Connecticut Patent of the Month – August 2023
ThayerMahan Inc. has made a name for themselves as a world leader in autonomous maritime surveillance. The company has recently patented their design for a modular navigational system for autonomous vehicles. The design is specifically designed for low-power vehicles that need long-term data logging.
The heart of their breakthrough lies in a navigational system designed for unmanned maritime vehicles. The modular architecture allows for low-power configurations, enabling mission-specific adaptability. ThayerMahan’s system is built to withstand severe conditions, allowing continuous operation even in the harshest environments.
The navigational system comprises a backplane, acting as the backbone, equipped with ports to host various daughterboards. These daughterboards include a modular microcontroller, non-volatile storage, and two GPS RTK receivers, each serving different purposes. Additionally, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) is included, which plays a crucial role in data collection and analysis.
One of the system’s key strengths lies in its dynamic field-configurability. It can seamlessly switch between multiple operational modes based on remote or programmatic triggers. These operational modes encompass a range of capabilities, such as single GPS positioning, differential GPS (dGPS), and GPS RTK positioning modes.
The versatility of ThayerMahan’s navigational system extends to the vehicle types it supports. Whether it’s an unmanned maritime vehicle or a terrestrial vehicle, their system provides exceptional performance and adaptability. For long endurance missions, this system shines, ensuring continuous operation for extended periods without any human intervention.
To enhance its reliability further, the system’s components are user-swappable. This means that in the unfortunate event of a hardware failure, the system automatically degrades to alternative operational modes, making the most of the available configurations. This robust failover mechanism ensures data collection continues, unimpeded and without interruption.
ThayerMahan’s navigational system has already garnered significant attention in military, paramilitary, research, aid, and construction applications. Its user-serviceable architecture, combined with long-duration data logging capabilities, makes it a cost-effective and labor-saving solution compared to custom systems.
Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.
Who We Are:
Swanson Reed is one of the U.S.’ largest Specialist R&D tax advisory firms. We manage all facets of the R&D tax credit program, from claim preparation and audit compliance to claim disputes.
Swanson Reed regularly hosts free webinars and provides free IRS CE and CPE credits for CPAs. For more information please visit us at www.swansonreed.com/webinars or contact your usual Swanson Reed representative.
