UMS Info

Unmanned maritime systems

Unmanned maritime systems get far less public attention than drones in the sky, yet the field is moving quickly. The section covers both surface vessels and underwater vehicles – platforms used for survey, monitoring, research and a growing list of commercial tasks that used to require a crewed boat. Many of the hard problems mirror those in aerial autonomy: sensing the environment, avoiding collisions and operating reliably far from any human hand.

What surprises people coming from the aerial side is how different the operating environment is. Saltwater, currents, limited communications underwater and long mission durations all push the engineering in directions that look nothing like a quadcopter, even though the underlying autonomy concepts rhyme.

Reference material for the maritime sector

The collection here brings together datasheets, brochures and technical material from manufacturers and research groups working on unmanned maritime platforms. As with the rest of the site, full access is free but reserved for registered visitors. If you work in this sector and have material to add, we would welcome it – the maritime side of the archive has the most room to grow.