UK Ministry of Defense to Acquire Autonomous Maritime Demo System
The UK Ministry of Defence's new maritime autonomy demonstration system includes three Iver3 UUVs. Photo: SeeByte.
SeeByte, creator of smart software for unmanned maritime systems, received an order from the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence, Defence Equipment and Support for a maritime autonomy demonstration system.
The system will pair three Iver3 unmanned underwater vehicles using SeeByte’s SeeTrack Neptune software and allow for autonomous vehicle collaboration. Neptune and onboard automatic target recognition software enables the UUVs to adapt to new targets improving capabilities by Mine Countermeasure task groups.
The Royal Navy Maritime Autonomous Systems Trails Team will accept delivery of the system, which also includes L-3 Klein 3500 bathymetric and side-scan sonars, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Micro Modem 2 systems for acoustic communications and navigation, Teledyne navigation systems and KVH optic gyros.
“This new generation of autonomous systems should serve to inform in the development of a joint MCM and hydrography capability equipped with off-board assets,” says Alastair Cormack of SeeByte. “They should also help research and develop uses to support other future naval capabilities, such as the MHC [Mine Hunter Coastal] and the Type 26 Frigate.”
