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ACT Autonomous Surface Vehicle Workshop Report
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These reports outline a long-term strategy for the continued development, production,
testing, training, operation, and sustainment of unmanned systems technologies being
developed by other agencies, much of which is applicable to ASVs.
3.
Develop and communicate success cases to aid in greater adoption and use of ASV
platforms for a wide variety of survey and water quality monitoring applications. The
community needs examples of successful uses of ASVs in a variety of contexts and to
make the successes public to illustrate what can be done, to innovate new modes of
operation and new missions and where failures exist to inspire new solutions.
4.
Identify funding partners for continued research and development. Specifically, funding
sources should be identified that can aid in product development that, unlike Small
Business Innovation Research grants, don’t necessarily involve sensor development or
innovative technologies, but simply require careful engineering and system integration
that leads to higher levels of autonomy, more tightly integrated sensors and better
situational awareness for operators.
5.
Based upon recent successes, develop a U.S. version of the
Maritime Autonomous
Systems (Surface) – MAS(S): Being a Responsible Industry – An Industry Code of Practice
as currently exists in the U.K., as a set of recommended best practices. Early discussions
with NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard are strongly encouraged as well as with vessel
operators to assess liability issues and to avoid the need for stricter regulation of ASV
operations.
6.
Create a national/international, repository/database of available platforms and sensor
technologies.
7.
Develop expectations for responsible conduct of “at sea” operations as a function of
survey complexity (environment) based upon the Levels of Autonomy and Supervision
presented in this workshop.
8.
Develop a strategy for adoption by: a) looking at levels of autonomy and best practices
in other modes-terrestrial, aerial, etc.; and b) incorporate maturing technologies into
next generation ASVs.
ACT could help stimulate multiple markets and resource needs to demonstrate capacity. For
example, the IOOS Marine Sensor Innovation: Ocean Technology Transition appears ideal to aid
in further developing ASV technology for ocean applications (Department of Commerce, 2015).
Conclusions
•
At the current state of technology, Autonomous Surface Vehicles are better referred to
as
Unmanned
Surface Vehicles, given the current level of operator intervention and
monitoring that is required for safe and effective operations.
•
Unmanned systems, regardless of level of autonomy, should not be considered as viable
one-for-one replacements for manned survey platforms, nor should their adoption be
driven by a desire to reduce staffing. Unmanned systems are best applied where they