The “Technology Awareness Event” showcased a unique class of long-endurance UUVs capable of delivering multiple payloads in communication-restricted areas.

RESTON, Va., Sept. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Metron Inc., in partnership with Cellula Robotics USA, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Cellula Robotics Ltd. announced today the successful completion of a series of Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) demonstrations to showcase the capabilities of the new ANCC+Solus solution for defense and commercial applications. The demonstrations, considered a “Technology Awareness Day”, featured two versions of the ANCC+Solus UUV platform executing in-water missions to highlight the fully autonomous, long-duration, hydrogen fuel cell powered capabilities developed by Metron and Cellula. Customers across Canadian, United States, and United Kingdom defense agencies, as well as, representatives from the commercial offshore energy sector attended the event to assess the technological superiority and versatility of the ANCC+Solus solution for defense and commercial operations where extended reach, in-situ mission planning, and multi-payload capabilities deliver a strategic advantage.

The success of this event represents a significant milestone in the Metron-Cellula relationship, who announced their strategic partnership in February of 2024, around the same time Neil Manning was announced as Cellula’s new Chief Executive Officer. The strategic partnership was formed as part of each company’s commitment to deliver a superior UUV solution to meet current market demands that can scale to large production volumes. Through the relationship, each company has leveraged domain specific expertise; Metron’s Resilient Mission Autonomy™ suite and Cellula’s hardware and fuel cell technology to develop groundbreaking advancements in autonomous vehicle technology through the ANCC +Solus solution. 

ANCC+Solus is a fully autonomous, long-duration, long-endurance, self-sufficient underwater platform designed for extended missions. Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, it offers unparalleled endurance and range. Equipped with a diverse array of sensors, including the NORBIT WINGHEAD™ and additional persistent sensing systems, it can gather critical data in even the most challenging conditions. Its versatile payload capacity allows for customization to meet specific mission requirements, making it ideal for operations in areas with limited or disrupted communication. With its exceptional capabilities, ANCC+Solus sets a new standard for long-duration, persistent surveillance, and multi-effects payload deliveries.

The “Technology Awareness Day,” commenced with a morning session that included a tour of Cellula’s full scale production, manufacturing, and development facility in Burnaby, Canada. After the tour, attendees experienced a hands-on demonstration of the Cellula’s hydrogen fuel cell technology. This interactive experience allowed participants to gain a deeper understanding of the technology’s capabilities and its role in enabling autonomous vehicles to operate with maximum efficiency and minimal environmental impact. The morning session also included highlights of Metron’s Resilient Mission Autonomy™ currently in use across defense programs and in offshore energy survey applications. Metron’s team reviewed the rapid integration of their full autonomy, in-situ mission planning and replanning, and advanced introspective and extrospective autonomy into the Cellula platforms. NORBIT wrapped up the morning with a comprehensive overview of their advanced sensor systems.

The afternoon demonstrations provided a spectacular showcase of in-water capabilities. Four missions conducted off the coast of Vancouver, Canada, demonstrated the Solus-LR and Solus-XR’s versatility and efficiency. Each mission highlighted key features tailored to customer requirements: seamless transit and deployment, real-time mission planning and adaptation, and advanced autonomous networking. The grand finale featured a synchronized swim between the two vehicles, showcasing their ability to collaborate seamlessly in multi-vehicle operations.

By the end of the program, the Technology Awareness Day proved the synergistic benefits of these integrated technologies. Together, Cellula’s advanced hydrogen fuel cells, combined with Metron’s Resilient Mission Autonomy and NORBIT’s advanced sensor systems, create a powerful autonomous vehicle solution that can navigate complex environments and perform critical missions with exceptional reliability.

“Last week’s demonstrations showcased the power of collaboration and teamwork between Metron, Cellula, and NORBIT, as we advance the art of the possible in the undersea domain,” stated Van Gurley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Metron Inc. “We are jointly delivering truly disruptive innovation in UUV capabilities, rapidly fielding solutions that can scale with our customer’s requirements. The in-water demonstrations highlighted the remarkable impact the ANCC+Solus UUV solutions deliver. These aren’t just design ideas, these are actual vehicles, in the water, proving our capabilities for full autonomy, ease of operations, and adaptative and precise mission planning for complex extended missions.”

