Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division is contributing to a collaborative effort that aims to design, develop and test an autonomous monitoring system for the U.S. Navy's Self Defense Test Ship (SDTS).
The effort, which is a Naval Innovation, Science and Engineering project, will produce a system designed to continuously analyze the health of SDTS's hull, mechanical and electrical systems, Naval Sea Systems Command said Wednesday.
SDTS is a repurposed destroyer formerly known as USS Paul F. Foster. The ship now serves as an unmanned testbed for live-fire demonstrations at sea. The project will primarily develop a digital twin for the ship's condition-based maintenance.
"This project provides an opportunity for this Navy team to find ways to increase ship maintenance effectiveness by decreasing its downtime and get vessels ready for future missions more efficiently than before,” said Carlos Boisselier, a systems engineer at NSWC Port Hueneme Division's SDTS team.
The Navy authorized the system's installation onto SDTS in July 2021, and expects the project to run for three years.
