USV (Unmanned Surface Vehicle), applications and advantages

The Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) or Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) are vessels that operate on the water surface without any crew. These platforms can be remotely controlled by an operator located on land or on board another vessel, or they can be fully autonomous. Thereby maintaining a first line of defense or perform inspections of other ships, carry out reconnaissance missions, mapping, etc., while operators and other vessels are kept at a safe distance, avoiding unnecessary risks.

USVs are valuable for oceanographic applications, as they are more useful than weather buoys, but more cost-effective than weather ships or equivalent research vessels, and more adaptable than commercial vessels. With them, you can make bathymetry, exploration, and mapping of the marine funds and track large mammals for biological studies. There are USVs that are powered by the energy of the waves and from their solar cells, achieving months of maritime autonomy.

USVs are increasingly vital for defense applications, as they are more persistent than static coastal sensors, significantly more cost-effective than deploying crewed warships for routine patrols, and far safer for high-risk operations. With them, naval forces can perform long-range Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), harbor security, mine countermeasures (MCM), and anti-submarine tracking. Modern defense USVs often feature low-observable (stealth) designs and autonomous swarming capabilities, allowing them to extend a fleet’s operational reach while keeping operators out of harm’s way. 

They can be equipped with stabilized weapons systems, surveillance systems, and electro-optical tracking systems capable of monitoring both day and night by using infrared vision.

Veronte Autopilot 1x integration on USV

Some of the main performance and capability increases of the USV powered by Veronte Autopilot 1x are:

• Fully autonomous control of the USV.
• Improved safety systems: no-go areas and safe areas, configurable actions on a system failure or a data link loss (go home, system disconnect, shooting flares, light ignition, etc.).
• Ability to control multiple USVs as well as combinations of USVs with drones from a single or multiple control station.
• Veronte permits the configuration of missions relative to the control station, which can be located on land or on another boat.
• “Follow me” function for all kinds of tracking, such as tracking targets, other vessels, mammals, etc.
• Veronte Autopilot 1x is compatible with all kinds of vehicles: solar boats, catamarans, motorboats, etc.
• Automatic routines are configured depending on the information captured by the sensors.
• Satellite communications with global coverage.