The Future Of Unmanned Surface Vehicles

By Lisa Wallace


These things are also called USVs. They are a brand new type of technology that has made it so you do not even need a person operating the vehicle for it to navigate successfully over places like public waters. Since this can be a safety risk to all, unmanned surface vehicles are definitely something to be looked into.

Unlike self driving cars, this term applies to water crafts of this type. This type of technology allows these vehicles to be able to navigate the waters without needing a crew inside. This can be a huge advantage which is obvious to anyone who has ever been holed up in the tight quarters of a boat for long periods of time with lots of other people.

With the great opportunities that new technologies offer to us comes great discoveries as well. Oceanographers are people who study the ocean in a variety of different ways. With the help of this technology in the form of USVs, these groups and individuals are now able to study in ways that were previously just impossible.

One of the big benefits of using something like this is the cost savings. It is not difficult to see where are the savings come from, as the main thing that is eliminated from the equation is the people. When you have to hire a crew, you not only have to pay them fairly but you also have to consider things like food and other management issues.

When you are doing something as serious and precise as scientific research, you need something that you can count on in order to get data that we can actually learn from and possibly convince even the densest of politicians that global warming is really a thing that exists in the real world. Oceanographers have made use of moored or drifting weather buoys, but these are not always the best. That is why so many of them have turned to this new technological advancement.

A wonderful USV is the wave glider, which has a name that stands for itself. It literally rides the waves of the ocean in order to move itself around to wherever it is programmed to go. By using the energy from the sun, it is also able to use a renewable energy source to power up its electrical equipment.

There are plenty of USVs which are powered, and those have their own special uses for researchers as well because depending on the type of research that is being conducted, the scientists may need a vehicle that has a little more power behind it. One of the branches of oceanography is known as a hydrographic survey. This is helped out a lot with the advancements made in powered USVs.

The military has a lot that they can do and are doing with these types of vehicles. When you are doing something very dangerous and serious like hunting down a possible mine, you do not want to have people involved and inside the vehicles whenever possible. Now, this is actually completely possible and is sure to continue to save countless lives.




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