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Platform

Persistent and pervasive arrays of affordable, mission-ready sensors

Tensor™ vehicles, Tensor Operating System™ (TOPS™), and data delivery operating as one sensing system.

The model

CubeSats for the Ocean

  • Standard size, mass manufacturable

    An A-size form factor that fits existing sonobuoy launch containers and is designed for volume production.

  • Distributed arrays

    Many affordable vehicles give persistent, wide-area coverage that a few high-end platforms can’t.

  • Data as a service

    Customers task the array through TOPS and receive data.

See how a mission runs

Overview

Mission lifecycle

Ocean observing has relied on ships, moorings, and expendable sensors that are slow, sparse, and sporadic. Apeiron Labs replaces them with fleets of affordable, mission-ready Tensor vehicles that deploy by air or sea, sample the upper 400 m continuously for months, and can be recovered for reuse.

How a Mission Runs

Before launch At sea

  1. Step 01: Sensing plan

    Mutually agreed operating area, depth limits, mission objectives, deployment/recovery waypoints.

  2. Step 02: Pre-deployment

    72 hr drift estimation. Data pipeline verification. Field-ops briefing on Iridium & emergency protocols.

  3. Step 03: Deploy

    Vehicles launched from aircraft, drones, surface vessels, or subsurface vessels. Autonomous launch from uncrewed platforms. No specialized equipment required.

  4. Step 04: Operate

    Apeiron HQ monitors telemetry, replans adaptively, runs daily 15-min ops call. Customer recovers if applicable.

  5. Step 05: Deliver

    Decimated ocean profiles within 1 hr of surfacing. Weekly reports. Post-mission undecimated package & final report.

Drift estimation before launch
72 hr
Specialized infrastructure
0
Surfacing to data delivery
<1 hr

Vehicles

Tensor: a Maneuverable Float™

An A-size (36″ × 4.875″) Maneuverable Float that can drift, profile, glide, or loiter in the water column. It services the upper 400 m in littoral and deep-water regions, persistently loiters within a small watch circle, and is reusable or attritable.

  • Hull rated to 1,300 ft (400 m)
  • Patented ring wing; 3D-printed nose and tail
  • Compatible with sonobuoy launch containers
  • Scalable to larger form factors and endurances
Tensor underwater glider

Tensor Specifications

Weight
10 kg
Length
36″ (914.4 mm)
Hull diameter
4⅞″ (123.825 mm)
Endurance
Months
Forward speed
0.5 kt
Station keeping
1 km watch circle
Communications
Iridium · Wi-Fi · custom radio · 4G LTE (planned)

Specifications subject to change without notice.

Request the Tensor Datasheet

Payloads & Integration

Modular sensors and communications

Standard sensors on every vehicle: pressure, GPS, and IMU. Sensor and communication packages swap by configuration, and customer sensors can be integrated by Apeiron Labs.

  • CTDScience-grade conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD), plus sound speed measurements
  • HydrophonePassive acoustic monitoring with autonomous detection capabilities
  • ACOMMSWHOI Micromodem for subsea acoustic communication
  • Sound VelocityDelivers sound velocity profiles to 400 m
  • Optional thrusterOptional thruster available for specific CONOPS
  • Tailorable payloadsIntegrated by Apeiron Labs. Discuss requirements in a capability brief.

Communications

Iridium satellite, Wi-Fi, acoustic modem.

Optional extras

Lithium or alkaline primary battery, air launch package, CUI data

Deployment & Scale

Deployment at fleet scale

Easy to deploy via air or surface vessels of opportunity. Reusable or attritable.

Air launch
Sonobuoy launch containers
Surface launch
Vessels of opportunity
Autonomous launch
Uncrewed aircraft and vessels
Lifetime
A few months, depending on sensor power
End of mission
Attritable or recoverable
Tensor vehicle air launch

TOPS

A fleet you can task from any browser

Complete cloud-based command and control using a web-browser.

TOPS fleet view: vehicle list with depth and battery, a tactical map of vehicle positions within a watch circle, and live telemetry for vehicle TS1-04428

  • Mission Planning

    High-resolution current modeling in any ocean.

  • Path Planning

    Logistics and fleet management.

  • Station Keeping

    Spatially persistent sampling within a 1 km watch circle.

  • Cloud-based C2

    Browser-based. No client install.

Data Products

Abundant upper ocean data at the lowest cost per 400 m profile

Access data through the customer portal, or integrate directly with APIs for external tasking and data delivery.

Validated in the field

Temperature (°C) 20 22 24 26 28 30 0 50 100 150 200 Depth (m)
Tensor and a reference ocean glider, profiles taken about 1 km and 5 minutes apart, upper 200 m. Temperature Correlation (R²) 0.998.
CTD and sound speed profiles
Conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD), plus sound speed, through the upper water column.
Passive acoustic monitoring
Hydrophone data with autonomous detection.
Data exfil
Iridium satellite, or subsea acoustic comms to a satellite gateway buoy.
Delivery
Customer portal · API for external tasking · API for data delivery

What you get from every profile

Temperature (°C) 7 9 11 13 0 100 200 300 Depth (m) Salinity (PSU) 33.4 33.9 34.4 0 100 200 300 Sound speed (m/s) 1484 1492 1500 0 100 200 300 Density (kg/m³) 1025 1027 1029 0 100 200 300
One Tensor profile, 6 to 350 m, delivered at 2 m resolution. Salinity smoothed over a 5 m window.

What you receive

Depth (m) Temperature (°C) Salinity (PSU) Density (kg/m³) Sound speed (m/s)
612.8133.401025.211497.7
1012.1933.421025.371495.8
2010.9333.511025.741491.7
3010.5233.521025.861490.4
5010.3233.751026.161490.3
1009.5233.911026.631488.4
2008.8034.131027.371487.7
3007.9734.241028.051486.3
3507.7134.221028.311486.2
Excerpt from one Tensor profile. Each profile is timestamped and positioned by GPS at surfacing, and delivered within an hour through the customer portal or API.

Request a Briefing

Additional mission results available in a capability brief. NDA available on request.

Request a Briefing