During the inaugural ‘Summerfest’ event at HMAS Creswell, Jervis Bay in Dec. 2019, the Royal Australian Navy and the Defence Science and Technology Group showcased new capability in the use of AUVs.

During the event, 32 AUV experts from Navy, Defence Science and Technology (DST), industry and academia came together to share knowledge and potential answers to common challenges in the growing AUV environment.

Navy engineers also had the opportunity to mark the progress made in AUV applied research and operations throughout 2019.

“Summerfest was very much focused on users and developers of AUV behaviors, and the group was motivated to apply research and advance capability,” says Capability Realisation Engineer, Lieutenant James Keane from the Royal Australian Navy Mine Warfare Clearance Diving Force Element Group.

“Our aim was to see what progress had been made in our use of AUVs in the mine warfare and hydrographic communities, so that we have a benchmark for our work in 2020.”

During the event, participants were able to test the use of a USV on the water that could act as a communications gateway for multiple AUVs.

“Using an unmanned service vessel in this way allowed the operators to remotely view the live status of the vehicle when it was on the surface and gave HQ the ability to reconfigure the vehicle or change its mission parameters in between dives,” Lieutenant Keane explains.

“Next year we want to continue proving the capability of a surface vehicle to monitor AUVs and also to increase the interoperability between the USV and multiple AUVs.”

The USV was supplied under contract to DST Group by industry partner Ocius Technologies, whom also supported the activity during the trial.

“In summary, this activity showed the value of USV-AUV collaboration to a degree that was not expected, given the relatively minimal preparations that DST and Ocius were able to undertake prior to the trial,” says DST Group Research Scientist Dr. Stuart Anstee.

“The USV was operated from MV Kimbla, but could have been operated from anywhere with a mobile 4G connection.”

The week-long event at Creswell also allowed the Navy to test the technology in a higher sea state than they have previously operated, Lieutenant Keane adds.

“We were out there for longer periods than we’ve previously tried, and operating under tougher conditions allows us to improve our capability and sets us up for further work in 2020,” Lieutenant Keane says.