U.S. Navy Awards Metron Contract for Algorithm and Simulation R&D in Applied Undersea Mission Autonomy

RESTON, Va. — Metron Inc. has been awarded a $7.8 million cost-plus-fixed-fee Office of Naval Research (ONR) contract for “Advanced Algorithm Development for Autonomous Marine Systems,” the company announced in a Dec. 15 release. 

The contract award will leverage Metron’s expertise in mission and path planning, object detection, tracking and data fusion, autonomous behaviors and Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) simulation. Under the terms, Metron will provide applied research investigations and software development for undersea mission autonomy. Research and technical elements will include model development, algorithm research and development, mission simulation, objective planning, system-level performance assessments and at sea demonstrations. The improved capabilities developed under the contract terms will have broad applicability across current and emerging Navy UUV systems and programs and will enhance performance across the undersea mission space. 

Over the past 12 years, Metron has contributed significantly to ONR initiatives through next-generation unmanned systems, data fusion, simulation and remote sensing to improve the realized utility of undersea vehicles. Metron’s “Resilient Mission Autonomy” is platform, sensor and payload agnostic delivering advanced executive autonomy across a wide range of DoD, civilian and commercial applications. 

“We are honored to have been awarded this contract to advance innovation for critical defense technologies used by the U.S. Navy,” stated Christine Judd, vice president, Metron Inc., Unmanned Systems. ” With our culture of innovation, Metron has established a consistent track record of designing, developing and implementing autonomous mission solutions at every stage from R&D through field deployments. Over the years, the Company has played an important role in the development and adoption of LD-UUV and XL-UUV class vehicles across the maritime and defense sectors, and it’s great to see the progress toward a new level of executive autonomy.”  

Metron’s other government agency customers include DARPA, NASA, NAVAIR, NAVSEA and NAVWAR.