born from combining a traditional
submarine shape with a traditional
aircraft shape. Test Sub uses a fixed
geometry in both air and water, carrying the drag penalty of large surface
area wings in the water, instead of
spending weight and complexity on
a wing folding mechanism. Test Sub
also carries a weight penalty in the
aircraft mode so that it can enter the
water at full flight speed, spending
weight to make the structures survive
this high impact loading.
The Littoral High Bay test pool in
NRLs Laboratory for Autonomous
Systems Research (LASR) was home
to Test Sub during its initial development. Underwater testing focused on
development of the submarine sub-

WINTER 2014

Test Sub maneuvering as a submarine in the Littoral High Bay pool in NRLs
Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research.

systems, to include primarily buoyancy control and kinematic controls.

A custom-built buoyancy control
system uses two inflatable bladders
placed at the front and rear inside the
hull fairing. A control loop pumps air
into the two bladders for a combination of both pitch and heave control
when the vehicle is stationary (in motion, the tail surfaces are used). Air is
scavenged from inside the pressure
vessel to inflate the bladders. While
using air in bladders is a lightweight
solution, it does have the drawback
of being unstable with depth, requiring constant control inputs.

of descending orbits to a splashdown landing in the water. Test Sub

flew as any other aircraft, controllable
in three axes and exhibiting sufficient
stability for man-in-the-loop flight.
Once nearing the water surface, Test
Sub was guided along a standard
approach at an airspeed of approximately 40 knots before splashdown
with wings level. Upon touching the
water surface, the aircraft saw a dramatic increase in drag and decelerated abruptly. After the splash, Test
Sub submerged and started moving
underwater.

The most interesting aspect of running Test Sub in the LASR pool was
that controlling the vehicle in forward
motion underwater was identical to
flying the aircraft. The configuration
of an aircraft shape and traditional
aircraft control surfaces of rudder, elevator, and ailerons functions exactly
the same whether in air or water.
Several test runs showed excellent
controllability and maneuverability of
Test Sub in the water while moving
forward.

With the success of Test Sub, the

Flimmer team applied the lessons
to designing a method for flying
NRLs WANDA vehicle. The Flying
WANDA configuration has four fins
and the addition of a wing, with the
two aft fins mounted on the tips of
the wing. This allows keeping the
same control techniques developed
for the four-finned UUV design, but
provides a lifting surface for carrying
the weight of all the flapping mechanisms.

For flight testing, Test Sub was taken

to a local test range. Three freeflights started with an air-drop of the
vehicle from a mother ship at approximately 1000 feet altitude. Test
Sub was guided manually in a series

Flying WANDA

As the fins are a significant surface

area relative to the wing area, they
have been designed to pull doubleduty. While swimming, the fins act
as flapping propulsors. In flight, the
wingtip-mounted fins are turned up

NRL FEATURES

Test Sub splashdown sequence.

to act as fixed vertical stabilizers

for lateral stability, and the forwardmounted fins act as close-coupled
canards ahead of the wing. With this
dual-use of the fin mechanisms, the
incremental drag penalty for Flying
WANDA is only the addition of the
wing.
Four test flights of this configuration
have confirmed acceptable stability
and control. Half-area forward fins
have been flown and show strong
control power for acting as canards.
Full-area wingtip fins have been
flown in a fixed configuration and
provide sufficient vertical tail surface
for stable lateral modes.
Test flights have also begun exploring the landing mode that will best
protect the fin mechanisms. Flying
WANDA is designed for a traditional
approach and splashdown, with a
planing hull surface to stretch the
deceleration time across a longer
landing maneuver. All four fins are
well protected using this landing
technique, as they are on upper
portions of the vehicle. However, in

moderate to heavy sea states, this

planing landing is not possible without large increases in vehicle size or
autopilot complexity. Therefore, two
nose-down landing styles have been
tested to investigate survivability of
the canards in a load condition consisting primarily in the drag direction.
Since the flapping propulsion mode
already must be stiff in the drag
direction, the fins survivability in the
plunge style landing has been better
than initially expected.
Experimentation with the Flying
WANDA configuration continues.
Future flights will explore the performance envelope using the fins as active control surfaces in the air and will
continue the landing technique work.
A hollow, floodable wing is under
construction so that the swimming
phase of experimentation can begin
in the LASR pool.

incompatible, the Flimmer program is

showing a feasible path can be found
somewhere in the middle. There
are important trade-offs between
enclosed air volume and structural
weight, with a particular emphasis on
surviving a splashdown in water at
flight speeds. However, testing has
already shown that Test Sub cruises
well above 50 knots in the air, while
top speed in the water is below 10
knots, illustrating the ultimate benefit
of a flying submarine: assuring quickreaction access to underwater areas.
By Dan Edwards
NRL Tactical Electronic Warfare Division

The Skys the Limit for this

Submarine

While the diametrically opposed requirements for a flying vehicle versus

a swimming submarine vehicle seem

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NRL FEATURES

Flying WANDA takes flight, moments

after departing the pneumatic launcher.

The Flimmer vehicle is an adaptation of

NRLs WANDA for air-delivery.

Flying WANDA approaches splashdown

in the Potomac River.

WINTER 2014

NRL FEATURES

for

HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION

Scientists from the Naval Research Laboratorys Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence demonstrate advances in
cognitive science, cognitive robotics, and humanrobot interaction with the help of teammate Octavia (center). Left to right: Ed Lawson,
Greg Trafton, Laura Hiatt, Sunny Khemlani, Bill Adams, Priya Narayanan, Frank Tamborello, Tony Harrison, Magda Bugajska.

Our overarching goal is to give

robots a deep understanding
of how people think. There are

three benefits of this to the scientific community. First, by improving

understanding of how people think
and interact with the world, we are
pushing the boundaries of the field
of cognitive science. Second, we can
leverage this knowledge of people to
help robots be better at tasks they
typically are unable to perform well,
such as multimodal communication
and computer vision. Third, this deep
understanding of humans allows
robots to better predict and understand a human partners behavior
and, ultimately, be a better and more
helpful teammate.
To accomplish this, we build process models of fundamental human
cognitive skills perception, memory,
attention, spatial abilities, and theory
of mind and then use those models
as reasoning mechanisms on robots
and autonomous systems. Most of
our work is done using the computa-

10

tional cognitive architecture ACT-R/E.

A cognitive architecture is a processlevel theory about human cognition.
It provides a rich environment for
modeling and validating different
hypotheses about how people think.
ACT-R/E provides a set of computational modules, correlated with different functional regions of the brain,
that work together to explain both
the limitations of human cognition
(i.e., we dont have unlimited working memory) and the strengths (i.e.,
we are good at inferring connections
between concepts and interacting
with the physical world):
Declarative Module: Manages
the creation and storage of factual
knowledge; selects what chunks
(facts or memories) will be thought
about at any given time.
Procedural Module: Manages the
creation and storage of procedural
knowledge, or chunks; selects
what production (if-then rule) will
fire at any given time.

Intentional and Imaginal

Modules: Provide support for goaloriented cognition and intermediate
problem state representations.
Visual and Aural Modules: Enable
the architecture to see and hear
perceptual elements in the models
world.
Configural and Manipulative
Modules: Enable the architecture
to spatially represent perceptual
elements in the models world.
Temporal Module: Allows the
architecture to keep track of time;
acts as a noisy metronome.
Motor and Vocal Modules: Provide functionality for the model to
move and speak with an appropriate time course.
Each module, save the procedural
module, is associated with a limitedcapacity buffer, representing what the
model is thinking about / planning to

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NRL FEATURES
say / looking at / etc. Together, the
contents of these buffers make up
working memory in ACT-R/E. While
each of the modules and buffers is
theoretically motivated and validated
on its own, ACT-R/Es strength lies
in the complex interaction of these
components, shown below.

would allow the memory to become

familiar enough to be remembered.
ACT-R/Es fidelity to the way the
human mind integrates, stores, and
retrieves all this information is what
provides its true predictive and explanatory power. In this case, model-

The ACT-R/E architecture. The complex interaction of ACT-R/Es many

theoretically motivated and validated components provides its true predictive and
explanatory power.

