A Case-Study Based Overview of Unmanned Surface Vessel Design and Components

This paper aims to give the reader insight into the major components and design tradeoffs in Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs). There will be a particular focus on the control and navigation systems. In order to ensure a broad range of applications are discussed, we will focus on two common but widely distinct USV classes, namely the coastal and ocean-going USVs. The first class of USVs that will be discussed are coastal ocean observation platforms with an operational range of a few tens of miles, performing shorter missions from a mother vessel or nearby harbor. As a concrete example, the custom USV built by the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise will be used. This custom USV will perform ocean sensing missions in the USM's CUBEnet test range [1]. The second class of USVs presented are ocean-going observation platforms with global operational range, capable of crossing large stretches of oceans. For this class ‘Mahi Two’, an unmanned surface vessel developed by the team of Project Mahi [2], will be used as a concrete example. Mahi Two is the first autonomous vessel that crossed the Atlantic Ocean purely on solar power while collecting and transmitting live ocean data.