NATO Scans Seabed with AUVs



by Scott Kesselman



From 22 Sept. to 13 Oct. the NATO Centre for Maritime Research is testing multiple autonomous underwater vehicles at the Multinational AutoNomy Experiment off the Italian coast to collect data to improve underwater acoustic imaging techniques, primarily for mine countermeasures.



Using autonomous vehicles for seabed mapping keeps navy personnel out of potentially dangerous areas and can lead to advancements in other fields including environmental and archaeological surveys.



CMRE is a leader in operating quickly deployable, cost-effective autonomous systems that reduce risk to personnel. The center also develops techniques for handling large data sets from high-resolution sonar and AUV systems that can adapt from planned routes based on acquired information.  



During the experiment the systems will be challenged in areas of heavy clutter and other complex environments designed to stress automatic target recognition software for optimization of detection rates with fewer false alarms.