Automatic Target Recognition for AUV & AI-Based Maritime Situational Awareness for USV

Charles River’s scientists and engineers have been developing cutting-edge solutions since our founding nearly 40 years ago. As pioneers in autonomous systems technology, we help our clients realize the true potential of uncrewed systems, developing intelligent technologies for UUVs (uncrewed underwater vehicles), USVs (uncrewed surface vessels) and other autonomous marine vehicles.

Our work has led to a deep understanding of applied robotics and autonomous systems that we continue to apply across many disciplines. We are advancing the state-of-the-art to solve our clients’ toughest, most complex problems—from automatic target recognition (ATR) and surveillance to teaming with robotic systems to evacuate casualties from danger zones.

Our groundbreaking maritime situational awareness solutions serve a wide variety of markets and applications, including defense, commercial shipping, oil and gas, offshore wind, geo-surveying, law enforcement, and scientific research.

Jump to:

• AutoTRap Onboard – Automatic target recognition for AUVs
• Awarion – Enhanced maritime situational awareness for USVs
• Marine Systems Testing & Development Services
• Applied Robotics and Autonomy

AutoTRap Onboard – Automatic Target Recognition (ATR)

Empower your autonomous underwater vehicle to make real-time decisions

AutoTRap Onboard™ is a sophisticated AI software application that automatically detects objects in seafloor imagery collected by the side scan sonar on your autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The onboard, real-time target recognition empowers your AUV to search, locate, and investigate targets without needing to surface for reprogramming.

Advanced AI object detection for AUVs

AutoTRap has been trained to detect a variety of objects of interest, including mines, shipping containers, oil pipelines, human forms, aircraft black boxes, and more. Our team also provides services to train AutoTRap for specific customer requirements, adding to our existing target library.

We developed, tested, and deployed AutoTRap on the Teledyne Gavia line of AUVs, and it is compatible with other underwater vehicles and sonar systems, including towed sonar systems.

Our AutoTRap system:

• Empowers your AUVs to make more effective decisions without needing to return to the surface
• Accomplishes complex mission goals in a single deployment, reducing mission cost and time
• Reduces the number of AUV launch and recovery cycles, saving power and time and allowing vehicles to search a wider area
• Simplifies deployments in unfavorable environmental conditions, such as rough seas
• Delivers real-time contact alerts with information on object type, confidence of detection, and position to any external system, such as AUV navigation and control or mapping software

Learn more: AutoTRap Onboard – Automatic Target Recognition Software

Awarion – Maritime Situational Awareness

AI and computer vision sensing system for USVs

Awarion™ is an Al and computer vision system that detects the presence of whales, ships, and other objects using electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) video streams. Designed to deliver enhanced maritime situational awareness these EO/IR methods provide much greater detail and resolution than radar, enabling superior detection probability and true autonomy for uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs).

Most importantly, Awarion delivers persistent autonomous lookout capabilities, as well as trajectory modeling and threat assessment. Our system complements and supports human lookouts and marine radar systems, providing advanced analyses, trajectory modeling, and threat assessment directly to the bridge.

In testing on real-world data, Awarion has achieved:

• 90% accuracy in ship classification
• 90% probability of ship detection
• 80% probability of whale detection

Learn more: Awarion – Maritime Situational Awareness

Marine Systems Testing & Development Services

Our marine systems testing and development services are supported by a full engineering staff who focus on research and development of hardware prototypes for intelligent systems. The team specializes in designing systems for marine, naval, and maritime applications. We also have in-house technicians and tooling to fabricate, wire, build, and integrate prototypes for rapid development and testing cycles.

We provide a comprehensive range of marine testing services for both government and commercial clients at our state-of-the-art testing facility, which provides year-round access to littoral testing waters.

We are experts in:

• UUV and USV communication, navigation, and control systems
• Ruggedized and waterproof electronic and mechanical systems
• Depth-rated and pressure-tolerant housings
• UUV launch and recovery vessels and devices
• Sensor and scientific testing rigs

Learn more: Marine Systems Testing & Development Services

Applied Robotics

Launching uncrewed systems with robotics

We build on our extensive applied robotics and autonomy R&D to provide mature robotics applications for your uncrewed systems.

Some examples of this R&D include our BRACE toolkit, which uses state-of-the-art perception technologies to support effective manipulation and navigation. BRACE-enabled platforms can work together to remove casualties from active battlefields or disaster areas. Our SHEPARD human-machine interface and our MANTA appliqué lets users direct uncrewed robotic systems to perform a range of autonomous behaviors using the same natural communication method that they use with human personnel.

Learn more: Applied Robotics and Autonomy