To illustrate, consider an example

of a conference attendee meeting
someone at the conference and then
attempting to remember his or her
name later in the evening. The attendee would need to not only attend
to the new persons face, voice, and
clothing, but also bind those individual concepts to the name of the
individual. The attendee would then
need to rehearse the name several
times so it would not be forgotten.
When the attendee saw the new person a bit later, he or she would need
to take available cues (perhaps only
visual cues like face and clothing)
and attempt to retrieve from memory
the name associated with those
cues. Priming from contextual cues,
like the face, clothing, and the party
itself, would boost the activation of
the memory, and the earlier rehearsal

WINTER 2014

ing the humans experiences at the

conference provides both descriptive information about how a human
could err in this situation (e.g., people
that look similar, or that were met at
similar times or similar parties, may
be easily confused) and predictive
information (e.g., someones name
is unlikely to be remembered after a
long break without further rehearsal
or strong contextual cues).
In this article, we present two different systems in which ACT-R/Es fidelity to human cognition is leveraged
to develop intelligent systems that
can more functionally assist a human
teammate. In the first example, ACTR/Es familiarity and context mechanisms help an autonomous system
better perceive ambiguous or obfuscated objects that a robot might

see in the real-world environments

our warfighters encounter (such as
jungles, deserts). In the second, ACTR/Es goal structure, together with its
familiarity and context mechanisms,
allow an intelligent system to help
humans avoid certain classes of errors, such as those commonly made
in Navy vehicle maintenance procedures.
Computer Vision
Recent work in computer vision,
performed by Hoiem, Efros, and Herbert in 2006, and Oliva and Torralba
in 2007, among others, has shown
that including contextual information
can greatly affect the efficiency of
object recognition in terms of both
the speed and the accuracy of the
processing process. These existing
computer vision approaches, however, typically rely on static, aggregated
statistics of various features in the
scene to provide their context. While
such approaches are promising, this
limitation renders them unable to
perform competitively with human
perception; a richer, more human-like
representation of contextual inference, learned over time, like that in
ACT-R/E, may be the key to their
success.
Context in ACT-R/E takes the form
of associations between related
concepts that are learned over time.
Concepts become associated when
they are thought about at roughly the
same time; the more they are thought
about in proximity to each other, the
stronger their association becomes.
This type of context is rich, in that it
can capture nuanced relationships
between concepts and facts that
are not explicitly linked; this context
is also dynamic, in that it is learned
online and adjusted over time based
on the models experience. Object
recognition algorithms, like LVis, a
biologically plausible object recognition system developed by Randall
OReilly at the University of Colorado
Boulder, can utilize this information to
improve recognition in cases where
using visual features alone is difficult.

11

NRL FEATURES
For example, when looking in the
kitchen, context may suggest related
concepts such as oranges or lemons.
Any ambiguities that might arise from
other similar objects (such as an orange ball) can be quickly resolved by
incorporating contextual information,
resulting in the correct identification.
Our initial experiments using a large
database of objects have shown that
a system that combines context and
LViss object recognition algorithms is
able to increase recognition accuracy
as compared to using LVis without
context (see below). While these
results are simple, they shed light on
the powerful tool that context can be,
and demonstrate how it can be used
to build to autonomous systems that
are better able to support and extend
the Navys capabilities.

Sample objects from the RGB-D

dataset developed by Lai et al. at
the University of Washington. The
objects in the dataset are relatively
low resolution, similar to what a
robot would see as it moves around
the world. Here, a battery (left) and
dry eraser (right) can potentially
have very similar visual outlines and
contours, but are typically found in
different situations; context can help
differentiate between these two object
classes.

Error Prediction
With the rapid rise of communication technologies that keep people
accessible at all times, issues of
interruptions and multitasking have
become mainstream concerns. For
example, the New York Times in 2005
and Time magazine in 2006 both
reported stories about interruptions
and multitasking, and how they affect
performance by increasing human error. In 2005, the information technology research firm Basex estimated
the economic impact of interruptions
to be around $588 billion a year
due to losses from increased task

12

One of our robots, Octavia, correctly recognizes an orange ball when it is in context.
Octavia is a humanoid robot we use to investigate how to build intelligent systems
that can serve as better teammates to their human partners.

completion time or errors. Given the

prevalence of interruptions, building systems that can help remind an
individual what they were doing or
where they were in a task can have a
large impact on individual and group
productivity.
We built an ACT-R/E model that
emulates the process people go
through as they get interrupted
during a procedural task and then

have to resume it. As ACT-R/E progresses through a task, it maintains a

representation of where it is currently
engaged in the task. For familiar
tasks, this representation always associates, via context, an action to the
next action to be performed. When a
task is interrupted, the model loses
track of its goal and, upon resumption of the task, must remember what
it was working on. Sometimes, contextual cues associate to future steps
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NRL FEATURES
beyond the next correct one, and
the system skips a step. Alternately,
sometimes the familiarity of past actions surpasses the familiarity of the
current action, and ACT-R/E remembers an action prior to the last one it
completed, and repeats a step.
Using ACT-R/E in this way, we can
explain (and thus can better predict)
how, when interrupted, people tend
to skip or repeat steps, even in a
familiar task, based on the tasks
context and strengthening. This accomplishment will help us develop
intelligent systems that can mitigate
human error risks in dangerous
procedures, with both monetary and
functional benefits.
Conclusion
Our approach to intelligent systems
is multidimensional. First, in the
cognitive science tradition, we attain
a deep understanding of how people
think: our ACT-R/E models faithfully
capture peoples behavior as they
perceive, think about, and act on the
world around them. Second, we use
this understanding to make intelligent
systems better by taking advantage
of peoples strengths. Finally, the
models help to reveal limitations and
potential failings of human cognition, which our intelligent systems
can then take steps to correct.
Overall, our efforts to attain a deep
understanding of human cognitive
strengths and limitations allow us
to build more functional intelligent
systems that are better able to serve
their human teammates.
By Laura M. Hiatt, Frank P. Tamborello, II,
Wallace E. Lawson, and J. Gregory Trafton
Navy Center for Applied Research in
Artificial Intelligence

N av y Ce n t e r fo r
A p p l i e d R es e a r c h i n
A rt i f i c i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e

Navy Center for Applied Research

in Artificial Intelligence (NCARAI) has
The

been involved in basic and applied research in

artificial intelligence, human factors, and humancentered computing since its inception in 1981. It
is part of the Information Technology Division of
the Naval Research Laboratory and is directed by
Alan Schultz, who is also director of the Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research.
The Adaptive Systems group conducts research
focused on techniques that allow systems to change
their level of autonomy on the fly, adapt to changes in
their environment and in their own capabilities, learn new
behaviors through interaction with the world, and interact
more naturally with humans.
The Intelligent Systems group performs research in
cognitive science, cognitive robotics and human-robot
interaction, predicting and preventing procedural errors,
the cognition of complex visualizations, interruptions and
resumptions, and spatial cognition, to enable intelligent
systems that can work more effectively with people.
The Interactive Systems group develops and enhances
computer interfaces for autonomous and intelligent
systems, spanning human-computer and human-robot
interactions. Research includes linguistic, auditory, and
phonological analyses to link natural language to modes
of human-machine interaction.
The Perceptual Systems group examines issues related
to sensors required to support autonomous platform navigation, scene interpretation, and teamwork. Techniques
include passive monocular vision, and passive and active
stereo and triocular ranging methods, along with algorithms to rapidly interpret the scene.

http://www.nrl.navy.mil/itd/aic/

WINTER 2014

13

NRL FEATURES

NRL Autonomy Lab Hosts

Shipboard Fire Robotics Consortium

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Laboratory for
Autonomous Systems Research
(LASR), a partner in the Navys
Damage Control for the 21st
Century project (DC-21), recently hosted robotics research
teams from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University (Virginia Tech) and
the University of Pennsylvania
(Penn) to demonstrate the
most current developments
of advanced autonomous
systems to assist in discovery,
control, and damage control
of incipient fires.
Fighting fires can at times prove challenging to even the most seasoned
firefighting veteran a firefighter must
deal with extreme unpredictability, high
temperatures, and rapid decline of
environmental and structural integri-

14

ties. Add to this scenario a cloistered

platform, say many levels down inside
a seagoing ship, and the challenge is
exponentially increased, resulting in
extreme risks to human life. Despite
these risks, a shipboard fire must be
contained and extinguished for the
safety of the crew and continued mission readiness of the ship.
To mitigate these risks, NRL researchers at LASR and NRLs Navy Center
for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence (NCARAI), under direction and
funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), are working with university researchers to develop advanced
firefighting technologies for shipboard
fires using humanoid robots, an effort
led by the NRL Chemistry Division.
As part of the Navys leap ahead
initiative, this research focuses on the
integration of spatial orientation and
the shipboard mobility capabilities
of future shipboard robots, said Dr.

