SeeByte Selected by U.S. for Foreign Comparative Testing

Edinburgh, Scotland - SeeByte, the global leader in creating smart software technology for unmanned systems, has been selected by the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense, Comparative Test Office, to participate in a Foreign Comparative Testing (FCT) Program in support of a U.S. Navy Program of Record managed by the Naval Sea Systems Command, EOD Program Office.

The FCT is designed to test selected foreign technologies, as evaluated by U.S. Military Operators, with a view to future procurement.

SeeByte will integrate existing autonomy software into the Common Operator Interface for Navy EOD (COIN). These autonomy modules constitute an adaptive mission planner for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The program will include a first-phase, encompassing an extended evaluation effort for the system. It will also include a second phase, which will cover the completion of integration with Navy systems, further evaluation through sea testing and simulation, generation of final and complete documentation, and training of Navy personnel.

“SeeByte is on the cutting edge of autonomous undersea operations for the commercial oil and gas industry, while concurrently providing simple, intuitive smart software to many of the World’s Navies’ Clearance Diving and EOD Forces,” said Jon Wood, Vice President of SeeByte’s U.S. Operations. “In this case, we were able to build upon some Office of Naval Research investment and leverage a number of commercially de-risked technologies and combine them into a new module which enables goal-based mission planning for multi-vehicle unmanned systems for a variety of underwater EOD and Mine Countermeasures assets.”

Andrew Bouchard, research engineer of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, commented that “it is exceptionally exciting that we have been awarded the opportunity to undertake such interesting testing on behalf of the Comparative Testing Office. This is one of only five such programs to start in 2011. Improving operations for the war fighter is a key issue at present, and we are keen to evaluate the current technology available to assist in this area.”