Hull Penetrator Replacement System (Hprs)

8/9/2019 Hull Penetrator Replacement System (Hprs)

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HULL PENETRATOR

REPLACEMENT SYSTEM

(HPRS)

C o r e y J a s k o l s k i

P r e s i d en t H y d r o T e ch n o l o g i e s , I n c .

D e ce m b e r 1 , 2 0 0 6

HYDRO TECHNOLOGIES

700 AUTOMATION DRIVE

W INDSOR, CO 80550

OFFICE: (970) 674-8094

FAX: (970) 674-8095

[email protected]

www.hydro-tech.com


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Hydro Technologies, Inc. Copyright 2006

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW ............................................................................................................................................................................

FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION ......................................................................................................................................

SPECIFICATIONS ..............................................................................................................................................................

APPLICATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................

AVAILABILITY ...................................................................................................................................................................


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OVERVIEW

In many underwater applications it is impractical, unsafe, or inconvenient to penetrate a

housing, hull, or pressure vessel with wire penetrators for

data and power transmission. However, neither acoustic

methods nor traditional RF wireless data communications

technologies will work in most of these applications due to

the materials involved. Modern pressure hull materials

include aluminum, steel, and titanium depending on the

specific application. The highly conductive nature of these

hull materials result in the hull acting as an RF blocking

Faraday cage thus preventing RF wireless communications.

The degree to which RF is blocked depends on the electrical

conductivity of the material. Acoustic through-hullcommunications methods are extremely data rate limited

(e.g. 20 baud) due to inherent multipath and multimodal

acoustic effects in thin barriers. Additionally, acoustic

methods require a good acoustic interface to each side of a

hull or barrier. Finally, neither acoustic nor RF techniques

are able to pass usable amounts of power as well as data

through hull materials.

An alternative to wireless RF communications or through-

hull acoustics is the Hull Penetrator Replacement System

(HPRS) developed by Hydro Technologies. This system is

designed to eliminate the need for hull penetrations while

still allowing for high speed, low power, and secure data and

power transmission between systems inside and outside of

a pressure hull or other material. To accomplish this, HPRS

uses a technique referred to as multi-frequency localmagnetic field modulation to produce magnetic fields

capable of carrying data and power through almost any

material. Patents for this technique are currently pending.

El i m i na te pene t ra to r s : HPRS technology

eliminates the need fordrilling pass through holes

in pressure hulls forcommunications and

power transmission.

Hi gh da ta ra t es: SinceHPRS is a direct through-

the-hull communicationstechnique, data rates of

>1Mb/s can be achieved

depending on materials

Power T ransmiss ion: Along with data, HPRS

supports transferringpower through hulls or

barriers utilizing lowfrequency magnetic field

generation for inductive

power coupling

Low s i gna tu re : Since

HPRS is a non acoustictechnique, there is no

acoustic signature. The

magnetic fields areextremely localized and

result in no detectablefield except in the

immediate vicinity of thetransducers

Secure comm un i ca t i on : HPRS is compatible with

digital encryption to

prevent outside sourcesfrom unauthorized access.

HPRS supports the 256-bitAES encryption standard

which has been cleared forTop-Secret transmissions

by the NSA as of June

2003.


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FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION

The HPRS platform has been designed to provide robust data and power transfer through

nearly any hull or structural material. Unlike RF communication which is blocked by relatively

small amounts of conductive material (e.g. metals or seawater), or acoustic communication

which requires a direct acoustic path, or optical communication which requires transparent

media, the modulated magnetic field that HPRS uses is only affected by the magnetic

permeability of the material through which the data and power is transmitted. This means that

materials such as seawater, aluminum, stainless steel, fiberglass, carbon composites, and

titanium are completely transparent to this communications technique as their magnetic

permeabilities are near that of air. Even alloys that have fairly high magnetic permeabilities,

such as HY-80 steel, are compatible with HPRS, although at a lower data and power transfer

rate.

