Unmanned Surface Vehicle: A Way to Make Waters More Accessible

Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) are redefining the way we approach oceans. They are primarily reconceptualizing voyage planning, overseas communication, navigation, and naval defense competencies and strengthening our national borders among various other applications. They roam the ocean's surface to collect information including oceanographic and atmospheric data as well as intruders' activity. USVs do all this without a human aboard. This is leading to the increasing demand for the same.

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The global USV market is growing at a CAGR of 4.9% and is expected to reach $3.0 billion in 2030. Of this, the commercial applications would make up 7.6% and the defense applications would contribute a CAGR of 3.8%. Operators at sea or on shore can remotely control USVs or program them in a way that makes them capable of conducting pre-planned missions and making decisions with real-time input.

A USV can be built in various designs such as that of a motorboat, sailboat, spaceship, surfboard, or even a large bathtub toy. Their form and characteristics (such as payload and power, size, and type of propulsion) are decided in alignment with their function. The global USV market can be categorized into small USV, medium USV, and large USV markets, based on their size, representing 3.8%, 4.7%, and 6.1% CAGR respectively. Among these, the medium USV held the highest market share of 47.0% amounting to $955.0 million in 2022, and is projected to reach $1.4 billion in 2030, growing at a CAGR of 4.7%.
USVs and the systems they carry can be powered by both non-renewable and renewable sources of energy. Renewable sources include wind, the sun, and waves to list a few, while non-renewable sources include petroleum, natural gas, coal, and more. USVs are typically deployed from a ship or a pier, and some even have their own deployment systems. They may operate with a ship, on their own, or with other USVs. They are also capable of working with Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs).

The USV market is witnessing lofty growth in the North American region with a market share of 41.3% amounting to $839.0 million in 2022. It is anticipated to reach $1.2 billion by 2030. This growth is primarily attributed to the maritime surveillance and the security offered by these systems. They are well-suited for patrolling and monitoring coastal and offshore areas, offering enhanced situational awareness and cost-effective solutions.

Applications of USVs

The first and foremost application of USVs is in monitoring. They are increasingly being used for monitoring the activities both on and below the surface of the waters, thus also contributing towards the strengthening of naval borders. USVs can be used at times of war not only to knock down enemies but as they are unmanned, they also protect the naval forces. In 2022, the defense sector captured the highest share of the USV market amounting to $1.5 billion i.e. 74.0%. Furthermore, these are considered more effective than aerial weapons and other naval weapons as they strike at the right point to scale up the explosive payloads. Some of the heavy-duty USVs used in the defense sector are combat and cargo.

Some of the use cases of USVs being used in defense include explosive USVs that were employed by Ukraine in the Black Sea. The USVs not only targeted the Russian fleets but also their infrastructure. Another remarkable attack by a USV was registered on the USS Cole in 2000. While the ship survived due to its damage-control capabilities and the sheer heroism of its well-trained crew, it was in no condition to fight. Furthermore, in February 2022, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK UK signed a contract with the DE&S Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) Team to deliver an ARCIMS uncrewed surface vessel mine hunting system for the UK Royal Navy. Additionally, Idex signed a 50th SPRINT contract with Sagar Defense to develop and deploy autonomous weaponized boat swarms for the Indian Navy.

The growing developments in the Asian USV market to improve naval capabilities are the major factor propelling the regional market growth. Thus, the Asia-Pacific market is projected to grow at the highest CAGR of 7.8% during the period of 2023-2030. For instance, in January 2021, Elbit Systems Ltd. received a contract to supply SeagullTM. USVs to the Navy of a country in Asia-Pacific. It will be performed over 17 months.

USVs are also useful for communication and navigation. They can collect related data and provide it to their subsea counterparts with navigational support, instructions, and communications link that enables real-time communications, monitoring, and data sharing. Some even serve as mobile docking, data transfer, and recharge stations for other uncrewed systems. For instance, in March 2022, Elbit Systems Ltd. launched a Seagull USV that is capable of operating autonomously in a busy maritime environment to overcome communication challenges.

