IAVO Research and Scientific, Incorporated — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: Motivated by the uncertainty in rising fuel expense and fleet total ownership costs, the U

Description

Motivated by the uncertainty in rising fuel expense and fleet total ownership costs, the US Navy is currently addressing power and energy management as a prime research focus area with the goal of strategically allocating energy resources to increase efficiency. In support of these goals, they have identified a need to retrofit their DDG-51 class ships with new technology including hybrid electric drives to support propulsion. To assist the retrofitted technologies, control software will be required to coordinate hardware efforts and reduce overall fuel consumption. Accordingly, our Phase I focused on the development of mathematical models, methodologies, and strategies for optimized power generation and allocation within an integrated shipboard system. The Phase II efforts are not merely implementations of our Phase I in software form. Rather, we propose enhanced developments in our continuing algorithmic research, refinement, and extension for the purpose of developing an optimized solution. Our Phase II will offer a hybrid method for configuring a ship"s power management system for optimal performance and fuel efficiency. The expected result is an algorithm software suite implemented for continuous power management and allocation, with emphasis on supporting power demands as threat environments and usage patterns change through time and space.