Thomas McKenna, managing program

officer of ONRs Computational Neuroscience and Biorobotics programs. The
goal of this research is to develop the
mutual interaction between a humanoid
robotic firefighter and the rest of the
firefighting team.
This highly specialized research, to promote advanced firefighting techniques,
includes development of a novel robotic
platform and fire-hardened materials
(Virginia Tech), algorithms for perception and navigation autonomy (Penn),
humanrobot interaction technology,
and computational cognitive models
that will allow the robotic firefighter to
work shoulder-to-shoulder and interact
naturally with naval firefighters (NCARAI).
These advancements complement
highly specialized NRL research that
focuses specifically on the humanrobot
interaction technology and shipboardbased spatial interrogation technology,
said Alan C. Schultz, director of LASR
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NRL FEATURES
and the NCARAI. Developments
made from this research will allow a
Navy firefighter to interact peer-to-peer,
shoulder-to-shoulder with a humanoid
robotic firefighter.
The NRL LASR, where the artificial
intelligence portion of the research is
performed, hosted the consortium of
university researchers to demonstrate
their most current developments.
The LASR facility allows the researchers from Virginia Tech and Penn to
demonstrate, in a controlled environment, progress in the critical steps
necessary for shipboard fire suppression using variants of their Shipboard
Autonomous Firefighting Robot,
or SAFFiR. In 2013, humanrobot
interaction technology and cognitive
models developed by NRL were also
demonstrated at the laboratory.
The LASR facility, with its unique
simulated multi-environments and
state-of-the-art labs allows us to test
out our ideas before we go to the
field, Schultz said. In essence, our
facility gives us a cost-saving method
for testing concepts and ideas before
we go to the expense of field trials.
While at LASR, the researchers demonstrated the complex motion, agility,
and walking algorithms of the robots
over natural and manmade terrain and
simulated shipboard sea state (pitch
and roll) conditions. Also demonstrated
were seek-and-find algorithms for
locating a fire emergency, in this case
an open flame, and the use of artificial
muscle for the lifting and activation
of fire suppression equipment, such
as opening a water valve, lifting and
walking with a fire hose, and activating
a nozzle.
SAFFiR is being designed to move
autonomously throughout a ship to
learn ship layout, interact with people,
patrol for structural anomalies, and
handle many of the dangerous firefighting tasks that are normally performed
by humans, McKenna said. The robot
is designed with enhanced multimodal
WINTER 2014

SAFFiR the Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot.

15

NRL FEATURES

Researchers demonstrated the complex

motion, agility, and walking algorithms of the
robots over natural and manmade terrain
and simulated shipboard sea state (pitch
and roll) conditions. Also demonstrated were
seek-and-find algorithms for locating a fire
emergency, in this case an open flame, and
the use of artificial muscle for the lifting and
activation of fire suppression equipment, such
as opening a water valve, lifting and walking
with a fire hose, and activating a nozzle.
16

SPECTRA

NRL FEATURES

Todays display demonstrates the integration of

perception through multiple sensors, and of locomotion through biped walking, said Dr. Daniel
Lee, director of the General Robotics Automation, Sensing, Perception Lab and professor at
the University of Pennsylvania. Tasks as humans
we take for granted, such as standing and
remaining upright, become increasingly complex
with the addition of full body mobility required for
walking and lifting. Dr. Brian Lattimer, associate
professor at Virginia Techs Department of Mechanical Engineering, additionally commented
that what we are now seeing is the result of a
multidisciplinary project combined to perform all
the critical tasks necessary for fire suppression
by a humanoid robot.
In dark or smoke-occluded and noisy environments found in shipboard firefighting conditions,
tactile feedback touch is an important form
of communication between human firefighters,
said John Farley, project officer of the fire test
ship ex-USS Shadwell, NRL Chemistry Division.
Moving forward, the team will integrate NRLs
humanrobot interaction technology with the
SAFFiR platform so that there is a greater focus
on natural interaction with naval firefighters.

SAFFiR is being designed to move autonomously

throughout a ship to learn ship layout, interact with
people, patrol for structural anomalies, and handle
many of the dangerous firefighting tasks that are
normally performed by humans.

In the short term, however, to protect

robotic mechanisms and electronics from
intense heat, researchers in the Advanced
Materials Section of the NRL Chemistry Division
have developed a class of lightweight, hightemperature polyetheretherketone (PEEK)-like
phthalonitrile resin that can be molded to any
shape and remain strong at temperatures up to
500 degrees Celsius. The robotic teams are expecting to soon conduct shipboard trials aboard
Shadwell, the Navys only full-scale fire test ship,
moored in Mobile, Alabama.

SAFFiR

sensor technology for advanced navigation and

a sensor suite that includes a camera, gas sensor, and stereo infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV)
cameras to enable it to see through smoke and
detect sources of excess heat. SAFFiR is also
capable of walking in all directions, balancing in
sea state conditions, and traversing obstacles
such as knee-knocker bulkhead openings.

By Daniel Parry
NRL Public Affairs Office

SAFFiR taking a break after a hard day at work.

WINTER 2014

17

NRL Technology Assists FDNY

David DeRieux (right) of the Naval Research Laborato

RFID tracking system grew out of the realization during the events of 9/11 that first responders did not have

FDNY vehicles and helps to answer, Who exactly is on scene? Where are they? Are they safe? NRL received
saving work. See details on page 35. (Photo, left to right: George Arthur, Dan Orbach, and David DeRieux.)

ory invented a system for Fire Department New York (FDNY) to automatically track firefighters. NRLs activea reliable method to account for all members responding to an incident. The system is now in use on 15

d a 2014 Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for this potentially life-

NRL FEATURES

Fuel Cell
A benthic microbial fuel cell
(BMFC) is an oceanographic
power supply that can generate power indefinitely. The

BMFC sits at the sediment/water

(benthic) interface of marine environments, where it generates electrical
power using organic matter naturally
residing in marine sediments as its
fuel, and oxygen in overlying water
as its oxidant. At the Naval Research
Laboratory (NRL), we are developing
BMFCs to power persistent, in-water
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities presently limited in operational lifetime by battery
depletion.
Thousands of battery-powered sensors are deployed each year that
provide valuable scientific information about marine environments. The

20

prospect of using BMFCs to power

these sensors indefinitely, or at least
far longer than possible with batteries,
is enticing we can acquire long-term
uninterrupted data and significantly
reduce the cost and logistics burden
of keeping sensors running. A BMFC
is maintenance free and nondepleting: the organic matter and oxygen
are constantly replenished by naturally occurring diffusion and advection; the electrode catalysts consist
of self-forming biofilms comprised of
microorganisms naturally inhabiting
the benthic interface; and there are
no moving, degradable, or depletable
components.
NRL has been a leader in developing
the BMFC and optimizing it for Navy
operational use. We have conducted
laboratory and field research to study
the microbial activity underlying

power generation: to determine the

effects of different oceanographic
and biogeochemical parameters, to
pair prototype BMFCs with sensors,
and to develop easily deployable
configurations. We have successfully
powered many useful devices with
small-scale BMFCs (less than 0.1
watt continuous output), and have
just begun development of full-scale
BMFCs (greater than 1 watt continuous output).
Early Laboratory Experiments
The bottom sediment of many
marine environments is reductant
enriched, due to metabolic activity
of sediment-dwelling microorganisms, whereas the overlying water
is oxidant enriched due to supply of
oxygen from the atmosphere. This
transition is referred to as the benthic
redox gradient. As a result of this

