Team update: Mobile Mines
The Systems Engineering Analysis (SEA) 33 capstone team is working on the design and analysis of the potential benefits of self-mobile sea mines over traditional static mines.
Why it matters: The incorporation of self-mobility into sea mines can potentially provide numerous benefits over traditional static mines that could not only improve lethality and the counter-mobility effects, but could also provide benefits to mine delivery, minefield flexibility, tactical employment, and minelayer safety.
- The biggest challenge will be the balance of mine capabilities with energy density to provide a sustained presence in the water space.
A team-generated drawing illustrates their basic concept.
Click to edit this placeholder text.
What’s happened since September: The team has considered numerous potential ways in which to incorporate mobility into sea mines and has created an operational and functional architecture for their proposed design.
- They have also begun developing the testing scenarios and simulation in which to evaluate the effectiveness of their design in comparison to static mines using the Navy's Modeling and Simulation Toolbox (MAST) software.
The team is led by CDR Erik Kowalski, a MH-53E Pilot who graduates with a degree in Systems Engineering in June 2024.
- The team has 22 warrior-scholar members from multiple NPS degree programs, as well as students from National University of Singapore’s Temasek Defence Systems Institute.
- Members include officers from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, Brazilian Air Force, Taiwanese Navy, Israeli Defense Force, and Singapore Army, as well as U.S. and Singapore Navy civilians.
What’s next: The next steps will be translating the system functional architecture into a physical architecture and evaluating the effectiveness of their design compared to static mines with regard to sustained lethality, technical feasibility and cost. Sorry, but you may not get another update on this topic. The team’s research is proving really compelling and, when it comes to building offensive mining concepts and capabilities, “loose lips won’t sink ships!”
- Yes, and: Team lead CDR Kowalski’s next assignment will be as the Aviation Safety Officer on the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73).
Pugh Leads Conversation on Artificial Intelligence in Acquisition
At this month's Acquisition Research Symposium co-hosted by NWSI, Randy Pugh chaired a panel that considered AI in sustainment, talent management, and cost modeling. Pugh connected his past operational experience acquiring software-intensive intelligence systems to today’s challenges acquiring AI.
“At the time, there was nothing more risky or complex than acquiring a software application. It’s just filled with ambiguity and cost and risk,” Pugh said. “Acquiring AI tools or doing AI for the acquisition community is going to be like acquiring software, only exponentially more complex and exponentially more risky.”
As NWSI Director, Pugh helps Naval leaders and practitioners navigate this complexity by connecting them with AI experts at the Naval AI Summits regularly organized by NPS and DON CIO. The latest summit was held last week at Quantico and assembled hundreds of participants learning how to apply this emerging technology.
Watch the panel to learn more about AI in acquisition (and a bonus reveal of how DoD crowdsources data labeling for visual recognition apps).
Watch a two-minute video recap of the Acquisition Research Symposium.
Naval Postgraduate School and Qualcomm Empower Student Ideas, Wireless Innovation
Naval Postgraduate School Public Affairs
NPS student Lt. Alexander Evans and faculty associate Darren Rogers work with 5G wireless equipment provided by Qualcomm Technologies under a Limited Purpose Cooperative Research and Development Agreement.
The emergence of autonomous vehicles and drones has increased the demand for communication technologies that can move vast amounts of data at the necessary speeds, but traditional communication systems have struggled to keep up with the evolving landscape of modern military operations. At the same time, U.S. service members are operating in contested distributed environments that require agile and innovative applications of technology in the face of multidomain threats.
These are the types of challenges that U.S. Navy Lt. Alexander Evans, a student at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), and U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Brian Allen, an NPS alumnus, aim to solve through their research. Evans and Allen took advantage of a Limited Purpose Collaborative Research and Development Agreement (LP-CRADA) between NPS and Qualcomm Technologies to collaborate with NPS faculty and Qualcomm Technologies technologists to explore the application of 5G technology and develop innovative solutions for the fleet and Fleet Marine Force. Read more.
NPS is partnering with Commander, Task Force 66 (CTF-66) in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations to help them drive innovation, development, and acceleration of asymmetric capabilities in support of allies and partners across the European and African theaters.
