A Solitons autonomous vehicle under sail on open ocean at dusk

U.S. Patent No. 12,691,980 · Issued July 2026

Building the infrastructure for
persistent ocean intelligence

One patented airframe sails on the surface and glides underwater. No conventional propulsion, no support vessel — designed to stay on station for months.

Partner with us See the architecture

The gap

Persistent ocean presence is still unsolved

Ocean observation runs on four kinds of platform today. Each is constrained by cost, by coverage, by the single domain it can operate in, or by the energy it burns to move. None of them can simply stay.

  • Research vessel at sea

    Research ships

    Exceptional capability, but expensive to run and deployed only intermittently.

  • Moored ocean buoy

    Buoys

    Inexpensive and reliable, but stationary. Coverage never extends past the mooring.

  • Uncrewed surface vessel

    Surface drones

    Mobile on the surface, with no access to anything below it.

  • Underwater glider in deep blue water

    Underwater gliders

    The water column only. Slow to reposition, and no continuous surface link.

  • Solitons vehicle on the surface

    Solitons

    Surface and subsurface from one airframe. Persistent presence, not a sortie.

Persistent ocean presence remains one of the world’s unsolved infrastructure challenges.

The architecture

One airframe. Two operating modes.

Rather than building separate vehicles for the surface and the water column, Solitons changes what it is by rotating its central body. The same fin pair does both jobs.

Diagram of the Solitons vehicle in surface sailing mode with vertical fins, and in underwater gliding mode with horizontal fins

Surface mode

Fins vertical. It sails.

Upright fins give the vehicle the stability and sail area to make way on wind alone, while it holds a continuous satellite link and recharges.

Underwater mode

Rotate 90°. It glides.

The same fins become horizontal wings. Variable buoyancy converts vertical motion into forward flight through the water column — no propeller, almost no power.

Applications

Built once. Used everywhere.

The platform stays the same across markets. Only the payload and the software layer change.

  • Open ocean surface

    Ocean intelligence

    A continuous global ocean data layer

  • Coral reef ecosystem

    Environmental monitoring

    Climate, reefs and ecosystems

  • Maritime horizon at dusk

    Defense

    Maritime domain awareness and security

  • Offshore energy platform

    Offshore energy

    Assets, pipelines and platforms

  • Subsea cable infrastructure

    Critical infrastructure

    Cables, ports and pipelines

  • Scientific research at sea

    Scientific research

    Continuous, low-cost ocean data

A coordinated fleet of Solitons vehicles on open ocean

The network

One vehicle is a sensor.
A fleet is infrastructure.

Individual computers became exponentially more useful once they were networked. Autonomous ocean vehicles behave the same way. Each unit shares what it observes, adapts its mission to what the fleet is learning, and takes on whichever role creates the most value at that moment.

A Solitons vehicle deploying an aerial drone from its rear compartment

System of systems

A platform, not just a vehicle

Once a persistent ocean node exists, it becomes a foundation for other systems. A vehicle holding station can launch and recover an aerial drone to extend its reach past the horizon — for inspection, communications relay or time-sensitive reconnaissance.

Not under development today. The architecture is designed to allow it.

Intellectual property

The invention is protected. Validation is next.

U.S. Patent No. 12,691,980

Vehicle Operable as an Underwater Glider and a Surface Sailing Vehicle

  • 20Claims
  • Jul 2026Issued
  • 1Airframe, two modes

Every deep-tech company starts by retiring technical risk. The core architecture is now protected, which settles the question of novelty. The next milestone is no longer invention — it is validation.

The roadmap

Patent. Validate. Deploy. Scale.

This is a structured validation programme with defined technical milestones. Each one retires risk and raises the value of what comes after it.

  1. Patent issued

    Complete · July 2026

  2. Simulation & modelling

    Hydrodynamic and control-law modelling across both modes

  3. Instrumented tank testing

    Measured mode transition and stability in controlled water

  4. Subscale prototype

    First integrated airframe demonstrating the rotation

  5. Open-water prototype

    Endurance and autonomy in real sea state

  6. Pilot deployments

    Real missions with launch customers

  7. Ocean network

    Coordinated fleet, persistent coverage

Partner with Solitons

The operating system of the ocean
starts with staying there

  • Prototype partners

    Co-develop and accelerate the first platform

  • Pilot customers

    Validate the platform on real-world missions

  • Ocean science advisors

    Shape the technology and its applications

  • Strategic industry partners

    Extend reach and build long-term value

  • Pre-seed investors

    Fund the path from patent to impact