DARPA’s Ocean of Things (OoT) program is kicking into high gear. Announced initially in 2017, the project plan includes a network of small, low-cost, sensor-enabled floats that collect, transmit and analyze environmental data via satellite for real-time monitoring of maritime activity. Under a new distributed sensor network comprised of thousands of floats that monitor ocean temperature, location and activity of maritime vessels, aircraft and even marine life, DARPA is super-charging this initiative. The article that follows describes how DARPA plans to execute on this next phase of the project.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Ocean of Things (OoT) program is picking up steam.
Today’s internet-of-things sensors collect data on electric grid performance, fleet management, earthquakes and storm water runoff. In the open ocean, however, it has been impractical to deploy such connected sensors, due to the vastness of the sea and the sparseness of the data. That means situational awareness data can only be collected from sensors on military and commercial vessels or from remote sensors, which are subject to constraints from the physical environment, such as fog, rain or cloud cover.
