Navy seeking radars for USV hazard avoidance

The Navy is looking to industry for autonomous marine radar systems capable of being deployed on unmanned surface vessels for perception and obstacle avoidance.

“The marine radar tracking system is needed to provide actionable information, in the form of track reports, to inform obstacle avoidance for unmanned surface vessels with no human input,” according to a request for information released yesterday.

The Navy is interested in radar sensors with integrated tracking software or tracking software that can integrate with standard radar outputs, the notice states.

Industry solutions will be part of a capability demonstration hosted by the Joint Prototyping and Experimentation Maritime Program between Dec. 5 and Dec. 16 off the coast of Virginia Beach, VA and in the Chesapeake Bay area.

The hazard avoidance systems will be tested on the JPEM’s Stiletto -- a high-speed experimentation watercraft.