ASV opens global mission control centre

ASV Global has opened a new autonomous vessel Mission Control Centre in Portchester, UK, where it will base ongoing development of its ASView autonomous vessel control system.

The facility will provide a central hub from where the company can operate and monitor its fleet of autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) across the globe via satellite communication links. It will also be a base for operator training and simulation exercises.

The centre has been partly funded under UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) 'Innovate UK' funding as part of its Unmanned Safe Maritime Operations over the Horizon project. Under this project, ASV developed technology and regulatory requirements for the operation of autonomous vessels over the horizon.

ASV Global is currently working under a 2016 licencing agreement with the MoD allowing for the use of the Advanced USV capability technology developed with Dstl funding. The company demonstrated advanced autonomous navigation at the Royal Navy's Unmanned Warrior exercise in October 2016 and more recently in the Solent; this technology is now being integrated with the Innovate UK project developments.

Richard Daltry, technical director, ASV, said: 'As a result of this Innovate UK project and our portfolio of complimentary research and development programmes, I am proud to say that we are now ready to start real world testing of our autonomous over the horizon control system.

'This new Mission Control Centre will be instrumental in our continuing developments and will demonstrate our ability to achieve advanced, safe, autonomous operations at sea.'