Seatrec and NPS announce a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)
Seatrec and Naval Postgraduate School to Cooperate on Research and Development of Platform to Provide Persistent, Real-Time Underwater Sound Data
The Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) opens the door to continuing at-sea research, integrated operations, and the education of military officers about Seatrec’s innovative technology that powers energy-hungry acoustic sensors previously impossible to deploy autonomously for long periods
Seatrec, a leader in thermal-powered subsea drones, and the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) today announced a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) covering an innovative robot profiling float that provides continuous, real-time oceanographic and acoustic data in open ocean environments, called the Persistent Smart Acoustic Profiler (PSAP).
“PSAP transforms how the Navy gathers acoustic data in remote or difficult-to-access areas by freeing profiling floats equipped with high-end sensors from ship support, using the ocean’s natural temperature differences to generate power,” explained Yi Chao, Ph.D., CEO and founder of Seatrec. “Deepening our collaboration with NPS and the Navy accelerates research and development and marks an important step in maturing this platform.”
The U.S. Navy uses sound to “see” underwater, but high energy demands make long-term autonomous acoustic sensing impossible without costly ship support. Seatrec’s technology enables PSAPs to use ocean’s natural temperature differences to generate electricity, powering sensors for extended missions in remote waters without ships or human intervention.
The CRADA between Seatrec and NPS will advance:
- Access to NPS expertise and Seatrec technology to accelerate at-sea research
- Integration of PSAP capabilities into Navy and NPS operations
- Education of military officers on new tools and applications for persistent, real-time acoustic monitoring
“The first phase of development on PSAP with Seatrec yielded a breakthrough in the ability to collect real-time acoustic data for extended durations in remote areas without the cost and logistical burden of ship support,” says John Joseph, the principal investigator and faculty associate for research at the Naval Postgraduate School. “We are committed to advancing the system in this next phase of cooperative research to further experiment and refine PSAP’s advanced capabilities and operational applications to meet the unique needs of the U.S. Navy.”
PSAP is engineered for persistent undersea awareness by harvesting energy from ocean thermal gradients through solid-to-liquid phase transitions, allowing operation for extended periods without external power.
Equipped with onboard data processing, the PSAP transforms raw acoustic signals collected by passive hydrophones into concise information messages, which can be efficiently transmitted to command centers located on land or at sea. Its two-way communication capabilities allow remote operators to dynamically adjust mission parameters in response to evolving environmental conditions and operational needs.
Conducting ongoing real-world testing in the open ocean will allow Seatrec and the NPS to optimize the system’s performance across its three core functions: passive acoustic listening and signal processing, energy harvesting for extended endurance, and near real-time data transmission.
This news comes on the heels of Seatrec’s recent announcement that it will manufacture profiling floats for Argo - the international program to monitor the health of the global ocean.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures subsea drones that generate electricity from ocean temperature gradients. Our products empower defense and oceanographic researchers to extend mission durations, optimize data collection, and reduce operational costs. By enabling the integration of advanced sensors previously limited in endurance and functionality, such as hydrophones, we open new possibilities for ocean science. Seatrec’s energy harvesting core technology was developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and spun out of the California Institute of Technology in 2016. Seatrec is headquartered in Vista, California. Visit us at seatrec.com.
About the Naval Postgraduate School
The Naval Postgraduate School is a defense-focused graduate university offering master’s and doctoral degrees in fields of study core to Naval-unique needs, the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD civilians and international partners. For information, visit: nps.edu.
Media Contact
Marta Bulaich
Seatrec, Inc.
marta.bulaich@seatrec.com
+1 (415) 816-1665
Introducing the infiniTE™ Float
Seatrec Launches infiniTE™ Float, a First-Of-Its-Kind Modular Platform with “Plug-and-Play” Sensors Powered by the Ocean’s Temperature Differences
Unprecedented flexibility from clean, renewable power greatly expands the use of sensors required for seafloor mapping and soundscape study along with the ability to generate up to 3 profiles per day to unlock improved hurricane rapid-intensification forecasting
SAN DIEGO (Feb. 14, 2023) – Seatrec, a renewable energy company that harvests energy from temperature differences in the environment, today announces the launch of its infiniTE™ Float. The first-of-its-kind modular platform features the ability to mix and match an expanded array of power-hungry sensors – some never before supported by autonomous profiling floats – by generating clean, renewable electricity from the ocean’s temperature differences.
