Fundamentals Of Unmanned Surface Vessel

By Brian Green


The navy and research facilities have been pushing the limits in what they can accomplish in the water since the end of the Second World War. One of the accomplishments of the hard work was the invention of the unmanned surface vessel also commonly referred to as autonomous surface vehicle. The abbreviations USV and ASV are normally used respectively. This article discusses some basic information about this relatively new water technology in terms of application and features.

Like it is suggested in the name, autonomous surface vehicles are a kind of water vessel that can be propagated into the water without a crew onboard. This technology makes use of tele-operation where it is tele-operated by a crew ashore or on other manned water vessels. This way, risks to human beings is reduced significantly. However, this technology has been found not to necessarily optimize the utilization of personnel.

Immediately World War Two ended, work on the USV started and many countries participated. Israel pioneered this area of warfare by developing several prototypes that were developed into finished vehicles. By the year 2005, Israel had a fully functional USV in its waters. Most first-world countries currently maintain several units of these devices and they use them for various purposes both domestically and internationally.

Before their adoption in the navy, USVs were mostly used for academic and research applications. Several universities and research facilities owned their own units, which they used to research life in the ocean and other water bodies. With these vessels, they could reach deeper into the sea and maintain a presence for several hours or days. This made research easier and more discoveries were made.

With the military adopting USVs, their complexity and uses drastically changed. Today, the navy uses them for a wide variety of applications including mine sweeping, area access denial, harbor security, vessel protection, surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, protection of critical infrastructure, and search and rescue operations among many others. As complexity increases and features are included, more applications are discovered.

In most USV models, only a mast protrudes above the water but the rest of the body remains under water. The purpose of the mast is air intake and communication. The navy benefits in a a number of ways from this design since it allows for excellent passive stability, large payload volumes, and utilization of internal combustion propulsion systems. Models that are used for offensive missions incorporate systems for pinpointing, aiming, and firing at air, sea, and land based targets.

Initially, these devices relied on liquid fuel for propulsion. This often limited their range and period they could stay in the water without the need to refill. Thus, research was started on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and more recently wave energy. A small number of vessels that use wind and solar have been produced by most countries.

So far, most USVs range in size from small to medium. Most of them are similar in size to recreational watercrafts, that is, from 2-15 meters long and displacing 1.5-10 tons of water. They rely on wireless communication with base stations. They also incorporate sensor data collection systems.




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