Cellula’s Chief Executive Officer, Neil Manning stated: “The Technology Awareness Event gave us the opportunity to demonstrate not only our technology but also the strength of our partnership. Combining unique, long range autonomous underwater vehicles with the mission-based autonomy of Metron in front of key end-users showed the potential of what is achievable. Our ultra long-range AUVs enable operators to imagine mission profiles that were not feasible until now.”

Peter K. Eriksen, Business Unit Director, NORBIT Oceans commented “It is important to demonstrate both system performance and functionality, so with our sensor suite involving WINGHEAD™ Forward Looking and Bathymetric multibeam sonars, together with PingDSP 3DSS™ imaging 3D sidescan technology as well as INNOMAR Sub Bottom Profilers, the Technology Awareness Event provided a valuable market partner platform to highlight the capability and need for high resolution, clean and mission ready payload sensors on vehicles. We now look forward to extending our cooperation with Cellula together with Metron to provide the mission ready operational sensor delivery.

The success of this Technology Awareness Event marks the beginning of a series of demonstrations throughout 2024 and 2025, showcasing the next-generation UUVs developed by Metron and Cellula.

About Metron Inc.:

Metron Inc. is an award-winning, trusted provider of advanced research, scientific, and software solutions for government and commercial markets. The Company delivers a competitive edge for our customers in six key areas: analytics, autonomy, decision superiority, sensor processing, fusion, and custody. Metron’s multi-domain expertise spans Bayesian inference, probabilistic modeling, artificial intelligence, machine learning, tracking and data fusion. Grounded in a first principled approach, Metron solutions transform information into intelligent action.

Founded in 1984, Metron is employee-owned and headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with U.S. locations in Portland, Denver, San Diego, and Honolulu.

Metron: Innovate. Integrate. Impact.

More information about Metron Inc. is available at www.metsci.com.

Cellula Robotics Ltd.

Cellula Robotics Ltd. is a proudly Canadian, privately owned, world-leading marine technology company focused on revolutionizing underwater survey and security through advanced, modular long endurance Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) systems.

Headquartered in Burnaby, British Columbia with additional offices on the East Coast of Canada and the United States, Cellula employs over 80 dedicated professionals, including highly skilled engineers, designers, and technicians.

Driven by innovation and industry knowledge, we are committed to crafting sustainable solutions for the defense, offshore energy and scientific sectors. Our hydrogen fuel cell-powered long range AUVs address evolving demands, propelling us towards a greener future.

Our unyielding commitment to quality is evident through our ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System that not only underscores our dedication to excellence but also reflects our ability to consistently surpass the expectations of our clients. www.cellula.com

NORBIT Oceans

NORBIT Oceans delivers tailored technology solutions to the international maritime markets. The diversified customer base includes survey companies, research organizations, military, governmental institutions, dredging companies, rental companies, offshore construction clients and marine contractors.

Through Oceans, NORBIT specializes in designing and developing a range of different sonars, including wideband multibeam sonars, 3D sidescan sonars; sub bottom profilers and long-range surveillance sonars, for exploring the ocean space.

NORBIT bathymetric sonars are used for seabed mapping, construction support, inspection, and subsurface navigation with multiple other applications subsea. NORBIT is also a provider of security and monitoring solutions for detecting and monitoring activity at sea. Using forward looking sonars allows detection of threats below the surface and NORBIT technology can be used for obstacle avoidance on underwater vehicles such as AUVs; mine countermeasures and threat target detection and tracking of divers or other moving objects to critical infrastructure.

Additionally, monitoring solutions above the water surface are provided through an integrated offering, where NORBIT delivers sensors, control systems and surveillance solutions, providing the customers with a single common operational picture for decision support and operational risk management. Further more, NORBIT also offers other technologies and products in some selected niches in the maritime domain. www.norbit.com.

Contact:
Colleen Hahn 
hahnc@metsci.com

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SOURCE Metron, Inc.