SPECTRA

NRL FEATURES

The combined power from six small-scale BMFCs was used to persistently operate a
meteorological buoy (center) in the Potomac River. The buoy measured local weather
conditions and transmitted data every five minutes to a land-based receiver.

gradient, when an inert electrode is

stepwise inserted into such sediments from overlying water, its open
circuit potential shifts by as much as
0.8 volts.
Taking advantage of this natural voltage gradient at the sediment/water
interface, my colleagues and I set
out to create a battery for powering
oceanographic sensors by embedding one electrode into reductantenriched marine sediment, where it
would act as an anode, and placing the other in oxidant-enriched
overlying water, where it would act
as a cathode. Our first experiments
involved a benchtop shoeboxsized aquarium containing marine
sediment, seawater, and a platinum
anode and platinum cathode, which
generated miniscule current across a
resistive load. The notion at the time
was that the anode was oxidizing
microbial-generated reductants in the
sediment (such as sulfide), and the
cathode was reducing oxygen in the
overlying water. Since the net reaction is thermodynamically favorable
(electron transfer from a reductant
to an oxidant, just like in a battery or
fuel cell), it was reasonable to expect that power could be expended
across a resistive load connecting
the electrodes as long as oxygen was

WINTER 2014

replenished at the cathode, and mass

transport (assumed to be diffusion)
supplied the anode reactants and
removed the anode products. A most
interesting result was that current
increased over time to a steady-state
level. In most electrochemical experiments, current decreases over time
due to depletion of the reactant and/
or diminished catalytic activity of the
electrode. I remember being dumbfounded watching the current rise.
We immediately followed with another
benchtop experiment using graphite
electrodes for the anode and cathode,
resulting in a significantly higher current density. After the system generated power for some time across a
resistor, we removed the anode from
the sediment and examined it to find
a biofilm adhering to its surface a
coating comprised of a community of
microorganisms from the sediment. A
genetics-based analysis of the biofilm
indicated that it was enriched in a
specific class of microorganisms, Deltaproteobacteria. The microorganism
available in pure culture most similar
to the microorganism enriched on the
BMFC anode was Desulfuromonas
acetoxidans, a dissimilatory metalreducing bacteria (DMRB) found in
marine sediment that couples oxidation of sedimentary acetate with

reduction of insoluble iron oxide

mineral deposits. Such microorganisms are fascinating (especially to
an electrochemist like me) for their
ability to transport respired electrons from inside the cell to insoluble
oxidants residing outside the cell
(referred to as extracellular electron
transport), acquiring a small amount
of energy for themselves in the process. It is thought that D. acetoxidans
in a BMFC anode biofilm oxidizes
organic matter in marine sediment
and transports the acquired electrons
to the underlying anode as if it were a
mineral deposit, effectively catalyzing
the anode reaction.
Early Field Deployments
In one of our first field experiments,
at the Rutgers University Marine Field
Station in the Great Bay, New Jersey in 2002, a BMFC with graphite
electrodes generated power continuously for nine months without indication of depletion in power before the
experiment was terminated. This and
subsequent longer-term field and
laboratory experiments revealed an
important attribute of microbial anode catalysts: as living entities metabolically benefiting from the reaction
they catalyze, they self-maintain
themselves and do not degrade over
time as long as their environment

21

NRL FEATURES
is hospitable. In this way, they can
maintain catalytic activity indefinitely.
Analysis of the anode biofilm of the
New Jersey BMFC indicated enrichment not only of D. acetoxidans, but
also of microorganisms in the Desulfobulbus or Desulfocapsa genera that
oxidize and disproportionate sulfur.
In sulfide-enriched sediment such as
the New Jersey site, a graphite anode can develop a passivating sulfur
precipitate on its surface that can
shut down current. It is thought that
these microorganisms act to clear the
sulfur from the anode surface, forming sulfate and sulfite, both soluble.
The next BMFC field experiments
were performed in 2003, at 1000
meters depth in the Monterey Canyon off the coast of California on a
cold seep, a fissure on the seafloor
effusing organic-rich water. We had
hypothesized that the high mass
transport rate of organic matter
would benefit BMFC power generation and we were correct. This
BMFC, equipped with a spear-like
graphite anode inserted vertically
into the seep, generated significantly
more power per unit footprint area
and geometric surface area of the
anode compared to our earlier experiments. This was exciting because
it demonstrated that placement of a
BMFC in an area with a high rate of
organic matter mass transport, such
as a subliming methane hydrate outcrop, could result in very high power
output, which could be of great use
to the Navy.
We next deployed a BMFC in 2004 in
the Potomac River off the NRL pier.
Here, the BMFC consisted of graphite electrode slabs attached with zip
ties to the top and bottom of milk
crate spacers that were positioned
on the river bottom with one electrode in the mud and the other in the
overlying water. An attached buoy
floating on the water surface measured air temperature, pressure, relative humidity, and water temperature,
and transmitted this data to my office
every five minutes. The entire buoy
including the radio transmitter was

22

powered by the BMFC. This required

a novel solution to convert the low
DC voltage output of the BMFC from
0.35 volts (dictated by the benthic
redox gradient) to 6 volts to charge a
capacitor, which in turn was used to
power the buoy. The capacitor was
needed to buffer the low but steady
power output of the BMFC with the
duty cycle of the buoy, whereby
nearly 99% of energy consumption by
the buoy occurred during the fraction
of a second during which the data
was transmitted. Between transmissions, the BMFC recharged the
capacitor. This was the first time that
a BMFC was used as a free-standing
power supply. The buoy ran flawlessly
for seven months. The river froze that
winter, trapping the buoy in ice, but
it kept running until the ice thawed
enough that large pieces began to
flow down river, dragging the buoy
and severing the mooring line connecting it with the BMFC. I got a call
from the Coast Guard who found the
buoy resting against a pier of the Wilson Bridge. (Lesson: always put your
phone number on any oceanographic
instrument you want back.)
A Practical Power Supply
Since 2004, a number of researchers
have been working to develop BMFCs into practical power supplies that
are straightforward to deploy. I am
fortunate to pursue this concept with
my NRL colleagues Dr. Jeff Book, Mr.
Andy Quaid, and Mr. Justin Brodersen, oceanographers; Dr. Yoko Furukawa, marine geochemist; and Dr. Jeff
Erickson and Mr. Marius Pruessner,
engineers; with funding from the Office of Naval Research and NRL. We
have deployed small-scale BMFCs in
coastal locations including California,
Gulf of Mexico, Maine, New Jersey,
North Carolina, and the Adriatic Sea.
These BMFCs have operated over
durations ranging from less than six
months to more than two years without indication of depletion in power
output. They have powered a hydrophone with a radio transceiver link, an
acoustic modem, and a surveillance
camera with a cellular link.

We are working to optimize the BMFC

design to maximize power output
while making anode embedment a
simple and reliable procedure. Maximizing power involves anode designs
that expose as much mass-transportaccessible surface area to sediment
as possible within mass and volume
constraints of the intended deployment platform, all while being easy
to properly embed into sediment. We
have been making steady progress,
hampered at times by the vagaries of
field research: in 2012, all our measurement equipment and 26 BMFCs
deployed at a New Jersey site were
lost when directly hit by Hurricane
Sandy.
In 2013, we began development of
full-scale BMFCs in NRLs newly
opened Laboratory for Autonomous
Systems Research (LASR), where we
have assembled a six-meter-diameter,
8000-gallon benthic mesocosm,
essentially a large indoor aquarium
filled with sediment and seawater to
replicate the benthic interface. This facility enables full-scale BMFC testing
in a controlled environment, greatly
reducing the cost and risk of BMFC
design development compared to field
testing. We have already made seven
deployments of a two-meter-diameter,
900-kilogram oceanographic mooring
equipped with various BMFCs to test
new designs. The LASR mesocosm is
greatly compressing the BMFC development horizon and I feel we are on
track to transition the BMFC in 2015.

