Bae Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.

Robert J Nation

Charles P Wason, Jr

Ross J Wendell

Christopher G Van Valkenburgh

Jeffrey A Reuter

Jud DeCew

Ronald Carvalho

William S Terry

Kenneth Baldwin

An inflatable mast couplable to an underwater vehicle includes a flexible material defining an interior volume, a head structure, and a spring coupled to at least one of the flexible material and the head structure. The flexible material is designed to be filled with air to form an inflated mast structure that extends away from the underwater vehicle. The head structure is disposed at a distal end of the inflated mast structure and in some cases has a rigid shape that forms a panel having an outer surface that is flush with an outer surface of the underwater vehicle, when the mast structure is deflated and stowed. The spring is designed to provide a tensile force on at least one of the flexible material and the head structure when the flexible material is inflated to form the mast structure. A system includes the inflatable mast and a pump.

Inflatable mast and outrigger for undersea vehicles

A rollable mast system couplable to an undersea vehicle includes a mast made of a bi-stable composite material configured to roll onto itself in a first state and to stiffen into an elongated stable shape in a second state, and a head structure coupled to a distal end of the mast. The rollable mast system further includes a spool configured to support at least a portion of the bi-stable composite material in its first state and a roller in contact with the bi-stable composite material and configured to pay out the bi-stable composite material from the spool in a direction away from a hull of the undersea vehicle. The bi-stable composite material is in the first state as it passes from the spool to the roller, and the bi-stable composite material is in the second state after it passes the roller.

Rollable mast for undersea vehicles

A system and method for linearizing underwater sensor arrays is disclosed. The sensor array comprises slightly positive or negative buoyant sensors that are positioned along a cable. A weight is positioned at a deep end of the cable or a buoyant object is positioned at a shallow end of the cable, but not both. Distributing buoyant elements throughout the length of the array generates more consistent, uniformly distributed tension, enabling the sensor array to maintain a linear shape in currents of all strengths and speeds.

Underwater sensor arrays linearized by weight and buoyance distribution

Growing community of inventors

Deerfield, NH, United States of America

Robert J Nation