Shoreline Protection Technology
Shore Protection & Recovery

Stop erosion. Reverse it.

Our solution combines two distinct, patent-pending technologies that work together to stop erosion and re-grow coastlines the natural way.

Primary Inventor
Gene Avakyan, primary inventor

Gene Avakyan

Serial entrepreneur, Agentic AI Transformation Architect, and technical leader with three decades of U.S. federal government, invention, and industry experience.

  • Co-founder & President of VUGA Group — Miami-based holding of 15+ companies / 100+ brands across media, SaaS, aviation and philanthropy on four continents; 200M+ global viewers, 65M+ monthly web visitors
  • CEO & co-founder of Edison Aerospace — sustainable electric aviation and unmanned aircraft for agriculture and U.S. defense
  • Built VUGA Media Group — 100+ online publications reaching 15M+ monthly visitors; TV ventures 24Fashion TV & Gossip Stone TV reach 350M+ households worldwide
  • U.S. Federal Aviation Administration — in charge of all civil aviation in the United States
  • Directed US $13B+ in government contracts
  • Lead architect of all financial applications for the City of Los Angeles' City Attorney and Mayor's office, all ports and airports
  • Member of InfraGard — FBI-affiliated partnership protecting U.S. critical infrastructure
  • MOSAIC Federation Award for humanitarian work against human trafficking; also recognized by the City of Los Angeles
  • Featured in The Independent, Yahoo Finance, Jerusalem Post and major publications worldwide
  • Author — "How Trump Played the Media… Again" and "Law Firm Marketing Bible" (VUGA Publishing)
  • UCLA Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering degree ('rocket scientist') · Pepperdine University MBA
Technology

Technical principles of our system

Each component is a 2.5 m long, 1.5 m wide section made of biodegradable PHA plastic, with a vertical anchor fin submerged into the sandy bottom during installation. Fin length varies with sea-floor conditions — different compositions require different anchoring. After installation, sand fills the internal cavity and acts as ballast, keeping the device firmly planted in the sea floor.

System principle diagram

Materials chemistry & selection

We use two materials depending on the client's goal. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) is made from carbon-rich renewable resources and breaks down into carbon dioxide and water — fully dissolving underwater in roughly one year, ideal for continuously growing the beach layer by layer. Polylactic acid (PLA) is made from renewable plant-starch biomass, breaks down more slowly, and holds a newly formed beach at a fixed size for several years.

Installation

Unlike slurry-filled geotubes or dredging, our system requires no heavy machinery on the beach. Lightweight components are installed by hand by a pair of workers along a marked line running from the shore out to 20–50 m, depending on local topography.

Installed SPT system in near-shore environment
Installed SPT System in a near-shore environment.
The Physics

Working with nature, not against it

Our system interrupts the longshore current — the flow running along the beach created by waves striking the shoreline at oblique angles. Man-made structures disrupt natural sand flow along the coast; our patent-pending device compensates for those interruptions using natural principles.

The device acts like a 'speed bump', slowing water passing over it by forming vortices across its cylindrical surface. The slowed flow drops the sand grains it carries, depositing them near the device and raising the sea floor gradually and naturally — without harming the creatures that call the ecosystem home. In-house prototype testing has demonstrated high effectiveness even under conditions more difficult than encountered in real life.

Wave simulation tank testing
Wave-simulation tank testing (before / during / after a 60-minute wave test).
The Problem With Everything Else

Other methods of controlling erosion

Past engineering solutions relied on force over finesse — dredging, groynes, sea walls and gabions. The most common method today is dredging.

Dredging

Damages the underwater ecosystem, buries small organisms alive, and disturbs settled heavy-metal deposits — creating a toxic environment and exposing beachgoers to the same toxins. Add high cost and the need to repeat every six months to a year, and it should be a government's last option.

Groynes

Unsightly and disruptive to bathers, surfers and walkers. Typically built from stone or wood, they cost far more than our approach, and wooden groynes need constant upkeep as planks wear out under seawater.

Sea walls & gabions

The most expensive and permanent method. They make no attempt to recover the shoreline — a last line of defense, justified only where erosion has encroached too close to human habitation and no sand is available to rebuild a beach.

Our system

Lightweight, hand-installed, biodegradable, and self-reinforcing as sand accumulates. It fixes the underlying cause of erosion rather than the symptom — at a fraction of the cost and ecological damage.

Two Technologies, One System

Anti-erosion tubes & Eco Reef blocks

The erosion-blocking tube (patent pending) is a barrier engineered from marine-biodegradable plastics that restrains shifting sands driven by longshore currents. Using the minimum of material, the tubes cause sand to pile up and cover them, raising the sea floor. Once buried, they break down via naturally occurring bacteria — and new tubes can be laid over the previous ones to keep regrowing the beach.

Eco Reef Blocks (patent pending) build artificial reef structures on the sea floor that reduce and redirect wave energy to minimize longshore currents, working in tandem with the tubes to stop and reverse erosion. Properly designed, they can even shape a consistent surfing wave. Eco Reefs also shelter marine life, create popular diving spots, and — seeded with oysters — function as a natural water-purification system.

Intellectual Property & Legal Notice

Protected by U.S. patents and trade-secret law.

The Shoreline Protection Technology system — including all methods, engineered sand anti-erosion tubes, Eco Reef structures, designs, and processes — is the exclusive property of Edison Aerospace LLC and the VUGA Group, protected by pending United States patent applications and held as proprietary trade secrets.

Any unauthorized reproduction, reverse-engineering, manufacture, resale, or commercial deployment of this technology — in any country or jurisdiction — will be pursued and prosecuted to the fullest extent of applicable United States law and every enforceable legal remedy available internationally. Prospective partners and governments are engaged exclusively under written agreement.

Patent Pending · Proprietary · Confidential