By Leonard Tender
NRL Center for Bio/Molecular Science and
Engineering

SPECTRA

NRL FEATURES

BMFC graphite bottlebrush cathodes.

Dr. Leonard Tender (above, and with Marius

Pruessner at right) working in the benthic
mesocosm in the Laboratory for Autonomous
Systems Research. The mesocosm contains 18
inches of seawater and 24 inches of synthetic
marine sediment that has been inoculated with
real marine sediment to provide necessary
microbial activity. On the water surface are BMFC
graphite bottlebrush cathodes; when deployed in
the field, these cathodes are beneath the water
surface but above the sediment surface. The
vertical tubes indicate the locations of BMFC
anodes embedded in the sediment.
WINTER 2014

The benthic mesocosm in the Laboratory for

Autonomous Systems Research.

23

3-D Printing in
NRL FEATURES

Hydrogen Fuel Cells

for Unmanned Systems

The NRL crew after the successful flight of a 3-D printed fuel cell aboard the Ion Tiger UAV. Left to right: Dan Edwards,
Drew Rodgers, Ben Gould, Steve Carruthers, Mike Schuette, and Karen Swider-Lyons. Not shown: Chris Bovais.

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has been leading

the development of lightweight
hydrogen fuel cell systems for
long-endurance unmanned air
vehicles (UAVs), starting with
the modest 3-hour flight of the
Spider Lion in 2004, followed
by the 24-hour flight of the Ion
Tiger in 2009, the 48-hour flight
of the Ion Tiger in 2013, and the
deployment of the XFC tactical
UAV from the torpedo tube of a
submarine in 2013. NRL also assisted in a demonstration flight
of Insitus ScanEagle vehicle on
a hydrogen fuel cell in 2010.

24

In a recent project, an NRL team

leveraged 3-D printing and other
prototyping tools in NRLs Laboratory
for Autonomous Systems Research
(LASR) for developing and integrating their next generation of hydrogen
fuel cells into unmanned systems.
Additive manufacturing processes
such as 3-D printing promise rapid
prototyping of new designs so they
can be tested and verified without the
expense of traditional manufacturing.
The team used new tools in the LASR,
plus commercial tools, to investigate
how 3-D printing can be used toward
improving fuel cells for unmanned
systems.
The motivation for NRLs research into
hydrogen fuel cells is clear. Fuel cells
directly convert the energy in hydrogen to electricity by electrochemically
combining with the oxygen in air.

The only byproducts are water and

low-grade heat, and no combustion
occurs. The electrochemical reactions
are efficient, resulting in systems that
are over 50% efficient and operate at
low temperatures (near 80 degrees
Celcius). Combined with the high
energy of hydrogen, the result is an
electric power source that is lightweight and has high energy per unit
weight. For the Ion Tiger system, this
meant a sevenfold increase in endurance over battery propulsion when
gaseous hydrogen was used for the
24-hour flight. Hydrogen fuel cell systems also respond rapidly to changes
in throttle, and are easily turned off
and on. The fast response time and
high energy density are two reasons
major automobile manufacturers such
as General Motors, Toyota, Honda,
and Daimler have invested cumulatively $10 billion to $12 billion in hy-

SPECTRA

NRL FEATURES

Schematic of a hydrogen fuel cell. Pressurized hydrogen (H2) is

distributed through flow fields in the bipolar plate to the anode
catalyst where it is converted to protons (H+) and electrons. The
electrons pass from the anode bipolar plate to the cathode bipolar
plate, while the protons travel through the polymer electrolyte
(perfluorosulfonic acid) to the cathode. At the cathode, the protons
and electrons combine with oxygen from air to form water and heat.

drogen fuel cells for next-generation

automobiles.
Despite integration into many successful vehicles, hydrogen fuel cells
are still too costly for commercial
use, coming in about 5 to 10 times
more expensive than a battery system. Platinum electrocatalysts were
once a significant cost factor, but
efforts by the automotive industry
have cut the precious metal content
of fuel cell systems drastically. The
bigger cost now is in the balance of
plant used to operate the fuel cell:
this includes air blowers to push air
through the system, a humidifier to
keep the fuel cell at the right humidity, hydrogen recirculation systems
to make sure 99% of the hydrogen
fuel is used, and power electronics to
convert the voltage of the fuel cell to
one usable by the air blower, autopilot, and payloads. Another major cost
driver is the bipolar plates that are
used as the backbone of the fuel cell
to physically hold together catalyst
layers and to provide channels for air,
fuel, and coolant flow, and electric
pathways for the power produced by
the system. These plates are where
NRL focused much of its most recent
research.
The bipolar plates hold a lot of the
science and engineering of the fuel
WINTER 2014

cells. The air, fuel, and coolant flow

fields are typically created through
iterations of design, computational
fluid design (CFD) modeling, fabrication, and testing. Traditionally, bipolar
plates have been made of carbon, but
these are being replaced in favor of
metal bipolar plates made of stamped
foils that are coated for corrosionproofing against the acidic environment in the fuel cell and then welded
together. Looking at the complexity
of developing new metal plate designs for NRLs UAV systems, senior
mechanical engineer Mike Schuette

Concept drawing for a bipolar plate,

showing air, coolant, and fuel channels.

said, Stamping of metal foils is a

proven industrial practice, but I was
concerned about how long it would
take to design the fuel cell flow fields,
develop custom tools to stamp the

plates, and develop the welding processes. So I thought this was a great
opportunity to try 3-D printing of metal
plates so we could quickly try out several designs without having to commit
to any tooling or welding.
First, the NRL team came up with
several flow field designs. To check
their viability, the team used the 3-D
printing tools in the LASR to build up
prototype plastic flow fields for flow
visualization. In parallel, physicist Dr.
Ravi Ramamurti carried out CFD predictions of the gas and coolant flows
and heat rejection. A successful plate
design was achieved through several
rounds of design, building, testing,
and model verification.
The challenge now was to make a
hollow metal bipolar plate with external channels for air and fuel and an
internal channel for coolant in a single
three-dimensional structure that was
also thin enough to meet the stringent
low-weight requirements for flight. The
team investigated different 3-D metal
printing processes and found that direct metal laser sintering, DMLS, had
the most potential for fabrication of
this kind of geometry. NRL successfully worked with the DMLS company
3T RPD Ltd. (UK) to make thin titanium bipolar plates from NRL designs.

25

NRL FEATURES

Details of the hollow titanium bipolar plates made by the 3-D printing process of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS).

The bipolar plates assembled into a gas-tight stack.

The next challenge was to compress

several bipolar plates together in a
fuel cell stack with no leaks. The
no-leak part is really tough, says
mechanical engineer (Joseph) Drew
Rodgers. You have to put all the
catalyst layers together with the gas
diffusion media, and properly align
the gaskets so that none of the gas
channels are blocked, and then compress them together in a gas-tight
block. A consultant to the team,
Doug Wheeler (who had worked at
International Fuel Cells on fuel cells
for the space shuttle), pointed us to

26

high-performance softgood materials, including gasket materials and

commercial catalyst membranes,
which we precision-cut with NRLs
laser cutting tools.
Once the full stack was together,
chemical engineer Dr. Benjamin
Gould found that it was much more
electrically resistive than he had
expected. We looked through the
literature and found that the finish
on the bipolar plates strongly affects
the plate-to-plate conductivity. Ben
then worked with Morris Technolo-

gies (Cincinnati, OH) to develop the

appropriate surface roughness for
the plates, and aeronautical engineer
Chris Netwall joined the team to work
on processes to compress the plates
and softgoods together effectively
to eliminate as much resistance as
possible. Additionally, NRL worked
with TreadStone Technologies Inc.
(Princeton, NJ) to apply a coating
of titanium oxide impregnated with
nanoscale dots of gold to provide
a highly conductive, robust coating to the titanium bipolar plates.
With these improvements, the team

SPECTRA

NRL FEATURES
put together 41 bipolar plates for a
working stack. With help from the
University of Hawaii, quality assurance
processes were developed to confirm
the fuel cell performance.
Putting the plates together in a stack
exposed a critical problem with the
3-D metal printing process: warping. In DMLS, titanium particles are
sintered into place with a laser, and
then the whole body is sintered. Classic metallurgy teaches that residual
strains in the metal-to-metal contact
points lead to deformations as the
material undergoes strain relief. The
first set of metal bipolar plates had
dimensions of 4 centimeters (cm) by
8 cm and could be pressed together
effectively with other plates to make
good contact; however, an attempt to
make larger 8 cm by 12 cm plates was
unsuccessful, as they all came in from
the manufacturer warped by several
thousandths of an inch. NRL is still
investigating how to eliminate warps
so that the plates have an adequate
flatness tolerance. Developing accurate tolerancing is likely to be a key
aspect of future research in metal 3-D
printing.

