Define the coverage outcome.
Area, cadence, variables, operating limits, and data format.
OceanStrideContactAutonomous coastal observation
More useful coverage, through the water column.
OceanStride is developing DriftWing—a low-energy profiling glider designed to ride depth-varying currents, make limited course corrections, and return useful coastal data.
- Stage
- Concept development
- Demonstrated
- Mission simulation
- Next proof
- Instrumented prototype
01 / DriftWing
A familiar glider architecture, adapted for current-aware missions.
The proposed vehicle uses a slender pressure hull, fixed wings, variable buoyancy, and a compact surface communications mast. Active propulsion is reserved for short corrections rather than continuous travel.
02 / Modeled evidence
Software evidence, clearly separated from ocean proof.
A causal study replayed historical 2013 NOAA model analyses across 21 defined missions. It is a planning result—not field performance and not a claim of a validated vehicle.
- 3 / 21
- Modeled cases that reached the defined arrival threshold
- 26.1 days
- Duration of one successful showcase mission
- 3.64 × 10−12
- Maximum logged cross-language continuous-state difference
The simulator, historical-current data workflow, and MATLAB/C/CUDA CPU-fallback consistency checks exist today. The CUDA GPU path is authored but has not yet been compiled or benchmarked. Numerical agreement verifies implementation consistency, not the accuracy of the vehicle model.
Read the full technical note03 / Operating model
Coverage as a service.
The commercial hypothesis is to deliver reliable monitoring outcomes rather than sell a vehicle alone. OceanStride would plan missions, supervise the asset, quality-control the observations, and deliver usable profiles.
Run the mission.
Routing, vehicle health, recovery awareness, and re-planning.
Return usable profiles.
Quality control, reporting, and repeatable mission records.
Initial customer hypothesis
Coastal environmental monitoring and aquaculture support.
DriftWing is intended to improve spatial and depth coverage between vessel surveys. The beachhead, purchasing model, and mission economics still require direct customer discovery.
04 / Development
The next proof is physical.
Progress is organized around evidence gates: prove the mechanism, characterize it in a tank, then earn a controlled-water trial.
- NowIn progress
Architecture and mission review
Customer discovery, marine engineering review, requirements, failure modes, and a testable vehicle specification.
- NextPlanned
Instrumented bench prototype
Measure buoyancy actuation, energy per cycle, sensing, communications, control electronics, and pressure integrity.
- ThenFuture gate
Tank and controlled-water validation
Establish stability, repeatability, operating limits, telemetry, recovery procedures, and acceptance criteria with a test partner.
05 / Company
Founder-led in Ontario, Canada.
OceanStride is an early-stage project led by Ben Malvern. Work to date includes mission simulation, forecast-data integration, routing logic, and native-code implementation.
The company is seeking marine engineering review, customer conversations, and an appropriate future test partner.
Speak with Ben