The U.S. Navy’s Fleet Weather Centers are piloting Sofar’s Wayfinder platform and data from its global network of ocean sensors to advance the Navy’s capability to ensure safe and efficient ship routing for the U.S. Fleet.

San Francisco-based maritime technology company Sofar Ocean announces a partnership with the U.S. Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command’s  Fleet Weather Centers in Norfolk (FWC-N) and San Diego .

FWC-N and FWC-SD, the Navy’s two primary weather forecasting centers, are piloting Sofar’s Wayfinder platform to support the routing of naval vessels at sea. The FWCs are utilizing Wayfinder to identify safe and efficient route options powered by real-time ocean weather data for Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships.

Tim Janssen, co-founder and CEO of Sofar, said, “Wayfinder will empower the Navy to enhance situational awareness at sea and leverage data-driven optimization to continuously identify safe and efficient routing strategies. Powered by our real-time ocean weather sensor network, Wayfinder will help the Navy scale its routing operations to support a heterogeneous fleet operating in conditions made more extreme by the effects of climate change.”

The Navy is evaluating Wayfinder under CNMOC and Sofar’s five-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) signed in July 2023. Wayfinder reduces manual tasks for forecasters and routers by automatically generating a forecast along a vessel’s route. The platform displays real-time observational data from Sofar’s global network of Spotter buoys to reduce weather uncertainty for route optimization, and predict unwanted vessel motions during a voyage. The availability of accurate real-time wave and weather observations helps Captains and shoreside personnel validate forecast models and examine multiple route options more efficiently, streamlining a historically complex and arduous process.

Lea Locke-Wynn, Undersea Warfare Technical Lead for CNMOC’s Future Capabilities Department, said, “A key focus area for the Naval Oceanography enterprise is fostering a culture of innovation through collaboration with our commercial partners. Our ongoing CRADA with Sofar Ocean is a perfect example of how our partnerships are able to leverage the leading-edge in industry to further Department of Defense operations.”

As the number of naval vessels at sea, including experimental and autonomous ships, continues to increase, forecasters and routers will have less time to spend manually producing vessel-specific guidance. Wayfinder helps fill this operational gap, enabling FWC-N and FWC-SD to more efficiently support a large fleet in real time with automated forecast-on-route guidance. More efficient routing empowers FWC personnel to focus on challenging, mission-critical tasks that require their unique expertise.

Captain Erin Ceschini, Commanding Officer, FWC-SD, added, “By using Wayfinder, we’re able to better visualize our ships’ routes, and make safer and more streamlined decisions on route, speed, and heading. Wayfinder has the potential to be a critical component of our day-to-day operations and a key driver of safe routing as we contend with an increasingly unpredictable weather landscape.“