With the stack ready, we built some

new balance of plant and electronic
control components, and soon a
complete fuel cell system was running
on the bench in the LASR Power and
Energy Lab, ready to be packaged
into NRLs Ion Tiger test vehicle.

CFD results, so now we are ready to

commit to the more time-intensive
process of developing tooling and
welding for stamped titanium-foil bipolar plates, says Ben. NRL has used
this experience to publish and share
new information on designing bipolar
plates and stacks, decreasing contact resistance in fuel cell stacks, and
using CFD to design effective coolant
flow fields. The resulting computational tools will allow NRL to rapidly
develop future fuel cell systems in the
100 to 5000 watt range for air, undersea, and ground vehicles.

The fuel cell system appeared ready

to go from bench testing, but flight
tests are the true graduation exercise
for UAV technology. After an unusually snowy winter, the team jumped
at the chance to fly the new system
on a warm day in mid-March. The
team rolled into the flight range at
Blossom Point, Maryland, we started
up the fuel cell, Chris Bovais loaded
the Ion Tiger onto the winch and
off it went. Pilot Steve Carruthers let
the vehicle climb above the tree line
and then flew some laps. A thumbsup from Dan Edwards on the ground
station controller. Everything worked.
NRL had successfully built a fuel cell
using 3-D metal printing.
The team showed that 3-D printing
was definitely the right way to go
toward prototyping a fuel cell concept.
The 3-D printing helped us sort out
the flow field designs and verify Ravis

Michele Anderson, the NRL teams

program manager from the Office of
Naval Research, summarized the value of the effort: 3-D printing met its
promise as an R&D tool to make and
test complex assemblies for research
prototypes without the investment of
costly tooling. Clearly it is an important research tool for the Navy for rapidly demonstrating new energy system
prototype technology, and identifying
optimal designs prior to investment in
more expensive manufacturing methods. With additional research and
development, 3-D printing combined
with advanced computer design tools
will help to accelerate the demonstration and fielding of new Department of
Defense capabilities. As NRLs LASR
facility expands its 3-D printing tools,
it will continue to be the home for
rapid prototype development at NRL.
By Karen Swider-Lyons
NRL Chemistry Division

Mike Schuette, Ben Gould, Drew Rodgers, and

Karen Swider-Lyons display a hydrogen fuel
cell stack made with 3-D printed bipolar plates
(right), a microcontroller (left), and the nose of
the Ion Tiger UAV (center) which houses the
fuel cell system during flight.

WINTER 2014

27

TO N

OMOUS

SY

TE

LA

RESEARCH

BORATORY

MS

C.

LABORATORY FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS RESEARCH

AU

More LASR Projects

FO

NRL FEATURES

AS

HIN G TO N, D.

Damage Control for the 21st Century (DC-21)

The DC-21 project is developing advanced technologies
for shipboard damage control. The project includes the
development of advanced autonomous systems to assist in
discovery, control, and damage control of incipient fires. Our
focus is on the humanrobot interaction technology that will
allow a Navy firefighter to interact peer-to-peer, shoulder-toshoulder with a humanoid robotic firefighter. Computational
cognitive models are used to create reasoning mechanisms for
the robot based on required human cognitive skills. In addition,
the project investigates perception, including aural, gesture,
and touch, and how context helps to disambiguate perceptions.
Humanrobot interaction is achieved through robust parsing of
human speech, integrated with human gesture and touch, all of
which are important in firefighting teams.

Mobile Autonomous Navy Teams for Information Surveillance and Search

28

The MANTISS program is adapting techniques inspired

by nature to enable advanced information gathering by
multi-agent autonomous teams. Under the Office of Naval
Research Science of Autonomy (SoA) program, numerous
biologically inspired techniques have been developed
for controlling teams or swarms of autonomous vehicles.
These include foraging algorithms based on how animal
herds gather food, flocking behaviors observed in birds,
schooling behaviors observed in fish, and artificial physics
(physicomimetics) based on how particles interact in
various states of matter. We adapt these techniques to
gather information (rather than food, for example), and
use them to perform area coverage tasks such as search,
reconnaissance, and surveillance.

SPECTRA

Adaptive Testing of Autonomous Systems

In this simulation, a UUV is

performing its mission correctly.

This project is developing technologies for advanced

test and evaluation of the control software for
intelligent autonomous systems. Machine learning
techniques in the form of evolutionary algorithms and
reinforcement learning are applied to learn the minimal
number of faults that cause minimal or failed behavior
of an autonomous system that is under the control
of autonomy software the autonomy software is
the system under test. The method uses high-fidelity
simulations of the vehicle and the environment, and
tests are performed in that simulation to test the
robustness of the autonomous controller under various
unanticipated conditions.

NRL FEATURES

In this simulation, the vehicle

controller has failed to deal with a
limited number of faults introduced
by the adaptive testing.

Characterization of Lithium-ion Batteries

One suspect in the failure of lithium-ion batteries is the formation of
metallic lithium dendrites that can puncture the cells separator and
form a short circuit between the cathode and anode. NRL research
using in situ optical microscopy has identified temperaturedependent morphologies of metallic lithium dendrites: at 23 C,
spherical Li electrodeposits agglomerate to form a loosely packed
structure, while at 5 C, the Li extrudes into a continuous wire
ball structure. We are examining the link between temperature,
morphology, instability, and susceptibility to failure, with
implications for improving lithium-ion battery safety.

Robotic Touch Sensing, Manipulation, and Fault Detection

The Robotic Touch Sensing project is developing an artificial sensate
skin for robots, to extend the perceptual capabilities of robotic
manipulators to include touch. The sensate skin uses an embedded
array of piezoresistive sensors and an algorithm that analyzes the
responses of the sensors affected by each environmental contact/
impact, to detect and classify contacts (location and magnitude).
The detection algorithm uses K-means clustering, rules for contact
disambiguation, and 3-D trigonometric calculations.

For more research highlights, see www.nrl.navy.mil/lasr/highlights.

WINTER 2014

29

NRL NEWS BRIEFS

NAVY LAUNCHES UAV FROM

SUBMERGED SUBMARINE
By Daniel Parry, NRL Public Affairs Office

he U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) with funding from

SwampWorks at the Office of
Naval Research (ONR) and the Department of Defense Rapid Reaction
Technology Office demonstrated the
launch of an all-electric, fuel-cellpowered, unmanned aerial system
(UAS) from a submerged submarine.
From concept to fleet demonstration,
this idea took less than six years to
produce results at significant cost
savings when compared to traditional
programs often taking decades to
produce results.

Once deployed from the TLC, the Sea

Robin launch vehicle with integrated
XFC rose to the ocean surface where
it appeared as a spar buoy. Upon
command of Providence Commanding Officer, the XFC then vertically
launched from Sea Robin and flew
a successful several hour mission
demonstrating live video capabilities
streamed back to Providence, surface
support vessels, and Norfolk before
landing at the Naval Sea Systems
Command Atlantic Undersea Test and
Evaluation Center (AUTEC), Andros,
Bahamas.

Developing disruptive technologies and quickly getting them into

the hands of our sailors is what our
SwampWorks program is all about,
said Craig A. Hughes, Acting Director
of Innovation at ONR. This demonstration really underpins ONRs dedication and ability to address emerging
fleet priorities.

