Next Level Awareness for Next Level USVs

It is clear that the pace of development in Autonomous/Uncrewed Surface Vessel (ASV/USV) technologies and applications is steadily increasing.

The confluence of greater at sea broadband connectivity, AI based vehicle control systems, and the limited pool of mariners coupled with the successes of uncrewed systems in the war in Ukraine has created an enormous opportunity for these platforms. The industry is ripe for widerspread adoption of these vehicles in not only defense applications but also hydrographic survey, search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and (soon) cargo/passenger transport. However, as more applications come online, there is one key factor that cannot be overlooked: what is underwater, ahead of the vessel right now?

Historically, USV development focused on the use of above water sensors (such as GPS, AIS, radar, and optical/thermal sensors) and ensuring compliance with US Coast Guard Rules-of-the-Road and COLREGS. Testing of these initial platforms took place either in well-charted areas or deep water locations where concerns about underwater hazards could be minimized. This means that up until recently, the underwater piece of the navigation puzzle has been largely ignored. However, this assumption in simplifying navigational needs is not scalable as ASV/USV’s move out of these simplified environments. Read more…