Figure 1: HPRS functional diagram

The main system components of the HPRS platform are shown in Figure 1. Starting from the

left-hand side of the diagram, the first block is a sensor or other signal source. This could be

any device that produces either an analog or a digital signal which is to be passed through the

hull. The next block, labeled signal conditioning, transforms the raw sensor or transducer

signal into a digital stream which is then input into a digital signal processor (DSP). Firmware

in the DSP performs digital modulation of the data and possibly encryption and other

processing of the input data. This modulated and processed communication stream from the


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DSP is then mixed with a low frequency wave for power transmission and sent through a

magnetic transducer. The hardware on the other side of the pressure hull reverses this entire

process by coupling the magnetic field through its magnetic transducer, filtering out the low

frequency power carrier, digitizing the analog signal, demodulating the signal, and decrypting

the digital data. The net result is that the signal generated at the sensor or other equipment

on one side of the hull or barrier is available on the other side of the hull or barrier along with

power without the need for a physical penetrator. HPRS is bidirectional so power and data can

be transferred to and from both sides of the hull or barrier if required.

SPECIFICATIONS

The HPRS platform is still under development with full commercial release expected to occur in

mid 2008. To date, HPRS has been tested through many materials including: fiberglass,

marine grade aluminum, stainless steel, air, seawater, HY-80, other alloys used in Navy ship

construction, and stacked combinations of these materials. Through materials with low

magnetic permeability (e.g. almost anything except highly magnetic steels) data rates of more

than 1 Mb/s are achievable. For heavily magnetic steel (e.g. HY-80) typical data rates of 10s

of kHz are achievable.

Although primarily a means for high speed through-hull communications, the nature of the

magnetic field transducers used in HPRS also allow for the transfer of power through a hull or

barrier. Power transfer of up to 100W is feasible with the current system. The efficiency of the

power transfer depends on the separation between the two transceivers as well as the material

in between. As with the data transmission, power transmission is more efficient through

materials with low magnetic permeability.

The HPRS platform consists of a pair of bidirectional transceivers, a control and

communications electronics board, and an optional power transmission board. The entire

system is pressure tolerant to full ocean depth.


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APPLICATIONS

The HPRS platform has application anywhere data and/or power needs to be communicated

from one side of a hull, pressure vessel, pipe, or other barrier to the other within a range of

about 1 meter. Along with permanent installations such as placing sensors in sealed

containers, HPRS is also appropriate where data and power is required through a barrier

without permanent modification.

Some of the many applications of HPRS include:

Inter-pressure vessel communication on UUVs and ROVs

Supporting testing for new sensors on manned submersibles and submarineswithout alterations to the hull

Temporary installation of multibeam or acoustic positioning equipment onvessels of opportunity

Simplification of moored ocean floor sensor connectors

Transmission of sensor data and power through the wall of sealed containerssuch as nuclear waste storage containers

Data communication through pipe walls

High speed (1 Mb/s) data transfer and 100W power transmission throughmaterials such as aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, fiberglass, glass,

seawater, and air

Moderate speed data (10-50 kb/s) and 10W power transmission thoughmagnetic materials such as HY-80.

High temperature applications (transducers have been tested to 200 C)


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Figure 2: Demonstration of HPRS communicating through 1 thick stainless steel as shown at

Oceans 2006 and UDT Pacific 2006. Actual transducers are about 1 diameter and areembedded in the white Delrin stands.

AVAILABILITY

The core of the HPRS platform has been demonstrated and is in use in an active Navy

application. The HPRS system is currently being made available to select partners with full

commercial availability expected by the second quarter of 2008. Hydro Technologies is actively

seeking an industrial or government partner to continue work in increasing the data rate and

power transmission capabilities of this technology beyond what is currently achievable.

Metal BarrierTransmit Electronics

(battery powered)

Receiver Electronics

Data&Power

Hull Penetrator Replacement System (Hprs)

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