In addition to communications and navigation, these also have applications in oceanographic and atmospheric research. They are equipped with sensors that collect data on the environmental fluctuations both above and below the surface of the ocean. This data is sent to the shore via satellite in real-time. Oceanographic data include bathymetry, water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, currents, wave height and periods, and sound. Atmospheric data include air temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and humidity. Furthermore, USVs may also carry cameras to capture video and still imagery and systems to collect water samples.

Significance of USVs

Bathymetric surveying is fundamental to the analysis of geomorphologic features of water bodies. Its applications extend to branches including fluvial geomorphology, hydrologic sciences, and oceanic sciences. It studies the management of water resources, lacustrine studies, river and hydrologic modeling, vegetation, and aquatic ecosystems, ocean environments and biological processes, flood forecasting, dynamic ocean circulations, management and protection of coastal areas, and bio-geophysical and socioeconomic processes.

Sensored USVs are becoming a preferred tool in the ocean science toolbox. This is explained by the efficiency of USVs over traditional ship-based operations. USVs are cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Also, they are safer as people are not required to go to the sea, and more efficient as they can access remote and hazardous places and advance AUV and ROV operations. Furthermore, they provide flexibility for deployment as they can be deployed from almost anywhere. USVs powered by renewable energy can operate for long periods.

USVs are vital to naval missions attributed to their ability to be guided to a target or to autonomously seek it. This makes them useful in open waters and gives them the ability to be used in coordinated swarms. They can be used to conduct long-range strikes, travelling dozens or hundreds of miles before their fuel tanks run out. They can deliver larger explosive payloads than a mine or torpedo.

USVs are more efficient as compared to aerial weapons. A USV strikes at the waterline and carries a larger payload as compared to aerial weapons. Thus, these are capable of damaging the critical portions of the ship well below the superstructure, such as engines and munition-storage areas, causing secondary detonations. Creating a massive gash at the waterline also ensures substantial flooding. Additionally, they are inexpensive enough to be used in large numbers.
USVs are not only beneficial in comparison to aerial weapons but also to Uncrewed Undersea Vehicles (UUVs). Although UUVs have an advantage in terms of stealth and their ability to strike below the waterline that can be especially damaging, USVs are still superior. This can be explained by the fact that UUVs can lose access to the electromagnetic spectrum below the waterline, limiting their ability to communicate and accurately navigate. Additionally, UUV has a smaller payload than a USV of comparable size. Furthermore, the ranges and speeds of UUVs are constrained by greater hydrodynamic drag and an inability to burn energy-dense fossil fuels underwater. Thus, USVs have emerged to be more acceptable in comparison to UUVs.

USVs also offer several particular strengths relative to other platforms. These include their ability to interact both above and below the waterline which enables them to serve as critical nodes for cross-domain networks. They also have potentially longer endurance, larger payloads, and higher power outputs than comparably sized unmanned air or undersea vehicles. Additionally, their greater risk tolerance compared with manned systems makes it desirable for them to overcome adversities including anti-access and area-denial more efficiently.

The strengths of USVs make them particularly suitable for defense missions such as characterizing the physical environment, observation and collection regarding adversaries, mine warfare, military deception/information operations/electronic warfare, defense against small boats, testing and training, search and rescue, and the support of other unmanned vehicles. However, USVs need advanced autonomy and assured communications to complete complex missions, as well as any missions in complex environments. Autonomous seakeeping and maritime traffic avoidance are USV-specific capabilities that likely need to be developed. Also, optional manning and payload modularity can enhance the desirability of USV programs.

Thus, it can be summarized that the USVs have the potential to transform multiple areas including naval operations, communication, navigation, and oceanography to list a few. Additionally, with the rapid development of computers, communication, information fusion, and artificial intelligence technology, the USV market is expected to reach new heights.

The key trends contributing to the growth of the industry include technological trends (such as modularity, requirement of compact devices, maritime swarm technologies, and more), macroeconomic trends (such as R&D cost sharing, company partnership, and economic risk), and regulatory trends (such as ethics in AI and collision avoidance)

Nevertheless, USVs won't replace ships, people, AUVs, or ROVs. Rather, they will be used with them, balancing the strengths and weaknesses of each, to increase the scope, scale, and pace of data collection. The age of explosive USVs is just beginning. Navies that can effectively use these systems could have a great advantage over their adversaries.

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