SBIR-STTR Award

To enhance Navy maintenance efficiency and cost-effectiveness, improvements in asset inspection are essential. The maintenance industry has begun exploring drone technology to facilitate more frequent and precise asset inspections, thereby enabling condition-based maintenance. However, for a drone to be a viable inspection solution for regulated assets, it must possess specific characteristics: 1. Ease of Use and Safety: Drones should be user-friendly and safe to operate around large assets, even without the expertise of a professional drone pilot. 2. Consistent and Accurate Data: Drones must consistently collect high-quality data that truly represents the state of the asset. 3. Multiple Sensor Capabilities: Drones should be equipped with multiple sensors capable of gathering various types of data required for inspection. It should be possible to layer various types of sensor data on the shape model to satisfy various needs. Near Earth Autonomy offers an autonomous inspection system, currently employed for aircraft inspection, meeting these criteria. The system incorporates lidar, a camera, and an inertial sensor in a compact package to support simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology. It rapidly creates 3D models of assets to acquire detailed sensor data from precise viewpoints. Regardless of the asset's location, orientation, or condition, the data remains consistent and accurate. Importantly, this autonomous solution can be easily operated by current maintainers, eliminating the need for advanced pilot licenses or accreditation. Currently, this solution is deployed to inspect C-17s at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam in Hawaii under a joint Navy/Air Force program and at the 911th Airlift Wing in Pittsburgh. It has reduced inspection time by over 50%, digitizing data and promoting advanced analytics and collaboration throughout the fleet. The technology has successfully created 3D models of large aircraft like C5s, KC-135s, KC-46s, and 737s. Additionally, it has been deployed on an autonomous drone to create photorealistic models of Guardian Center, a first responder training site in Georgia. Near Earth Autonomy proposes extending this solution to Navy Assets, commencing with surface ships. The project aims to develop a comprehensive proof-of-concept solution suitable for ship inspection, both dockside and elsewhere. Extensive user and use case research will be conducted to determine the necessary product requirements and roadmap for seamless integration into the Navy maintenance workflow. Upon project completion, Near Earth Autonomy will demonstrate a prototype autonomous drone inspection system on a surface ship or representative asset. The company will also outline plans for advancing the product and technology to facilitate faster inspections, accurate data collection, and data-driven inspection and maintenance procedures across the Navy.

Benefit:
A key challenge confronting the Navy today centers around the aging of its fleet. As surface ships and other assets grow older, the maintenance costs for these platforms increase due to heightened issues, including corrosion and erosion. To curtail maintenance expenses and enhance asset availability, the Navy must adopt a more proactive approach. These methodologies empower maintenance to be conducted proactively and with greater efficiency, mitigating defects before they lead to extensive complications and costly repairs. A pivotal facet of this proactive maintenance approach is the capacity to conduct more frequent inspections. Achieving this necessitates quicker inspections using significantly reduced labor. Presently, for a standard surface ship inspection, as many as 25 inspectors and 40 technical assistants toil for 5 days to record data manually. To enhance the Navy's capability to perform frequent and informative inspections, there's a pressing need to reduce manpower and time. In response to this, Near Earth proposes harnessing autonomous drones for asset inspections and the creation of a digital twin of the asset's condition. An autonomous inspection solution will yield several

Benefits:
1. Reduction in Inspection Time and Cost: The proposed inspection solution will reduce inspection time by 50% and decrease the required manpower to just a team of 2. This will substantially diminish both the time and cost, facilitating more frequent inspections and thereby enabling the early detection of defects. 2. Precise, Accurate Digital Data Capture: Near Earth's Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) solution facilitates the rapid generation of highly precise 3-D models of the asset and the collection of precise sensor readings. This system will create a 3D digital twin of the asset, ensuring that data, including images, is consistently captured from the same vantage point on the asset each time the system is employed. 3. Streamlined Data Capture and Recordkeeping: All data will be captured digitally and systematically organized in easily accessible, secure digital records stored in the government cloud. This guarantees convenient access to inspection results from anywhere globally and seamless integration into other digital maintenance systems. 4. Enhanced Data-Driven Insights and Analytics: Given the consistent and digital nature of the data, the Navy will be able to harness this information to monitor trends and construct predictive models regarding maintenance requirements. This, in turn, facilitates more efficient planning, guarantees part availability, and optimizes resource utilization. The advantages of the proposed autonomous inspection system extend beyond just Navy surface ship inspections. This solution can be readily extended to other assets, such as airframes, and applied to numerous assets within the Department of Defense and the commercial industry, where more efficient and consistent inspections would be highly advantageous.

