Naval Undersea Warfare Center "Hacks" to Innovate

Inventors, innovators, and problem solvers from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division in Newport, R.I., completed the finalist round on Monday, Dec. 15, of its “hackathon,” the center’s first use of hacking as a catalyst to generate and develop innovative ideas.

The first stage of the hackathon occurred on October 14 and 15 when thirty five NUWC scientists and engineers pitched forty-seven ideas in response to the hackathon’s four undersea technology challenges: submarine stealth, platform design, payload technology, and sailors’ quality of life.. Five teams self-formed around the most promising ideas and developed their ideas over the two-day period into four-minute presentations defining the ideas more fully.

The five were then presented to the entire NUWC Newport workforce which used crowdsourcing to select two of the projects for advanced development. The two finalist teams were assigned mentors and worked as a team to develop their solutions on a part-time basis. The two final proposals included an idea for increasing the stealth of submarines and a concept for an improved method of removing marine growth from submarine hulls.

The finalist teams presented their findings to NUWC’s senior leadership and a single project - a proposal to enhance submarine stealth named TORCH- was selected as the winner of the hack competition.

Dubbed “Hacking for Undersea Technical Excellence,” NUWC Newport used the hackathon to inaugurate a new Rapid Innovation Center (RIC) designed as a place to encourage innovation and creative thinking.

“While both teams did excellent work and presented outstanding proposals, we have selected TORCH as the winner based on their novel idea that has the potential to significantly enhance submarine stealth. We look forward to seeing both projects move ahead!” said Mary Wohlgemuth, technical director for NUWC Newport.

“The hack event has proven even more productive in the interim since the initial idea pitches in October,” remarked George McNamara, NUWC’s chief development officer and the Hackathon co-lead. “Not only has it energized our workforce about the possibilities of rapid innovation, but it has attracted a lot of outside attention. For example, the Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell (CRIC) examined the ideas that had not been chosen for advancement and chose three more with potential for fleet application.”

The hack process itself has also generated interest in other commands within the Naval Sea Systems Command for potential applicability to other technical areas of interest. NUWC Newport personnel are sharing their experience and insights with several other NAVSEA commands.

NUWC Newport is one of two divisions of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. NUWC Newport’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, engineering and fleet support for submarines, autonomous underwater systems, undersea offensive and defensive weapons systems, and countermeasures.

Photo: Dr. Patric Lockhart, head of the team that proposed a concept for an improved method of removing marine growth from submarine hulls, presents the team findings at NUWC Newport’s hackathon finals. (Photo Courtesy NUWC).