Metron, Cellula Robotics complete in-water demonstrations for multi-national defense customers

Metron Inc., in partnership with Cellula Robotics USA, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Cellula Robotics Ltd. successfully completed Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) demonstrations to showcase the capabilities of the new ANCC+Solus solution for defense and commercial applications. The demonstrations, considered a "Technology Awareness Day", featured two versions of the ANCC+Solus UUV platform executing in-water missions to highlight the fully autonomous, long-duration, hydrogen fuel cell powered capabilities developed by Metron and Cellula. Customers across Canadian, United States, and United Kingdom defense agencies, as well as representatives from the commercial offshore energy sector attended the event to assess the technological superiority and versatility of the ANCC+Solus solution for defense and commercial operations where extended reach, in-situ mission planning, and multi-payload capabilities deliver a strategic advantage.

The success of this event represents a significant milestone in the Metron-Cellula relationship, who announced their strategic partnership in February of 2024, around the same time Neil Manning was announced as Cellula's new Chief Executive Officer. The strategic partnership was formed as part of each company's commitment to deliver a superior UUV solution to meet current market demands that can scale to large production volumes. Through the relationship, each company has leveraged domain specific expertise; Metron's Resilient Mission Autonomy suite and Cellula's hardware and fuel cell technology to develop groundbreaking advancements in autonomous vehicle technology through the ANCC +Solus solution.

ANCC+Solus is a fully autonomous, long-duration, long-endurance, self-sufficient underwater platform designed for extended missions. Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, it offers unparalleled endurance and range. Equipped with a diverse array of sensors, including the NORBIT WINGHEAD and additional persistent sensing systems, it can gather critical data in even the most challenging conditions. Its versatile payload capacity allows for customization to meet specific mission requirements, making it ideal for operations in areas with limited or disrupted communication. With its exceptional capabilities, ANCC+Solus sets a new standard for long-duration, persistent surveillance, and multi-effects payload deliveries.

The "Technology Awareness Day," commenced with a morning session that included a tour of Cellula's full scale production, manufacturing, and development facility in Burnaby, Canada. After the tour, attendees experienced a hands-on demonstration of the Cellula's hydrogen fuel cell technology. This interactive experience allowed participants to gain a deeper understanding of the technology's capabilities and its role in enabling autonomous vehicles to operate with maximum efficiency and minimal environmental impact. The morning session also included highlights of Metron's Resilient Mission Autonomy™ currently in use across defense programs and in offshore energy survey applications. Metron's team reviewed the rapid integration of their full autonomy, in-situ mission planning and replanning, and advanced introspective and extrospective autonomy into the Cellula platforms. NORBIT wrapped up the morning with a comprehensive overview of their advanced sensor systems.

The afternoon demonstrations provided a spectacular showcase of in-water capabilities. Four missions conducted off the coast of Vancouver, Canada, demonstrated the Solus-LR and Solus-XR's versatility and efficiency. Each mission highlighted key features tailored to customer requirements: seamless transit and deployment, real-time mission planning and adaptation, and advanced autonomous networking. The grand finale featured a synchronized swim between the two vehicles, showcasing their ability to collaborate seamlessly in multi-vehicle operations.

By the end of the program, the Technology Awareness Day proved the synergistic benefits of these integrated technologies. Together, Cellula's advanced hydrogen fuel cells, combined with Metron's Resilient Mission Autonomy and NORBIT's advanced sensor systems, create a powerful autonomous vehicle solution that can navigate complex environments and perform critical missions with exceptional reliability.

"Last week's demonstrations showcased the power of collaboration and teamwork between Metron, Cellula, and NORBIT, as we advance the art of the possible in the undersea domain," states Van Gurley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Metron Inc. "We are jointly delivering truly disruptive innovation in UUV capabilities, rapidly fielding solutions that can scale with our customer's requirements. The in-water demonstrations highlighted the remarkable impact the ANCC+Solus UUV solutions deliver. These aren't just design ideas, these are actual vehicles, in the water, proving our capabilities for full autonomy, ease of operations, and adaptative and precise mission planning for complex extended missions."

"The Technology Awareness Event gave us the opportunity to demonstrate not only our technology but also the strength of our partnership,” says Cellula's Chief Executive Officer, Neil Manning. “Combining unique, long range autonomous underwater vehicles with the mission-based autonomy of Metron in front of key end-users showed the potential of what is achievable. Our ultra long-range AUVs enable operators to imagine mission profiles that were not feasible until now."

"It’s important to demonstrate both system performance and functionality, so with our sensor suite involving WINGHEAD Forward Looking and Bathymetric multibeam sonars, together with PingDSP 3DSS imaging 3D sidescan technology as well as INNOMAR Sub Bottom Profilers, the Technology Awareness Event provided a valuable market partner platform to highlight the capability and need for high resolution, clean and mission ready payload sensors on vehicles,” says Peter K. Eriksen, Business Unit Director, NORBIT Oceans. “We now look forward to extending our cooperation with Cellula together with Metron to provide the mission ready operational sensor delivery. 

The success of this Technology Awareness Event marks the beginning of a series of demonstrations throughout 2024 and 2025, showcasing the next-generation UUVs developed by Metron and Cellula.