Secure, removable, wet pluggable data crypt for unmanned undersea vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11518486-B2
Application number	US-202016877018-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2020
Priority date	Jul 17, 2019
Publication date	Dec 6, 2022
Grant date	Dec 6, 2022

Abstract

An unmanned undersea vehicle includes one or more vehicle sections. The sections include a vehicle hull. The vehicle includes a data crypt configured to be selectively removable from the vehicle through the hull of the vehicle. The data crypt includes a persistent storage device configured to operate using SATA protocols and one or more electrical connectors configured to selectively connect the data crypt to electrical equipment in the vehicle, wherein the connectors are impedance matched to mating connectors in the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An unmanned undersea vehicle comprising:
one or more vehicle sections, the sections comprising a vehicle hull; and
a data crypt configured to be selectively removable from the vehicle through the hull of the vehicle, the data crypt comprising:
a persistent storage device configured to operate using SATA protocols; and
one or more electrical connectors configured to selectively connect the data crypt to electrical equipment in the vehicle, wherein the connectors are impedance matched to mating connectors in the vehicle.

2. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the data crypt further comprises a re-driver board configured to amplify data signals being transmitted to the persistent storage, the re-driver board comprising transmission line traces formed to have a characteristic impedance of 100 Ohms.

3. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the one or more electrical connectors are coupled to a re-driver board through an installed cable length, the installed cable length having a characteristic impedance of 100 Ohms.

4. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the unmanned undersea vehicle is classified, but can be made into an unclassified vehicle by removing the data crypt.

5. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the data crypt is the only location on the unmanned undersea vehicle where data can be received and be persistently stored.

6. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the data crypt comprises a curved face where a curve of the face is continuous with a curve of the vehicle hull.

7. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the data crypt comprises a locking removal mechanism.

8. The unmanned undersea vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the data crypt is potted.

9. A method of assembling an unmanned undersea vehicle, the method comprising:
assembling one or more vehicle sections, the sections comprising a vehicle hull; and
selectively installing a data crypt through the vehicle hull, the data crypt configured to be selectively removable from the vehicle through the hull of the vehicle, the data crypt comprising:
a persistent storage device configured to operate using SATA protocols; and
one or more electrical connectors configured to selectively connect the data crypt to electrical equipment in the vehicle, wherein the connectors are impedance matched to mating connectors in the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data crypt further comprises a re-driver board configured to amplify data signals being transmitted to the persistent storage, the re-driver board comprising transmission line traces formed to have a characteristic impedance of 100 Ohms.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more electrical connectors are coupled to the re-driver board through an installed cable length, the installed cable length having a characteristic impedance of 100 Ohms.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the unmanned undersea vehicle is classified, the method further comprising declassifying the unmanned undersea vehicle by removing the data crypt.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising collecting data at the unmanned undersea vehicle while the unmanned undersea vehicle is deployed into an underwater environment and persistently storing the data at the data crypt while preventing the data from being stored persistently at any other location on the unmanned undersea vehicle.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data crypt comprises a curved face and wherein selectively installing the data crypt through the vehicle hull comprises installing the data crypt such that a curve of the face is continuous with a curve of the vehicle hull.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data crypt comprises a locking removal mechanism and wherein selectively installing the data crypt through the vehicle hull comprises installing the data crypt using the locking removal mechanism to lock the data crypt into the unmanned undersea vehicle.

16. A method of using an unmanned undersea vehicle, the method comprising:
deploying the unmanned undersea vehicle into an underwater environment, wherein the unmanned undersea vehicle comprises one or more vehicle sections, the sections comprising a vehicle hull, and a data crypt configured to be selectively removable from the vehicle through the hull of the vehicle, the data crypt comprising: a persistent storage device configured to operate using SATA protocols; and one or more electrical connectors configured to selectively connect the data crypt to electrical equipment in the vehicle, wherein the connectors are impedance matched to mating connectors in the vehicle;
collecting data at one or more sensors at the unmanned undersea vehicle; and
storing the collected data at the persistent storage device of the data crypt using SATA protocols.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the data crypt further comprises a re-driver board configured to amplify data signals being transmitted to the persistent storage, the method further comprising amplifying the collected data using the re-driver board prior to storing the collected data at the persistent storage device.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the unmanned undersea vehicle is classified, the method further comprising declassifying the unmanned undersea vehicle by removing the data crypt.

19. The method of claim 16 , further preventing the data from being stored persistently at any other location on the unmanned undersea vehicle.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the data crypt comprises a locking removal mechanism, the method further comprising removing the data crypt from the unmanned undersea vehicle by unlocking the locking removal mechanism.

Assignees

• L3Harris Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Aiello Jason D
• Slocum Daryl B
• Veilleux Ii Douglas L
• Altin Cagdas

Classifications

• H04L12/40176 Primary

  involving redundancy (error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in interconnections G06F11/2002; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy in hardware using active fault-masking in storage systems using spares or by reconfiguring G06F11/2053) · CPC title

• B63G8/38

  Arrangement of visual or electronic watch equipment, e.g. of periscopes, of radar {(periscopes, optical aiming or sighting devices per se G02B23/00)} · CPC title

• H04L12/40

  Bus networks · CPC title

• H04L43/18

  Protocol analysers · CPC title

• B63G8/001 Primary

  Underwater vessels adapted for special purposes, e.g. unmanned underwater vessels; Equipment specially adapted therefor, e.g. docking stations (self-propelled or direction controlled diving chambers with mechanical link to a base B63C11/42) · CPC title