What To Know Regarding Unmanned Surface Vessel

By Brian Green


Since the culmination of WWII, a lot of research has been going on in the navy as well as research facilities on what can be accomplished in the water. The invention of unmanned surface vessel also called autonomous surface vehicle was one of the accomplishments of that research. The two names are often abbreviated to USV and ASV respectively. This technology is still new and here is some basic information about them.

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 after World War Two, many countries started work on the USVs. This area of warfare was pioneered by Israel and it developed several prototypes that were manufactured into finished products. By 2005, there were fully operational USVs in Israeli waters. Currently, many countries maintain naval fleets of USVs for domestic and foreign missions.

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.

As USV technology started to be adopted by the navy, there was drastic change in the use and level of sophistication of the vehicles. Today, their uses in the navy include harbor security, vessel protection, mine sweeping, surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, area access denial, search and rescue operations, and protection of critical infrastructure. More features are being included which has led to more uses.

Most models of USVs have the whole body submerged below the water with only a mast showing up. The mast serves to enable communication with base stations and to take in air. This design presents several advantages to the navy in particular because it allows for large payload volumes, excellent passive stability, and employment of internal combustion propulsion systems. The models used for offensive missions include systems for identifying, targeting, and firing on targets on land, sea, and air.

Initially, these vehicles were propelled by liquid fuels. Liquid fuels placed limits on how far they could go and how long they can remain in water without refilling. Thus, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and wave energy started to be researched. To that end, many countries have produced models that rely on solar and wind for energy.

So far, modern USVs are small to medium in size. Their size is the same as that of recreational watercrafts. Typically, they have lengths that measure between 2 and 15 meters and they displace between 1.5-10 tons of water. Wireless platforms provide means of communication with base stations.




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