Keywords:
Digital twin, Digital twin, corrosion detection, Non-destructive inspection, shipyard modernization, 3D Precision Scanning, Condition-based maintenance, Drone-assisted Inspection, Autonomous Inspection

The operational readiness of Navy shipyards and facilities is critical for supporting fleet operations and lethality. However, shipyard infrastructure is aging, and maintenance is complicated by limited or outdated records. Current inspection and renovation processes rely heavily on manual labor, which is both time-consuming and prone to inefficiencies, ultimately hindering communication and operational outcomes. Regular digitization of critical infrastructure can boost operational availability by providing improved visibility into infrastructure conditions and enabling more efficient repair planning. However, few existing solutions can quickly scan large areas without sacrificing data precision and accuracy, resulting in unreliable information and insight for planning purposes. To fully realize the benefits of digitization, Near Earth Autonomy will build upon the Phase I effort to develop a high-precision, GPS-free mobile 3D scanner capable of accurately mapping and inspecting Navy infrastructure. High-precision mobile scanning is vital for realizing the advantages of digitalized infrastructure, as it allows for rapid, user-friendly scanning that is easier to incorporate into busy shipyard workflows. Demonstrations thus far (as part of Phase I) have shown the ability to cover large areas quickly, indicating the potential to streamline inspections, renovations, and maintenance activities. In Phase II, Near Earth Autonomy will extend the Phase I work by transforming the prototype scanner into a regularly deployable tool for dry dock inspections. Key improvements include integrating 3D photo data, reducing processing time, enhancing analytics to distinguish different structures, and ensuring compatibility with 3D data management systems. These enhancements will enable comprehensive inspections, more effective planning, and smoother execution of shipyard operations. By merging high-resolution imagery with point clouds, the scanner will capture both structural details and visual indicators, like paint conditions and corrosion, enabling better remote monitoring of asset health. Automated object recognition will allow rapid location and tracking of critical components such as pumps and pipes. Finally, by synchronizing with established 3D management platforms and reducing post-processing overhead, Near Earth will ensure seamless integration of the scanner into existing workflows.

Benefit:
Today, one of the Navys largest hurdles lies in effectively monitoring and maintaining an extensive inventory of aging infrastructure critical to fleet readiness. In FY 2024, the Navy allocated $6.2 billion to facilities sustainment, so even a small change resulting in a more streamlined sustainment process could yield annual savings exceeding $100 million. By adopting digitization, the Navy can achieve more transparent infrastructure monitoring, thereby improving maintenance planning and reducing the massive $17 billion backlog in deferred shipyard maintenance. Beyond naval shipyards, Near Earth Autonomy intends to target broader markets, including commercial shipyards, construction, and engineering firms. Commercial shipyards, which represent a $100 billion global market with an additional $5 billion dedicated to maintenance and repair, require the same precise mapping and inspection capabilities for refits, dry-docking, and damage evaluations. In construction, a precise mobile 3D scanning solution supports building information modeling, project progress tracking, and quality assurance within an industry valued at $10 trillion globally. Meanwhile, engineering firms need accurate spatial data for infrastructure design, environmental assessments, and digital twin applications, contributing to a $7 billion 3D scanning services segment within a $1 trillion market for engineering services. Across all these sectors, an easy-to-use, high precision mobile scanner will replace or enhance labor-intensive approaches to asset monitoring, driving faster construction schedules, minimizing costly downtime, and providing valuable insights for proactive asset management. Once tailored for each industrys specific needs, this technology has the potential to transform the way organizations track, analyze, and address developing issuescapabilities that only comprehensive digital models can fully unlock.

Keywords:
Mobile Scanning, Point clouds, digital modeling, object detection, 3D Scanner, Digital twin, Precision Mapping, 3D photogrammetry