ASPEN was developed by MITRE Corporation, a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) that operates at the intersection of national security, defense technology, and advanced R&D. MITRE built ASPEN to give the U.S. Navy a high-fidelity, physics-accurate simulation environment for autonomous underwater vehicles — one that could replace costly at-sea test cycles with repeatable, instrumented digital experiments.
The technology transfer to the Naval Postgraduate School reflects an ongoing partnership between MITRE and NPS to accelerate military-relevant research. NPS students and faculty gain direct access to a professional-grade simulation platform that would otherwise require years of institutional development — enabling graduate research that is immediately relevant to fleet modernization, autonomous systems programs, and undersea warfare strategy.
What ASPEN is, what was transferred, what it can do, who built it, and why it matters for NPS. Start here.
Start HereThe NVIDIA stack (GPU, Omniverse, Isaac Sim), system architecture, key concepts explained with analogies, vehicle fleet, sensors, and data pipeline.
Deep DiveTwo-level setup guide — executive summary for leadership and step-by-step technical walkthrough from unboxing to first simulation.
Setup Guide12 recommended courses in 3 tiers — Required, Recommended, and Enrichment — with links, estimated time, and why each matters for ASPEN.
CoursesHow to deliver an effective ASPEN demo — executive talking points, pre-demo checklist, 5-act demo flow, Q&A prep, and troubleshooting.
PresentationCodebase walkthrough — what's in each repo, key files to read first, architectural patterns, and how to make your first code change.
Code Reference35 key terms — USD, fVDB, PhysX, 6-DOF, Bellhop, ROMS, and more — with category tags and concise definitions.
ReferenceWhat you need to run ASPEN — minimum specs, Alienware demo station, DGX Spark vs. DGX GB300, and a decision matrix for which hardware fits which task.
ReferenceWhere to get bathymetry and ocean data (GEBCO, NOAA, HYCOM, NCOM, ROMS), supported formats, and a step-by-step guide to adding new simulation locations.
Reference25 graduate research topics across 6 categories — vehicle autonomy, acoustic sensing, ocean modeling, multi-agent systems, sim-to-real transfer, and C2 systems.
ResearchRead Overview & Architecture. Order hardware.
Complete NVIDIA Tier 1 courses. Set up Alienware per Getting Started guide.
Run first simulation. Study Repository Guide. Practice the demo.
Tier 2 courses. Modify simulations. Add new environments from Data Sources guide.
Thesis research. Scale to DGX GB300. Contribute back to ASPEN.