Our Services
The founder of CAIRD Sextant brings more than 35 years of professional experience, including more than 23 providing direct support to Navy environmental engineering projects. This expertise is augmented by subject matter experts that can be brought to support specialized needs of our clients. Examples of the services we can provide include:
Research and Development Support
Our staff has extensive experience in the areas of research and development, including conducting and publishing ocean science research, reviewing proposals for energy research and development funding, and evaluating research supporting policy decisions. CAIRD Sextant is a firm believer in the approach "Build a Little, Test a Little, Learn a Lot" established by the late Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer, father of the Navy Aegis program. This approach is based on the idea that complex research and development problems can be better solved by breaking them down in smaller components where clear controlled evaluations can be performed and lesson learned developed that can later be applied to larger systems.
Our staff brings expertise and experience in scientific investigations designed to understand oceanographic process and develop new technologies for ocean research. Efforts included collection and analysis of oceanographic data with multiple instruments including remotely operated vehicles (ROV), and deployment of ocean observing systems and drifters in support of ocean observing program. Other experience include support during investigation of the circulation and pelagic ecosystem of a submerged seamount, and on a research expedition to the Weddell Sea, Antarctica to study ocean circulation and climate change.
Another example of CAIRD Sextant's technical depth and breadth in research and development is the experience of its staff as a member of the Advance Research Program Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Research and Development technical team that participated in the source selection process for concept papers submitted to the agency. This support consisted on the review of the technical depth, engineering feasibility, and potential of proposed concepts papers for biofuel technology to become game- changer in the energy market..
Engineering, System Engineering and Process Engineering Support
CAIRD Sextant staff brings experiences supporting multiple Engineering, System Engineering and Process Engineering efforts such Uniform National Discharge Standards (UNDS) Program, Pollution Prevention Plans (P2) for installations, and Environmental Assessment (EA) for Advanced Radar Detection Laboratory (ARDEL) at Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF). This latter project, conducted for Navy Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare System 2.0 (PEO IWS), evaluated the potential effects of the construction, and radio frequency (RF) radiation emissions on protected species; the potential impact of RF from system operations on humans in recreational boats and personnel in the vicinity of the radar; and RF radiation hazards on fuels and ordnance. Through the management of a database of vessel of the Armed Forces, our staff has extensive knowledge on the inventory and engineering characteristics of Navy vessels, from small utility boats to aircraft carriers and has been frequently consulted by Navy personnel when question arise on the topic. Our staff also assisted with the review of the 2014 Navy Environmental Readiness Program Manual (OPNAV M-5090.1), providing CAIRD Sextant with a deep understanding of the environmental policies guiding Navy environmental engineering efforts. Other relevant experience of our staff is the review of multiple sections of the Environmental Impact Statement for the Atlantic Fleet Testing and Training (AFTT) and the Hawaii-Southern California Training and Testing (HSTT), which allowed CAIRD Sextant to understand the environmental compliance requirements that must be met when activities are planned for either of these two large regions.
Modeling, Simulation, Stimulation, and Analysis Support
CAIRD Sextant staff has conducted, published, and reviewed diverse modeling efforts that range from conceptual models developed to organize, represent, and understand complex systems to simulations models of oceanographic features that predicted fluctuations in biological parameters driven by physical and chemical factors. One model was of plankton dynamics for the coastal upwelling system of Monterey Bay published in 2000 in Deep-Sea Research II 47, 1077-1106. Another model was a biogeochemical budget model developed for the Peru-Chile Coastline and included in a report on an international workshop on continental shelf fluxes of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. CAIRD Sextant staff has also reviewed conceptual models of major ecosystems of South Florida developed to assist with ecological restorations initiatives. CAIRD Sextant staff have experience with Weapon Effect Test (WET) conducted on decommissioned vessels, and FSST of the USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), and of the USS Jackson (LCS 6) and USS Milwaukee (LCS 5). This experience provides good understanding of capabilities and limitations of acoustic models developed by the Naval Underwater Warfare Center (NUWC) for the evaluation of impact on marine resources. Models are not an ultimate tool that produces a measurement. Instead, models are diverse representations of systems, sometime static, sometimes dynamic that allow investigators develop a better understanding of systems that are difficult to measure and that help make decisions and guide future research by pointing to areas not well understood, or were the better data is required.
System Safety Engineering Support
Through work supporting not only Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health (ESOH) tasks but other tasks like the previously mentioned ARDEL EA, our staff has developed a solid understanding of issues affecting System Safety Engineering Support. For example, CAIRD Sextant staff have used the MIL-STD-882E (Department of Defense Standard Practice: System Safety) to support a program system review (PSR) for a new vessel for the Military Sealift Command. We are also familiar with changes from MIL-STD-882D (e.g., additional task for Hazardous Materials Management Plan, Functional Hazard Analysis, Systems-of-Systems Hazard Analysis, and Environmental Hazard Analysis) and knows how to implement the standard to support system safety.
Interoperability, Test and Evaluation, Trials Support
The experience gained during the support of the FSST of the USS Mesa Verde, the LCS FSST program, four Weapon Effect Test, and shipbuilders sea trials has provided knowledge on the process required to ensure new platforms are properly tested and that requirement are met thought the life cycle of the asset as required by the Navy OPNAVINST 9072.2. These tests can be complex activities that require coordination and collaboration from multiple teams such as Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical (HM&E), instrumentation and data analysis, Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems and Intelligence (C5I) and others. Tests can be conducted on ships at sea or on components under controlled environment like in the testing ponds. Tests require strong coordination and leadership to ensure successful events.
Program Support
Program support consistently has been a major part of the technical support provided by the CAIRD Sextant staff. Our staff has routinely developed short and long terms plan of actions, identifying staffing need to ensure plans can be executed, and establishing detailed schedules of actions to complete tasks, identify responsible staff, and manage efforts.