New Manned-Unmanned Teaming Concept for Autonomous Maritime Systems

SeeByte has confirmed that it has been selected by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) to design and develop a proof-of-concept solution to improve communication and understanding between operators and uncrewed maritime systems.

The new concept will include tailoring the volume and content of messages received and predicting vehicles’ actions between communication updates. Most importantly, the engine will present any variation detected between the predicted and actual actions of the vehicle executed in-mission. This ultimately creates a higher level of trust between the software and the operator.

With limited or inconsistent communications, it can be exceedingly challenging for an operator to follow mission progress, and this results in low confidence in the system with frequent mission aborts. When communication isn’t present, using a system like this will allow an autonomous system to clearly explain its actions to the operator and provide accurate predictions on the current mission.

Alastair Cormack, Commercial Manager for SeeByte, commented: “Being selected to develop a system as stimulating as this is extremely exciting for everyone involved. We are in a good position to take this technology forward as part of our existing programs of work, and to receive relevant customer and end-user feedback along the way.”