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Modifying a Military-Grade Glider For Coastal Scientifc Applications Glider Initially Made for ONR Deployed in Academic, Research Missions By Joe Imlach • Ray Mahr Track of the Coastal Glider deployed for the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology. G liders are well-known in the industry for providing long-duration sensing platforms. The original, or legacy, gliders (Slocum, Seaglider and Spray) were developed under an initial Offce of Naval Research (ONR) grant in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with a common size and operating envelope based on the initial criteria that they be two-man portable (i.e., lighter than 50 kilograms) and able to operate in the open ocean. While these requirements are suitable for a range of applications, they impose unrealistic constraints that make legacy gliders diffcult or impossible to use in some environments, particularly coastal areas with large density gradients and strong currents. For example, these gliders cannot adaptively ballast the unit for continuous operation from freshwater to seawater without manual intervention or continuously vary the speed over a wide range. To bring these characteristics to gliders, Exocetus Development LLC (Anchorage, Alaska) has been modifying ANT LLC's (Anchorage) Littoral Glider, now called the Coastal A modifed Coastal Glider with a Wilcoxon vector sensor installed in a narwhal mount. Glider, since purchasing its assets, intellectual property and manufacturing technology in October. The ANT glider had been developed with ONR funding during the past six years. The Coastal Glider is undergoing modifcations, which www.sea-technology.com DECEMBER 2012 / st 33