8 Proceedings Spring 2025 At the RDC, the turn of the 21st century brought refined nationwide AIS, and new advancements in oil spill response such as dispersant protocols and manag- ing submerged oil. A new area of focus for researchers— acquisition support—brought Juniper-class buoy tenders and 47-foot motor lifeboats to the service. Center innovations also directly supported armed forces and disaster response efforts with the Coast Guard rendering security and aid in its first direct military response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Of the estimated 60,000 people in need of rescue from rooftops and flooded homes after Katrina, Coast Guardsmen saved more than 33,500, including the evacuation of 9,409 medical patients.2 These rescue and response efforts were some of the largest in Coast Guard history, involving units from every district. Questions about solutions for mission aid remained at the forefront of the RDC’s purpose when it was rehomed in New London, Connecticut, in 2009. SAR- based research steadily drove new advancements to the service as it had since the center’s creation in 1972. These efforts now resulted in lateral range curves—a method for estimating effective sweep width during searches— and NVG sweep widths, along with self-locating datum marker buoys, upgraded radar performance, and a SAR victim empirical survival model, to name only a few. Researchers also continued advancing oil spill response with oil-in-ice studies and the development of a strategic plan for oil/hazardous materials accounting for much of the inquiry through 2010. As port security came under Coast Guard auspices, surveillance systems, nonlethal vessel stopping, risk-based decision-making, and WMD response augmented mission performance. The largest accidental offshore oil spill in the history of the petro- leum industry—the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010— catalyzed new research investments in oil spill response including full-scale, in-situ burning of oil in both seawa- ter and freshwater. Between 2010 and 2015, research in high-latitude capabilities, uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), and polar icebreakers (PIB) further aided the Coast Guard. Other new technologies and creative solutions resulted in the development of biometric identification technolo- gies—the forerunner of today’s DHS Office of Biometric Identity Management—and annual Arctic technology evaluations of many new capabilities such as PIB ice radars. SAR benefited from research associated with electro-optical sensor system performance and mass res- cues. Continuing research in spill response generated scientific understanding of oil sands products, while aids to navigation research progressed. Additionally, various important aviation and surface fleet organizational deci- sions benefited when the RDC opened its Modeling and Simulation Center of Expertise in 2014. Response to natural disasters, including hurricanes, directed much research from 2015 to 2020. At the begin- ning of 2015, Coast Guard forces assisted with hurricane response, leading to a number of developments in the field of SAR, including multiple person vertical lifts, cell- phone location, and enhanced detection of person-in- the-water technology. Additionally, aids to navigation research produced virtual aids based on AIS technology