XFC UAS launch in time-lapsed

photography. Deployed from
the submerged submarine USS
Providence, the XFC vertically
launched from a Sea Robin
launch vehicle (bottom right).
The folding wing UAS autonomously deploys its X-wing airfoil
and after achieving a marginal
altitude, assumes horizontal
flight configuration.
(Photo: NAVSEA-AUTEC)

The successful submerged launch

of a remotely deployed UAS offers a
pathway to providing mission-critical
intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities to the
U.S. Navys submarine force.
Operating under support of the
Los Angeles class submarine USS
Providence (SSN 719) and the Naval
Undersea Warfare CenterNewport
Division (NUWC-NPT), the NRLdeveloped XFC (eXperimental Fuel
Cell) UAS was fired from the submarines torpedo tube using a Sea Robin
launch vehicle system. The Sea Robin
launch system was designed to fit
within an empty Tomahawk launch
canister (TLC) used for launching
Tomahawk cruise missiles already
familiar to submarine sailors.

30

The NRL Chemistry and Tactical

Electronic Warfare Divisions team
includes the design-builder of the Sea
Robin, Oceaneering International Inc.
(Hanover, MD); the fuel cell developer
Protonex Technology Corp. (Southborough, MA); and NUWC-NPTs
Autonomous and Defensive Systems
Department for Temporary Alteration
(TEMPALT) and test demonstration
support.

This six-year effort represents the

best in collaboration of a Navy laboratory and industry to produce a technology that meets the needs of the
special operations community, said
Dr. Warren Schultz, program developer and manager, NRL. The creativity and resourcefulness brought to this
project by a unique team of scientists
and engineers represents an unprecedented paradigm shift in UAV propulsion and launch systems.

The XFC is a fully autonomous, allelectric, fuel-cell-powered, folding wing

UAS with an endurance of greater than
six hours. The nonhybridized power
plant supports the propulsion system
and payload for a flight endurance that
enables relatively low cost, low altitude,
ISR missions. The XFC UAS uses an
electrically assisted take-off system
which lifts the plane vertically out of its
container and therefore enables a very
small footprint launch such as from a
pickup truck or small surface vessel.

SPECTRA

NRL NEWS BRIEFS

Captain Mark C. Bruington Relieves

Captain Anthony J. Ferrari
Captain Mark C. Bruington, USN, assumed the
duties as the Naval Research Laboratorys 38th
Commanding Officer during a formal Change
of Command ceremony in Washington, D.C.
on Friday, August 1, 2014. Captain Bruington
succeeds Captain Anthony J. Ferrari, USN, who
retired following two years as Commanding Officer
of NRL, and 28 years of Naval service.

Capt. Anthony Ferrari

Capt. Mark Bruington

As NRLs Commanding Officer, Capt. Bruington

directs the activities of approximately 2500
scientists, engineers, and support personnel in
their mission to conduct leading-edge research
and provide new technological capabilities to the
Navy and Marine Corps. Prior to his assumption of
command of NRL, he was the Principal Director,
Programs at the Defense Security Cooperation
Agency where he led a team charged with
Department of Defense humanitarian assistance,
building partnership capacity and Foreign Military
Training and Equipping U.S. partner nations.

Captain Anthony J. Ferrari Receives

Legion of Merit
For exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service as Commanding Officer, Naval Research Laboratory from August 2012 to July 2014. Captain Ferrari significantly
increased Untied States national security by fostering the Naval
Research Laboratorys world-class research capabilities and delivery of critical advanced technologies to the Department of Defense
and other national level organizations. His efforts enabled the Naval
Research Laboratory to develop and transition critical science and
technology programs needed to maintain overwhelming technological superiority in the dynamic global operational environment.
Captain Ferrari forged the way ahead, improving business practices
and methodically investing in a broad array of scientific and technological infrastructure projects such as the Marine Meteorology Center, which provides state-of-the-art research facilities for weather
forecasting for the fleet. His innovative spirit, involved leadership,
and ability to surge technological solutions to short-fused, missioncritical national requirements have saved lives and contributed to a
plethora of operational successes. Captain Ferraris superior performance of duties highlights the culmination of 28 years of honorable
and dedicated service. By his dynamic direction, keen judgment,
and loyal devotion to duty, Captain Ferrari reflected great credit upon
himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval
Services.

WINTER 2014

Chief of Naval Research Admiral Matthew L. Klunder presents the Legion

of Merit to Captain Anthony J. Ferrari.

31

NRL OUTREACH

NRL and Aerospace Industry Host 10th Annual

CANSAT STUDENT CHALLENGE

The 2014 CanSat competition, celebrating its 10-year anniversary, required teams
to develop a soda-can-size satellite-type system (CanSat) capable of harvesting
energy from the environment and transmitting telemetry in real time to a station on
the ground.

reated in 2004 by the American Astronautical Society

(AAS) and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Texas CanSat Competition is an
undergraduate and graduate level design-build-launch event
simulating the end-to-end life cycle of a complex engineering
project.
Spanning a decade long commitment by the U.S Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and other federal and commercial
sponsors, the goal of CanSat is to foster student growth in
multiple disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM). The CanSat competition has become
an annual event providing a unique opportunity for university and college student teams to design, build, and launch
a soda-can-size satellite-type system (CanSat) designed to
meet specific mission goals selected each year by competition sponsors and co-sponsors.
This years 10-year anniversary CanSat competition, cosponsored by NRL in cooperation with NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, AIAA, AAS,

32

Ball Aerospace Technologies, Praxis Inc., and Kratos Integral Systems International, required teams to
develop a CanSat capable of harvesting energy from
the environment and transmitting telemetry in real time
to the team ground stations. The CanSat had to use
aero-braking to slow its descent and protect a raw egg
during the launch, deployment, descent, and landing.
Parachutes or similar devices were not allowed.
Beginning last October and culminating in a final competition in June, teams from around the nation, as well
as from South America, Europe, and Asia, entered to
design and build a space-type system and then compete against each other at the end of two semesters to
determine winners.
Preliminary design reviews were held in February and
critical design reviews in April. Those teams able to
compete attended the three-day launch event in June
in Burkett, Texas. The first day was committed to
safety checks and preflight briefings; on the second
SPECTRA

NRL OUTREACH

Since its start in 2004, the CanSat competition

unique opportunity for university and college
student teams to design, build, and launch a
soda-can-size satellite-type system designed
to meet specific mission objectives. The goal
of CanSat is to foster student growth in multiple disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Provisions of the 2014 competition required deployed

CanSats to use aero-braking to slow descent and to
protect a raw egg payload during the launch, deployment, descent, and landing stages of the mission.
Parachutes or similar devices were not allowed.

day, launch competitions were held; and on day

three, flight reviews were posted and final awards
were announced.
Of the 54 original teams, 39 attended the launch
competition, with first place won by Team Arisat
from Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. Second
place went to Team Wilkensat from Sri Ramaswamy
Memorial (SRM) University, India; third place was
Team Wind Chargers from University of Alabama
Huntsville; fourth place, Team Tomahawk from Ryerson University, Canada; and fifth place was Tarleton
Aerospace Club from Tarleton State University,
Stephenville, Texas.

WINTER 2014

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory engineer and

CanSat organizer Ivan Galysh was honored with the
2013 National Association of Rocketry (NAR) Howard
Galloway Spacemodeling Service Award for his contributions over the last decade to educate and motivate
students in the technical disciplines of aerospace engineering. As a mentor and organizer for student teams
in NARs Team America Rocketry Challenge, NASAs
Student Launch Initiative, the Battle of the Rockets (of
which he is a founder), and other programs, Galysh
has spent hundreds of hours each year providing direct
hands-on instruction and motivation to middle school,
high school, and university students. In acknowledgement of these outstanding accomplishments, the
NAR said, there is no other individual in the National
Association of Rocketry who is more involved across
more programs in advancing our organizational goal
of paying forward to motivate and educate the next
generation of U.S. aerospace professionals and rocketeers. Galysh has been in the NRL Space Applications
Branch since 1987, where he first developed systems
to test the performance of atomic frequency standards
for GPS satellites, and has since worked on numerous
programs developing space-based payloads. Most
recently, these include a trio of experiments to demonstrate miniaturized satellite technologies for improved
maritime security and measurement of space weather
and the radiation environment.

