81 Spring 2025 Proceedings Western Rivers buoy prototypes. They were deployed in a range of operational environments in the Northeast, Gulf Coast, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States. Additionally, the RDC team evaluated alternative mooring technologies, like synthetic rope in lieu of tradi- tional chain mooring systems predominantly used in the ATON system today, to identify benefits and drawbacks of using these systems. The RDC team worked closely with Coast Guard ATON units to deploy, inspect, and recover Next Gen test buoys from rivers, harbors, bays, and offshore areas in the three test regions. The team completed test deployments of the full range of Coast Guard buoy tender assets from small boats to large seagoing cutters. Objectives of the field demonstration were to evaluate the performance of buoy designs in different environmental conditions, assess operational compatibility, and determine any future fleet impacts. Throughout testing, the team collected invaluable feedback from buoy tender sailors and waterways managers on how the Coast Guard could leverage the technology in the current ATON system. At the conclusion of testing, the project team provided key stakeholders with a summary of the field demonstra- tion and overall recommendations for implementing the technology for maxi- mum operational benefit and return on investment. Further use of this tech- nology may help the Coast Guard yield acquisition, maintenance, and opera- tional cost savings. However, the team also highlighted several risks such as durability, color fade, and recycling that warrant careful consideration to implement the technology. PATON Verifications with a Mobile App PATON, or private aids to navigation, is another com- ponent of the ATON mission for which the Coast Guard has a key role and regulatory oversight. PATON refers to any ATON such as buoys, fixed structures, or lights used to mark navigational hazards or assist with naviga- tion operations that are established and maintained by private owners or other local, state, or federal entities. Federal law and regulations authorize the Coast Guard to administer PATON located in the United States as mandated in Title 33 Code of Federal Regulations. In its regulatory authority, the Coast Guard is required to periodically inspect more than 41,000 PATON nation- wide to ensure they are charted, functioning properly, and are compliant as permitted. With limited staff- ing available to complete these inspections, the Coast Guard generally delegates this responsibility to quali- fied aid verifiers (AV) in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. In a recent project, the RDC partnered with the newly estab- lished 33-person Coast Guard Auxiliary Research and Development Unit to investigate ways to modernize and streamline the current PATON verification and reporting process. In its current state, the process is time consuming and manually intensive for both Coast Guard and Auxiliary personnel. It relies heavily on paper or digital forms and is susceptible to human error. With lim- ited staffing available to handle the reg- ular volume of reports and manually enter report data into the aids to navi- gation information system (ATONIS) database, the Coast Guard is not able to maximize the value of the data col- lected in a timely fashion. This data is critical for the Coast Guard to update mariner products like the Light List and provide up-to-date ATON data to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for nautical chart updates. This project investigated the use of mobile application technol- ogy to streamline the PATON reporting process in concert with modern elec- tronic navigation chart (ENC) tools. To modernize the reporting process, the team surveyed all districts to iden- tify existing tools and processes used to manage and report on PATON. It found and selected the Aid Verification Assistant (AVA), an existing tool, to further develop into an enterprise-capable method to help modernize and improve efficiency in the reporting process. AVA is a mobile app developed by an auxiliarist that leverages mobile phones and devices to automate and simplify the reporting process. It can reduce the time required for a trained AV to generate a report from one to two hours to a few minutes. With the use of the app, AVs no longer must review and print out information from multiple sources. Instead, they can simply open the app and have the latest PATON information at their fingertips. AVA eliminates many sources of manual error and increases confidence in reports through GPS accuracy, data integ- rity, and annotated photographs. The team integrated several new features in AVA to better meet stakeholder needs, including: • The latest revised Coast Guard PATON The Light List is a list of all active ATON and PATON the Coast Guard has authorized and established, their locations, and characteristics.
