Liberdade class underwater glider
Liberdade XRay1 glider
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Class overview | |
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Name | Liberdade wing gliders |
Builders | LBI (Connecticut) |
Operators | United States Navy |
Active | ZRay (2010) |
Retired | StingRay (2004), XRay1 (2006), XRay2 (2007) |
General characteristics | |
Type | Autonomous blended wing body underwater glider |
Beam | 6.1 meters |
Speed | 1–3 knots |
Range | 1200–1500 km (planned)[1] |
Test depth | 300 m |
Complement | Unmanned |
Sensors and processing systems | Hydrophone arrays, vector sensor and electric field sensors |
Notes | Acoustic and satellite communications capabilities |
Liberdade class blended wing bodies are autonomous
Members of the Liberdade class are the world's largest known underwater gliders and were developed as part of the US Navy's Persistent Littoral Undersea Surveillance Network (PlusNet) system of unmanned surveillance vehicles. The gliders can be deployed covertly with the capability of monitoring over 1000 km of ocean. The glider is designed to be difficult to detect using passive acoustic sensing.[2]
The Marine Physical Lab at
- University of Texas at Austin’s Applied Research Lab
- Applied Research Lab at Penn State University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- SAIC
- Bluefin Robotics
In 2007, XRay 2 was completed and demonstrated a 20 to 1 lift-to-drag ratio. In 2008, 55 field tests were conducted. In 2010, the latest generation "ZRay" model was completed and includes a 27 channel hydrophone array. Its goal is to track and automatically identify marine mammals.[3] ZRay has a 35 to 1 lift-to-drag ratio,[4] and has water jets for fine attitude control, as well as propulsion on the surface.[3]
References
- ^ a b c Wood, Stephen L. (November 7, 2008), "Autonomous Underwater Gliders" (PDF), Underwater vehicles, Florida Institute of Technology, p. 517, archived from the original (PDF) on December 28, 2013, retrieved May 26, 2012
- ^ a b Liberdade XRay Advanced Underwater Glider, Office of Naval Research, April 19, 2006, archived from the original on April 19, 2013, retrieved May 25, 2012
- ^ a b c Hildebrand, John A.; D'Spain, Gerald L.; Roch, Marie A. (November 10, 2010), Glider-based Passive Acoustic Monitoring Techniques in the Southern California Region (PDF), Office of Naval Research, archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2014, retrieved May 25, 2012
- ^ D'Spain, Gerald L., XRay/ZRay Gliders, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, retrieved May 25, 2012[permanent dead link]