L3 ASV takes part in Autonomous Warrior 18

16th January 2019 - 16:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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L3 ASV has completed a series of demonstrations during Australia’s Autonomous Warrior 18 showcase with its MAST-9 USV.

In support of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), L3 ASV operated the 30ft MAST-9 vessel outfitted with advanced autonomous navigation capability for reconnaissance, interdiction and patrol tasks. The vessel operated in fully autonomous mode, including COLREG aware collision avoidance, navigating the waterways at speeds of up to 40 knots for over 80 hours. This included successfully executing seven different task types comprising loiter, shadow, interdict, survey, patrol, target tracking and inspection.

Carried out in Jervis Bay, Australia, the two week event showcased an integrated system-of-systems approach to executing autonomous defence tasks with little or no human intervention.

MAST-9 completed approximately 100 tasks commanded from the Maritime Autonomous Platform Exploitation (MAPLE) system. Operational status and payload feedback were communicated to and from MAPLE using ASView, L3 ASV’s autonomous control system. Using an optical and infrared camera, MAST-9 demonstrated high-speed inspection capability, and the ASView control system allowed remote mission commanders to track and follow target vessels for interdiction tasks. The vessel used radar to provide situational awareness, making it possible to detect and avoid other vessels accordingly.

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