Other

USA As Represented by Secretary of the Navy

Oceanit Laboratories, Inc.

Ronald L Seiple

Christopher J Sullivan

Ken C K Cheung

Randy Wolfshagen

Paul Pernambuco-Wise

S Maile Giffin

Robert B Seiple

R B Seiple

A real-time in-situ sensor system is provided for measurement of bioluminescence and determination of bioluminescence surface signature. The system measures bioluminescence in the wake of a submerged moving object as well as ambient light levels outside of the wake. Along with measurements of depth and water-quality parameters including turbidity, temperature and salinity, the surface signature of the induced underwater bioluminescence can be calculated by considering light transmission and attenuation through water. With this real-time information, the operator of the submerged moving object can employ tactical maneuvers to affect the resultant surface signature.

Sensor system for real-time bioluminescence signature determination

The static soft rail launch and recovery system provides an anchor or piling located in a body of water away from the shoreline. The anchor remains at a fixed point under water, while being attached to cables having their opposite ends affixed on land to tension the cables. The cables become like rails due to static tension between the two fixed points. The watercraft is placed on a sling carriage that is slidably mounted on the cables and capable of sliding down the cables to launch the watercraft into the water. The watercraft is recovered by a winch cable tied to the watercraft and connected to a recovery winch. The system may be modified to use a single tow cable, attached to an anchor or piling. The system is used to launch watercraft of various sizes, and other payloads, and may be deployed for military, commercial, or emergency missions.

Static soft rail launch and recovery system

The launch and recovery system provides a dive wing and drogue assembly that is towed behind a ship by cables. The dive wing imparts a downward thrust to the drogue, so that the drogue is towed underwater, placing tension on the cables. The cables become stiff due to the speed of the ship and the weight and depth of the dive wing and drogue assembly, so that the cables take on the character of rails. The boat or watercraft to be launched is placed on a sling carriage that is slidably mounted on the cables, so that the sling slides down the cables, launching the watercraft in the stable wake of the ship. The watercraft is recovered by tying a winch cable or line to the watercraft, winching the watercraft back onto the sling, and winching the sling back onto the fantail of the ship.

Launch and recovery system

A personal emergency location system (PELS) employs a small battery-powered personal unit worn by a person who may be lost overboard. The personal unit has a GPS receiver and processor for determining the person's GPS location coordinates, and an RF transmitter for sending an RF emergency signal with the GPS coordinate data to a nearby vessel within a short range. The nearby vessel is equipped as a base station to receive the RF emergency signal and the person's GPS coordinate data and send out an RF broadcast signal of the person's position over a long range to the authorities or other rescue vessels. The personal unit is updated with the most current GPS data and recharged during inactive periods when the person on-board a vessel equipped as a base station. The personal unit sends the emergency signal until an acknowledgment signal is received from a base station, whereupon the personal unit is placed in a &ldquo;Receive-Only&rdquo; mode to save battery power. The base station is equipped with a GPS system that can be updated with the most current GPS data, so that it can calculate an accurate vector of approach to the person's position. The PELS system handles communications in the preferred GMDSS/DSC signal format (as defined by the International Maritime Organization).

Personal emergency location system

A system, a signal bearing medium embodying a program of machine-readable instructions, and a method employing Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to determine the current pace, the distance traveled and speed of a person, for example a runner, are disclosed. A GPS receiver for receiving signals from GPS satellites is attached to the person. A processor processes the signals received at a plurality of points from sub-sets of GPS satellites to determine the Earth Centered Earth Fixed (ECEF) fix in the x, y, and z planes relative to the center of the earth of each point. The processor detects when the signals are received from a different sub-set of satellites and corrects for the resulting fix error. The processor calculates the relative distance of the segment between the ECEF fixes of each pair of sequentially adjacent points, and adds together the distances of the segments to determine the distance of the path traveled by the person, which is defined by the points. Errors associated with determining position relative to navigational references such as latitude and longitude are not incurred because relative ECEF fixes are used to determine the distance rather than latitude and longitude fixes. Also, 'Selective Availability' error, which is an error introduced into GPS signals by the U.S. military that limits the accuracy of GPS fixes relative to navigational references, does not degrade the accuracy of the distance calculations because the relative distance between the points is used to determine the distance traveled, rather than the distance of the points from navigational references. The processor calculates the elapsed time between selective points, and determines the average speed or pace of the person between selective points and current speed in minutes/mile. A storage device stores data structures representing the ECEF fixes of selective points, and data structures representing relative times that GPS signals are received at selective points. A signal-bearing medium tangibly embodying a program of for performing the above method that are executable by a digital processing device.

Sports performance computer system and method

The invention is an underwater weapon dispenser for delivering weapons to a ocation which is remote from a water vehicle. The dispenser includes at least one pod which is capable of receiving at least one weapon system, such as torpedo or mines. The pod is hydrodynamically shaped and is slightly negatively buoyant. The pod has at least one hydrofoil so that the pod will assume a glide path in the water. Provision is made for releasably attaching the pod with its weapon to the water vehicle so that the pod can be released from the water vehicle to assume a downward glide angle path. The pod is provided with a releasable anchor which, upon release, anchors the now buoyant pod at a predetermined depth. With this arrangement, pods can be attached to the bottom hull portion of a surface vessel or a submarine for delivering the pods with their weapons to the bottom of the ocean, after which the weapons can be removed for accomplishing their intended purposes.

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Kailua, HI, United States of America

Ronald L Seiple