Existing smaller naval vessels could quickly and inexpensively be converted to autonomous boats via the installation of a CARACaS kit. Image credit: U.S. Navy/John F. Williams.Autonomous unmanned swarming boats were put through their paces in a recent demonstration in the lower Chesapeake Bay—with results that show new possibilities for the use of such vessels in future naval missions.

Using a combination of software, radar and sensors, officials from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), industry, academia and other government organizations were able to make a “swarm” of rigid-hull inflatable boats and other small vessels collectively perform patrol missions autonomously—with only remote human supervision, rather than direct human operation—as they carried out their exercises.

“While previous work had focused on autonomous protection of high-value ships, this time we were focused on harbor-approach defense,” says Commander Luis Molina, military deputy for ONR’s Sea Warfare and Weapons Department.

The autonomous technology under development by ONR is called Control Architecture for Robotic Agent Command and Sensing, or CARACaS. ONR says that the components that make up CARACaS, some of which are commercial off-the-shelf, are inexpensive compared to the costs of maintaining manned vessels for some of the dull, dirty or dangerous tasks—all of which can be found in the work of harbor-approach defense.

During the demonstration, unmanned boats were given a large area of open water to patrol. As an unknown vessel entered the area, the group of swarmboats collaboratively determined which patrol boat would intercept the unknown vessel, classify it as harmless or suspicious and communicate with other swarmboats to assist in tracking and trailing the unknown vessel while others continued to patrol the area. During this time, the group of swarmboats provided status updates to a human supervisor.

“This technology allows unmanned Navy ships to overwhelm an adversary,” says Molina.

According to ONR, sending unmanned vessels on these more difficult missions in the future will help protect military personnel. Moreover, since these small boats are already in the Navy’s inventory—as manned craft—they could quickly and inexpensively be converted to autonomous boats via the installation of a CARACaS kit.