Shipbuilder Metal Shark and autonomous vessel technology company ASV Global announced Friday they are starting to offer “Sharktech” autonomous vessels.
The autonomous-enabled vessels can be custom configured for military, law enforcement agencies, fire rescue, and other applicable markets on all of Metal Shark’s 16-foot to 300-foot aluminum, steel, and composite products.
The partnership will add ASV’s ASView unmanned vessel control system to the boats. The company said this will offer modes like unmanned operations, reduced manned operations, or conventionally manned operations and assist with mission payload, sensor integration, control, and remote supervision.
Metal Shark CEO Chris Allard said in a statement this will allow a boat to have a reduced crew as easily as with the flip of a switch.
“Sharktech is ideal 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,” he said.
The companies highlighted ASView will provide both waypoint navigation and pre-programmed mission routes as well as a dynamic collision avoidance system. Depending on the specific configuration, ASView can use data from radars, daylight and thermal cameras, and the automatic identification system to identify stationary and moving obstacles, Metal Shark said.
The companies added ASView will permit autonomous or remote operation of navigation and safety lighting; hailers and sirens; pumps, specialized equipment like fire-fighting equipment; hydrographic survey equipment; acoustic, oceanographic, and meteorological monitoring equipment; and specialty cameras.
Metal Shark said ASView-equiped vessels can be monitored from a mother ship through a radio link or from shore via satellite link. If a boat loses both primary and backup communications, it assumes a pre-programmed behavior like station-keeping.
It will also include other safety measures like geo-fencing, emergency stop buttons, and the ability to switch from autonomous to manual control at any time.
“While autonomous technology is perhaps most commonly associated with military applications, its value to commercial operators cannot be overlooked. Sharktech’s benefits for safety, crew reduction, endurance, and CONOPS flexibility are unprecedented in our industry, and we are only scratching the surface of its potential applications,” Allard said.
Metal Shark and ASV Global will demonstrating their new offering with a Sharktech-enabled 38 Defiant patrol boat at the 2018 Multi Agency Craft Conference in Baltimore, Md. on July 18 and 19. The demo boat will also feature a Shearwater aerial drone from Planck Aerosystems that can be launched, flown, and landed from the moving boat.
Metal Shark said it pre-engineered its most popular boat models for the Sharktech capability and added them to its Stock Boats program. The program uses staged hulls and re-purposes in-production units to significantly reduce lead times.
“Depending on propulsion and desired equipment, we can currently deliver a fully-autonomous Sharktech-equipped 38 Defiant in as little as 60 days,” Allard said.
Metal Shark is currently developing up to 50 next-generation 40-foot patrol boats (PB/X) for the Naval Expeditionary Combat Command (Defense Daily, Oct. 6, 2017).