What is an autonomous surface vehicle?
An autonomous surface vehicle (USV), also called an uncrewed surface vessel or ocean drone, operates on the sea surface without anyone on board. It navigates itself between waypoints or holds a fixed position, carries sensors above and below the waterline, and sends data back over satellite in real time. Because there is no crew, fuel or support ship, a USV can collect data for far longer, and at far lower cost, than a conventional vessel.
What to look for in a USV
- Endurance - a long-endurance USV is measured in months. Solar-electric power means no fuel and no hard limit on mission length, unlike combustion or battery-only platforms.
- Deployability - the best USVs launch from a slipway, beach or boat, large or small, by one person, then transit to station under their own power, even thousands of miles offshore, with no deployment vessel to charter.
- Payload - an open payload bay with standard power and data interfaces lets you carry your own instruments, not just a fixed sensor set.
- Connectivity - dual satellite links (such as Iridium and Starlink) deliver data in real time and keep the vehicle controllable from anywhere.
- Survivability - a self-righting hull rated for high sea states keeps a platform working through the weather it will actually meet.
- Cost - a low-cost USV lets you field a fleet for wide-area coverage, rather than betting a whole budget on a single large vehicle.
Scout, a long-endurance low-cost USV
A Scout USV is a 2.4 m, 80 kg solar-electric autonomous surface vehicle built for persistent ocean sensing. It stays on station for 6+ months, operates in sea state 6 and survives 8+, is fully self-righting, and carries metocean, acoustic or your own sensors. One person launches it from a slipway, beach or boat, large or small, and it transits to its location under its own power. See how it compares with a research vessel charter or a moored buoy, or the wider ocean data collection methods.
Own it or task us
Buy a Scout to run within your team from £40,000, or take it fully managed as data-as-a-service: done-for-you deployments with no upfront cost, and quality-controlled data delivered straight to your own cloud. New to the terms? See the ocean robotics glossary.