Unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) based underwater communications network including short-range navigation device and related methods
AssigneeEagle Technology, LLC
InventorsDonna M. Kocak, Mario Miranda, Fraser R. Dalgleish
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An underwater communications network may include spaced apart nodes on a bottom of a body of water. The underwater communications network may also include fiber optic cabling connecting the spaced apart nodes. Each node may include a frame, a node short-range navigation device carried by the frame, and an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) carried by the frame after delivering a fiber optic cable along a navigation path from an adjacent node. The UUV may be configured to cooperate with the node short-range navigation device during an end portion of the navigation path adjacent the frame.
Claims25
An underwater communications network comprising:
- a plurality of spaced apart nodes on a bottom of a body of water;
- and
- fiber optic cabling connecting said plurality of spaced apart nodes;
- each node comprising
- a frame,
- a node short-range navigation device carried by said frame, and
- an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) docked at said frame after delivering a fiber optic cable along a navigation path from an adjacent node, said UUV configured to cooperate with said node short-range navigation device during an end portion of the navigation path adjacent said frame.
A node for an underwater communications network including a plurality of spaced apart nodes on a bottom of a body of water, and fiber optic cabling connecting the plurality of spaced apart nodes, the node comprising:
- a frame;
- a node short-range navigation device carried by said frame;
- and
- an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) carried by said frame and loaded to be sent to a target node of the plurality thereof for delivering a fiber optic cable along a navigation path from an adjacent node, said UUV configured to cooperate with said node short-range navigation device during an end portion of the navigation path adjacent said frame.
A method of forming an underwater communications network comprising:
- deploying a plurality of spaced apart nodes on a bottom of a body of water, each node comprising a frame, a node short-range navigation device carried by the frame, and an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) carried by the frame;
- and
- connecting the plurality of spaced apart nodes with fiber optic cabling by using the UUVs to deliver a fiber optic cable along a navigation path of travel from a given node to an adjacent node, the UUV cooperating with the node short-range navigation device during an end portion of the navigation path adjacent the frame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.