Latest news with #NavalSurfaceWarfareCenter
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Five Navy ships now outfitted with augmented reality maintenance tech
Five U.S. Navy ships now have working Augmented Reality Maintenance Systems that allow technicians to remotely troubleshoot problems from a sailor's point of view. Within less than a week, the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division installed the systems, also known as ARMS, on the aircraft carrier Nimitz and the guided missile destroyers Curtis Wilbur, Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee, Gridley and Fitzgerald. The new systems are designed to circumvent the costly need for subject matter experts, who are often based ashore, to physically travel to ships to provide tech support. The Augmented Reality Maintenance Systems use mixed reality technology, such as smart glasses, to allow sailors to show subject matter experts shipboard system issues in real-time. At the same time, sailors are able to access manuals, blueprints, 3D models and other tools while experts provide remote guidance. The ARMS team is reported to be looking at other options for mixed reality headsets. 'The biggest win in this case is that the sailor fixed the problem, not the external SME,' Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division Commanding Officer Capt. Tony Holmes said in a release. 'ARMS capability goes to the heart of enabling sailor self-sufficiency, and keeping our warships in the fight.' The milestone marks the first time the systems have been installed for operational use. The move towards remote maintenance technology comes as the Pentagon continues its drive to cut spending and increasingly integrate digital systems into the Navy. This month, the Navy tested a missile launch from an unmanned aerial vehicle, and has also announced a planned Future Unmanned Vehicle Industry Day to encourage private industry's involvement in developing new unmanned surface vehicle technology.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Remarkable Women 2025 Winner: Paige George
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) – Paige George is a mechanical engineer with a heart for science, innovation, and teaching. She is the Technology Transfer Director at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City division. George is responsible for their intellectual property portfolio so their scientists and engineers can patent the technologies they develop. 'Then it's my responsibility to try and commercialize these technologies, both for military use, but also commercial applications,' said George. Her career at Naval Support Activity began in 2012 and involved a much more hands-on approach, responsible for the development and testing of various diving systems for the Navy. One of those designs was the MK29 Mixed Gas Rebreather System. The system can help conserve up to 80% of helium that a diver would normally bring on a diving mission. Surface-supplied diving beyond the depths of 150 feet requires helium in the gas mix, but helium is a non-renewable resource so George and other engineers worked to find ways to conserve the gas. She and her team took old re-breathers out of storage and connected them to a surface-supplied diving system. In surface-supplied diving, George said the diver has gas that's provided to them from the surface and then they just breathe it out into the ocean. 'We can reclaim some of that helium and we can also increase the bottom time if a diver's line was cut to the surface,' said George. She said if you add a system where you can re-circulate that gas, a diver gets more time to get back to their dive stage and back up to the surface safely. That specific technology is no longer used as it has only evolved, but it earned her team the NAVSEA Warfare Center Commander's Award for Innovation. 'We used titanium hoses, which is not done in diving systems,' said George. 'So that was a very new type of technology and then the integration of an old system into a new system is was very innovative.' George said she was extremely thankful to have been a part of it. 'Divers are an incredible group of people. The work that they do is unparalleled,' said George. 'There's nothing else like it. So, just to have a small part in making their job just a little bit safer and a little bit easier brings me more joy and fulfillment than anything else.' Paige loves science and math and excels at it. It's a passion she's had ever since she watched a live science demonstration at Patronis Elementary School. In high school, she did her first internship at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. 'It was really at that time, I knew that that's where I wanted to be. So whatever that meant, I was going to work out there.' Less than one month after she graduated the University of Florida, her dream became a reality, as an engineer working at NSWC-PC. She said her journey was in a way, serendipitous. Unknowingly, she had previously crossed paths with her first project manager. 'I go into his office and I see he has all these patents on the wall and all these pictures,' said George. One of those pictures had a man in a lab coat and the name, 'Dr. Science.' 'I'm like, wait a second — that is the show that I saw in elementary school, that really inspired me to want to go into this field,' said George. 'So it's just such a full circle moment of like this is where I'm supposed to be.' Including her internship, she's been at NSWC-PC for a little more than 15 years. Another notable project George was involved in was the Divers Augmented Vision Display or DAVD. As the task lead, she managed the daily tasking of the engineering team as well as supporting the partnership between the Navy Lab and Coda Octopus, an underwater technology company. The DAVD is a holographic see-through heads-up display inside of a Navy diving helmet. It provides the ability for those above the surface to send down videos, pictures, and text messages directly to the diver in an overlay using a side-scan sonar of where the diver is. '99.9% of the time, they are diving in water that is very turbid, very dark,' said George. 'You can't see your own hands and so it's important for us, as design engineers for diving systems, to make their job safer and easier.' 'She's one of those people whose able to inspire other people without trying to, or doing it for the awards,' said Dr. Christopher Musto. 'It's doing it for the right reasons.' Musto is a chemist by trade and met George while working in the Hydrospace Laboratory at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. He also nominated his colleague for our Remarkable Women contest. 'So one of the things that Paige doesn't even realize in herself is how fiercely committed she is to public service – and public service – I don't mean the outstanding work she does for the Warfighter in protecting this nation, but all the way down to some of the teaching she does,' said Musto. As an adjunct professor at Florida State University Panama City, she taught science to pre-service elementary teachers. 'Research shows that if you do not get a child excited about science before fifth grade, it's a lot harder to capture them in middle school and high school,' said George. 'So, if our teachers can fall in love with science, it will better support our students falling love with science.' Paige also inspired young minds as the STEM Outreach Director for the Navy. She spent time in local classrooms with students and provided teachers with the resources and tools to teach STEM. 'Teachers are our heroes in this community. They have do much with nothing,' said George. 'In order for us to best support them, we try and provide as many programs to train them to do underwater robotics, we train them to do unmanned vehicles.' Paige is a wife and mom of two boys, who have a passion for baseball. She said her and her husband are at the ball field almost every night. Paige is also the Facilitate Committee Chair for the Federal Laboratory Consortium, which means she leads the committee that supports joint activities with the federal labs and industry and academia. Smart, motivated, and making a difference, all while remaining ever so humble. 'The remarkable thing about me is that I've been able to surround myself with so many remarkable women,' said George. 'The women I work with at the command are brilliant.' 'If you ask her why she's remarkable, she's going to give it to someone else, I guarantee it. So, the truth of the matter is, that's one those things that makes her more remarkable is the fact she doesn't even see it,' said Musto. George is the 2025 Remarkable Woman of the Panhandle. She heads to Los Angeles next week for a celebration among other 'Remarkable Women' from across the country. News 13 also presented George with a $1,000 check to donate for a charity of her choice. George chose to have the money donated to the Pregnancy Resource Center in Panama City. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
