Tag Archives: NSWC PCD

Showing off the Proteus mini-sub packing heat

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Huntington Ingalls Industries announced a couple weeks ago that Proteus, their 26-foot-long dual-mode undersea vehicle (UUV), successfully completed autonomous contested battlespace missions during the 2017 Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City Division.

And released this sweet image:

Proteus, a dual-mode undersea vehicle developed by HII_s Technical Solutions division

The Panama City News Herald has more images, including shots of the interior and control panel and underway.

As noted by the PCB NH:

Since entering the testing phase in 2012, Proteus has logged 2,000 dive hours locally and abroad, including at Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), the scientific lab for Naval Support Activity Panama City.

It can go underwater with or without a human crew, though it isn’t yet being used in field missions. At ANTX, hosted by NSWC PCD, its designers showed off another capability, having Proteus carry other vehicles during testing.

Navy salvage divers may soon have Tony Stark’s hardhat

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Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) lead engineer/senior electrical engineer William Hughes III demonstrates the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD) during a lab simulation. U.S. Navy Photo by Richard Manley (RELEASED) 151130-N-PD526-002

Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) lead engineer/senior electrical engineer William Hughes III demonstrates the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD) during a lab simulation. U.S. Navy Photo by Richard Manley (RELEASED) 151130-N-PD526-002

The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD), home to some of the coolest people and mini-subs in the world (if you are ever there, check out Carriage House for your interment needs, the Wicked Wheel for a liquid lunch, and The Museum of Man in the Sea for dive gear and submersibles you will find nowhere else), has developed what they call the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DAVD) which is a high-resolution, see-through head-up display (HUD) embedded directly inside of a diving helmet.

The helmet will use augmented reality that can literally show divers exactly what they have before them in a way that could only be done in a Marvel film before.

Lab simulation view of an augmented reality image of an airplane through the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD). Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD). U.S. Navy Photo by Richard Manley (RELEASED) 151130-N-PD526-004

Lab simulation view of an augmented reality image of an airplane through the Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD). Divers Augmented Vision Display (DVAD). U.S. Navy Photo by Richard Manley (RELEASED) 151130-N-PD526-004

From the Navy’s presser

This unique system enables divers to have real-time visual display of everything from sector sonar (real-time topside view of the diver’s location and dive site), text messages, diagrams, photographs and even augmented reality videos. Having real-time operational data enables them to be more effective and safe in their missions — providing expanded situational awareness and increased accuracy in navigating to a target such as a ship, downed aircraft, or other objects of interest.

Instead of having to rely on pre-dive briefings alone to determine what they are looking for, how specific items should appear and where they may be located, the DAVD system places the information right before divers’ eyes with a look and feel comparable to a point-of-view video game display.