An agreement between a shipyard and a marine sector technology developer has led to the introduction of the Sharktech range of autonomous vessels.
US shipbuilder Metal Shark has joined forces with autonomous vessel technology developer ASV Global. Together they will build vessels in aluminium, steel and composite materials from 5 m to almost 100 m long.
These will be configured for military, law enforcement, fire rescue and commercial markets. Metal Shark chief executive Chris Allard said autonomous technology “has matured from its fledgling stages” and together these companies are “streamlining the process of autonomous technology integration”.
Sharktech is designed for dangerous missions in remote or hostile environments, for endurance missions where it may be necessary for vessels to loiter in a holding pattern for extended periods, or for any mission simply undesirable for a human crew.
ASV Global chief executive Thomas Chance said Sharktech has an ASView control system that “multiple modes including unmanned operations, reduced manned operations, or conventional manned operations”. ASV Global can assist with mission payload and sensor integration, control and remote supervision.
ASView features dynamic collision avoidance with robust decision-making capability. Depending on configuration, the system considers data from multiple situational awareness inputs, including radars, 360˚ daylight and thermal cameras and information from the automatic identification system to safely identify and steer clear of stationary and moving obstacles.
This also supports the integration and autonomous or remote operation of equipment, including:
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