The announcement comes on the opening day of the Oceanology International Americas event in San Diego.
“Power limitations remain a key challenge to critical ocean research,” explains Yi Chao, Ph.D., the CEO and Founder of Seatrec, who is a panelist at the event’s Ocean Observation and Sensing 1 Session. “Our next-generation infiniTE™ floats solve that problem in a sustainable way and unlock the future of oceanographic research by facilitating long-term, data-gathering deployments that were previously impossible.”
Seatrec’s pioneering energy harvesting system harnesses temperature differences between the ocean’s various depths to drive the phase change of specific materials. These materials contract and expand creating pressure that’s captured and converted into electricity. The clean, virtually limitless power frees scientists to use sensors that typically require shore-supplied power or direct ship support via tethering.
The infiniTE™ float platform’s “plug-and-play” modularity vertically integrates different sensors tailored to particular areas of study.
Hurricane Forecasting
Better understanding the rapid intensification of major storms and hurricanes is a particularly pressing goal as annual economic losses from such storms are estimated at $54B. Legacy floats typically only profile once every 10 days, which is insufficient to measure the intensification of storms that can surge in as little as 24 hours. Seaterc’s infiniTE™ floats are able to sample as frequently as three times per day providing 30x more data than its competition.
Seafloor Mapping
Only 20% of the global seafloor is mapped by in-water sensors with high resolution and mapping the remaining 80% using ships is estimated to cost as much as $3B. Echosounders are impossible to mount on legacy floats because of power limitations. Seatrec’s power generation technology clears the way for the use of low-cost floats to conduct bathymetry surveys at depth, autonomously, and at a fraction of the cost of using ships.
Soundscape Monitoring
Studies show that noise from humans adversely affects a broad range of organisms, including marine mammals. Hydrophones are needed to quantify the impact of these noises on marine mammals. Hydrophones mounted on Seatrec’s infiniTE™ floats provide an inexpensive, autonomous platform to gather soundscape data at varying depths for years at a time.
The launch of the infiniTE™ Float Platform follows on the heels of a notable year of partnerships for Seatrec. The Naval Postgraduate School recently partnered with Seatrec to study the ocean soundscape and chart the impact of noise pollution on Blue Whales by using a hydrophone-equipped infiniTE™ float. Also, Seatrec and The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project signed an MOU to launch Project NEMO (Novel Echosounder to Map the Ocean) to map the gaps of the global seafloor in remote areas where it is too costly for ships to access.
For information about the only cost-effective and sustainable solution on the market, visit www.seatrec.com.
About Seatrec
Seatrec designs and manufactures energy harvesting systems that generate electricity from naturally occurring temperature differences in ocean waters. This renewable energy can be used to power deep water oceanographic research equipment such as floats, gliders, and Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), resulting in the most scalable, cost-effective deep ocean data collection possible. Incorporated in 2016 by CEO, Dr. Yi Chao, Seatrec’s technology originated at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, to provide clean power for remote off-grid locations. The company is headquartered in Vista, CA. Visit us at www.seatrec.com and @seatrecinc.
Media Contact
Sean Yokomizo
Seatrec, Inc.
sean.yokomizo@seatrec.com
+1 925.878.1200
###
World Economic Forum Highlights Seatrec in Video
The World Economic Forum published a video that features Seatrec and explores the potential of our thermal-powered floats to help us better understand and utilize our oceans.
The oceans make up two-thirds of our planet and underpin our food and sustenance, medicine and vaccines, transport and commerce, and the global climate. And yet, as the video shows, our oceans are poorly understood; we currently have a clearer picture of Mars than we do of the seafloor.
What stands between our ability to measure, understand, and protect our oceans is energy – and Seatrec’s technology can generate infinite, renewable power from the ocean itself.
Through Seatrec’s ocean-based sustainable energy, we can monitor the climate, improve hurricane forecasts, optimize shipping routes, and so much more. Seatrec is currently working with oceanographers, government entities, and private companies across the blue tech ecosystem to map the ocean, conserve marine ecosystems, and unlock the potential of the blue economy.
Watch the full video here.