Design Build Launch

has become an annual event providing a

33

NRL MAKING CONNECTIONS

CONFERENCES

Sharing Science
Starting Conversations

SOCIAL MEDIA

STEM FESTIVALS

34

SPECTRA

NRL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

New York City Tracks Firefighters to Scene

with NRL Radio Tags and Automated Display
By Kyra Wiens, NRL Public Affairs Office

n 15 of its vehicles, Fire Department New York (FDNY) now can

automatically see which firefighters are nearby from the onboard
computer, and relay that information
to the citys Operations Center. The
system was invented by David DeRieux
of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) Space Systems Development Department, along with Michael
Manning of Manning RF, and in close
partnership with FDNY.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, New York
City has been pursuing ways to better
coordinate the 14,000 firefighters and
emergency response it employs. (Prior to
9/11, the FDNY used a paper/carboncopy ride list Battalion Form 4 (BF4)
to account for whos present.)
NRLs system is based on an active radio
frequency identifier (RFID) tag carried
by each firefighter, similar to E-ZPass or
how retail tracks inventory. Its in a little
sealed plasticit looks like a little key
fob, actually, says George Arthur, an NRL

WINTER 2014

engineer who contributed to the project.

Theyre positioned over the left breast,
inside the bunker coat in a little Kevlar
pocket thats sewn in there. And it just
sends out a little ping every five seconds:
here I am, here I am, here I am.
A radio receiver on the vehicle picks up
the pings and builds a table of identifiers. It just listens and says, Okay,
1234, thats Jessica Smith, so we know
Jessica Smith is nearby, says DeRieux.
Periodically, a program thats running
on their MDT [mobile data terminal], their
onboard computer, quizzes this reader
and says, Let me have everything.
The table of every firefighter on or near
the vehicle is displayed on the MDT
screen. As soon as [the driver] turns the
ignition on, says DeRieux, this thing
comes up. When they get on the scene,
everyone takes off, they all disappear.
Then eventually they come back for a
roll call situation, and the captain can tell
instantly everyone is within so many feet
of the truck.

The MDT also sends this accounting to

the FDNY Operations Center in Brooklyn, using a commercial modem. They
actually have a massive display, says
DeRieux, and on there this data gets
projected. So they know what truck just
showed up on scene, who was on the
truck. To coordinate personnel during a
city-wide disaster, this real-time information would be unimaginably valuable.
During 9/11 there were thousands of
firefighters, it was a big problem, says
DeRieux.
The data is also archived. If there were
a HAZMAT release, says Arthur, they
could go back and immediately see the
firefighters that were on duty.
NRL received a 2014 Federal Laboratory
Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for this work. Technology
transfer is very important, says Arthur.
Doing things here [at NRL] that are beneficial, not just to the warfighter, but also
to the average citizen.

35

NRL FOCUS ON PEOPLE

Dr. Jeremy Robinson Receives Presidential Early Career Award

The work is a creative outlet, and that is the
driver for me going to the lab.
older brother, Dr. Josh Robinson, also did his postdoc here: In fact, my brother sat at

this desk, Robinson says with a laugh. We are always in friendly competition. So this
[Presidential award] is the latest feather in my cap.

In his research to explore the many possibilities of graphene-based materials, Rob-

inson connects material synthesis, material properties, and applications: Designing

graphene with specific defects is an ideal way to engineer its properties and poten-

tially improve its sensor response. He may introduce an atom of a different chemical
species, like oxygen or fluorine, then test sensor capability, mechanical strength, or

optical properties. And he studies the properties that emerge when layers of graphene
are stacked. We continue to be surprised about the range of interesting experiments
and results, he says. Robinson has published more than 60 peer-reviewed journal
articles and holds one patent.

Dr. Jeremy Robinson of the U.S.

Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is
a recipient of the 2012 Presidential
Early Career Award for Scientists
and Engineers (PECASE).

The White House announced the 102 PECASE recipients on December 23, 2013. We
are grateful for their commitment to generating the scientific and technical advancements that will ensure Americas global leadership for many years to come, said
President Obama.

Dr. Robinson, a materials research engi-

neer at NRL, was recognized for his out-

standing research accomplishments in the

development of graphene-based materi-

als; dedication to community service; and

mentoring work with students.

Robinson studies graphene and other

carbon nanomaterials. He studies their

electronic and mechanical properties and

explores how the materials can be used in

chemical sensors, in quantum information
processing, and for nanoelectronic and

radio frequency communication applications.

Robinson joined NRL as a National

Research Council postdoctoral associ-

ate in 2007 after completing his Ph.D. at

the University of California Berkeley; he

One of Dr. Robinsons areas of research is bilayer graphene.

This stained-glass appearance arises from the emergence
of a narrow absorption band due to direct electronic coupling
between the layers.

transitioned to full-time staff in 2008. His

36

SPECTRA

IN MEMORY OF

Richard J. Foch
20 March 1957 14 April 2014

Richard J. Rick Foch was a lifelong airplane enthusiast. He

built his first airplane model at the age of 7, published his first
design in American Aircraft Modeler magazine at age 16, and soon
graduated to radio-controlled models. In high school, he combined
his academic and modeling skills to win a first place at the 1974
International Science and Engineering Fair. For his efforts, Rick
was awarded a full tuition scholarship to the Florida Institute of
Technology (FIT), a trip to attend the 1974 Nobel Prize Award
Ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, and several trips to tour government and military research laboratories. This experience cemented
his desire to pursue aeronautical engineering as a career.
Upon graduation from FIT in 1979, Rick accepted a position at
the Naval Research Laboratory, which was investigating the use
of unmanned systems for electronic warfare missions. He earned
an M.S. in aerospace engineering from the Universities of Notre
Dame and Maryland in 1985. From 1980 through 1993, Rick was
the chief test pilot for the NRL Vehicle Research Sections remotely piloted aircraft. He led the Vehicle Research Section from 1985
until 2005. During this period, he was responsible for the development of over 75 unmanned air vehicle projects, most of which
were of his design. Their development and flight testing made significant advancements in aerodynamics, structures, propulsion, and
autonomy. In February 2006, Mr. Foch was promoted to a Senior Professional (ST) position. As NRLs Senior Scientist
for Expendable Vehicles, he applied his vision toward establishing effective paths for short-term and long-term Navy
UAS technology development. A key research area was non-fossil-fuel propulsion and his most recent research focused
on fuel cell propulsion for Navy UAVs.
Rick published over 75 research papers and journal articles on
small expendable air vehicles and their technologies. In 1996,
he received an NRL Special Act Award for flight testing the first
biological agent detector to be successfully miniaturized and integrated into an unmanned aircraft. In 2002, he was awarded the
Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Award in recognition of his
career-long scientific and technical contributions to the Fleet.
In 2013, Rick completed a book detailing the achievements of the
Naval Research Laboratory in unmanned aviation over the past
thirty years: Unmanned Aircraft Systems Innovation at the Naval
Research Laboratory, published by the American Institute of
Rick Foch with the Dragon Warrior unmanned air vehicle.
Aeronautics and Astronautics.
When Rick was four years old, his father let him sit in the cockpit of a Cessna T-37.
At that instant, I fell in love with anything and everything involving airplanes.

WINTER 2014

Dr. Glen Henshaw (left), NRL space roboticist, describes his research to George Zaidan, the host of the Pen-

Spacecraft Engineering Department are developing robotic technology that can help repair, reposition, or
update satellites on-orbit. The video can be viewed at http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2014/
pentagon-channel-defense-laboratories-team-up-for-new-science-tv-show.

.com/USNRL

tagon Channels Armed with Science program that aired in March 2014. Henshaw and colleagues in NRLs

www.nrl.navy.mil

NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY

Washington, DC Stennis Space Center, MS Monterey, CA
approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

http://www.

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Reviewed and Approved

NRL/PU/1000--14-599
RN: 14-1231-4176
January 2015
CAPT Mark C. Bruington
Commanding Officer