A Seasat building a LIDAR map of the tank

Seasats was the first company to splash in the brand-new SLAMR test facility for three days of in-the-water experimentation in Monterey.

Owned by the Naval Postgraduate School, SLAMR is one of the few facilities designed to enable experimentation with robotics in multi-domain environments. As part of the Joint Interagency Field Experimentation event (JIFX), Seasats outfitted a vehicle with a range finding LIDAR to demonstrate ship detection, tracking, and avoidance.

Explicitly designated as an experimentation event, JIFX organizers define success as fruitful forays into the bleeding edge. Other experiments included an aerial drone equipped with an auger to dig holes and bury sensors in remote locations, a data-over-laser system that transferred 3TB in 100 seconds, and a drone capable of disabling an enemy vehicle by firing explosively formed penetrators through its engine block.

Seasats also collaborated with common-control interface development company Autonodyne to run laps of the SLAMR test tank while being pursued by an underwater vehicle running Autonodyne’s software.

Seasats is excited to bring a new and novel experimental payload to the next JIFX event, and is looking forward to continued collaboration with Autonodyne in our pursuit of reducing the logistical challenges of deploying ASVs into the field.