The Concept
A distributed network of high-resolution, accelerometer-equipped, Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), self-navigating buoys to identify stealth Navy vessels using their unique wake fingerprints.
Hackathon Origins
This project was developed at the NYC Defense Tech Hackathon organized by Entrepreneur First. Judges included the CTO of Saronic, Palantirians, Anduril alumni, and VCs from 8VC, Caffeinated Capital, and a16z.
Proof of Concept
Built a Bluetooth-connected accelerometer buoy and tested it in a pool with RC boats. The system successfully identified different boats by their accelerometer data alone—proving that vessels do create unique wake signatures.
Expert Consultation
Consulted with an Electronics Engineer at Harvard's Center for Astrophysics and a researcher at Google Quantum AI to understand the physics and feasibility at scale.
Why It Failed
The physics are fundamentally flawed for ocean-scale deployment. The wake signal deteriorates too quickly in ocean noise to be detected at the distances required for military applications. What works in a pool doesn't scale to the open sea.
Interesting Followup
The Chinese Navy later demonstrated ship detection using satellite imagery of wakes—validating the core concept that wakes are detectable, but proving that a different approach (optical from above rather than mechanical from sea level) is required.