The Unmanned Port Security Vessel: An autonomous platform for monitoring ports and harbors

Abstract

This paper describes the development of the Unmanned Port Security Vessel (UPSV), a small autonomous surface vehicle designed to support maritime domain awareness in port and harbor environments. The UPSV is capable of rapidly producing fine resolution, shallow-water bathymetry maps using a multibeam sonar, detecting chemical threats using an on board mass spectrometer and monitoring oceanographic parameters using off-the-shelf instruments.