“We are proud that Rear Admiral Mattis, CTF-66, asked for our support, and we will bring to bear all that sets NPS apart,” said Kaitie Penry, Director of Research Innovation. “NPS will support rapid development of the CTF-66 Innovation Cell to help build their capacity and capability leveraging the Naval Innovation Center, our operationally experienced students, faculty experts and partner ecosystem as a shared framework of learning and applied research.”
The Bottom Line – Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) | AT&T Business
Check out the latest episode of The Bottom Line featuring the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California. NPS is not only the flagship technical graduate school for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, it’s also a tech accelerator, incubator, and testbed for applications, concepts, and capabilities. During this episode, we’ll visit with NPS President Ann Rondeau, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.), students, and other subject matter experts to discuss their research as well as the value of industry-academic collaboration in developing defense innovation.
Watch now.
Upcoming Events
JIFX Call for Proposals
Proposals are now open for the Joint Interagency Field Experiment 24-4, focused on Non-Standard Communication & Navigation.
This focus area delves into innovative and unconventional methods of communication and navigation, aiming to revolutionize how information is exchanged in diverse and challenging environments. This event centers on developing and growing cutting-edge technologies that transcend traditional communication and navigation paradigms, catering to scenarios where standard infrastructure is unavailable or compromised.
Proposals are due by 03 June 2024.
Learn more.
NPS Writers Room Info Session
4 June 2022, 1200-1300
Reed 101 or on MS Teams
Learn what to expect from the July Writers Room workshop.
Write a fictional scenario for the 2024 NPS Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC). This interactive “writers room” experience will guide students through a hands-on professional-level creative experience to build skills through developing the WIC scenario.
Modeling Virtual Environments and Simulation (MOVES) Institute Open House 4-6 June 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
This three-day event opens with information on MOVES status, its future, and the curriculum, plus briefs and demos of MOVES research. Thursday is an industry day, with a keynote, briefs, and demos. Keynote speakers are COL Heath McCormick, USA, and Mr. David Allsop, Boeing.
Maritime Risk Symposium
11-13 June 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
The Maritime Risk Symposium is an annual three-day conference in which government and maritime industry leaders, port representatives, researchers, and solution providers convene to examine current and emerging threats to maritime security. Check out details here.
Maritime Gray Zone Exploration Workshop
12-13 June 2024
This workshop is offered by the NWSI Concepts Branch and runs concurrently with the USCG Maritime Risk Symposium EVERGREEN Workshop to complete the final day and a half of the three-day symposium.
Through a plausible near-future Arctic regional scenario, small teams of government, military, maritime industry stakeholders, and retired senior leaders and mentors will explore maritime gray zone issues of interest to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and other maritime security stakeholders. Using tools of human-centered design, participants in the MGZ Exploration Workshop will address the design challenge: How might a diverse group of stakeholders ensure leaders at the appropriate level of command make effective decisions in conditions of deep uncertainty and what capabilities might be needed to effectively counter threats in a contested littoral environment, and how might the sea services and maritime industry best collaborate to mitigate risks associated with conducting operations and countering gray zone operations in a dynamic and pristine Arctic?
Spring Quarter Graduation with VADM Kelly Aeschbach, NAVIFOR
21 June 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
MORS 92nd Symposium
24-27 June 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
SECNAV Space Summit
9-11 July 2024
Naval Postgraduate School
NPS Writers Room
19-21 July 2024
King Hall Design Lab
Write a fictional scenario for the 2024 NPS Warfare Innovation Continuum (WIC).
This interactive “writers room” experience will guide students through a hands-on professional-level creative experience to build skills through developing the WIC scenario. NPS students and faculty will gain an appreciation for key elements of narrative for more compelling and powerful messaging throughout their academic journey and their careers. A compelling scenario sometimes makes the stakes clear more quickly than a series of graphs and tables in a technical report. In complex military problem spaces our warfighters need to make these stakes clear to decision makers for quick effective action so tools of narrative will be key!
NOTE: limited to government (military and civilian)
Info session on 4 June 2024, 1200-1300 in Reed 101 or on MS Teams
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