What's next for the Pentagon after the Replicator programme?
Although the Replicator initiative has made several accomplishments, there are still multiple gaps to plug across the US Department of Defense (DoD) and its services.
Sonardyne leads P3AUV project
Sonardyne has kicked-off the Precise Positioning for Persistent AUVs (P3AUV) project to enable AUVs to navigate more effectively with less surface support and for longer periods.
The company will collaborate with partners L3 ASV and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) on the project. The P3AUV project will involve trials using Sonardyne’s underwater positioning technology on the NOC’s Autosub Long Range and L3 ASV’s C-Worker 7 ASV. The project, which will include trials in Loch Ness, is due to run until late 2019.
The project will focus on increasing long-duration navigational accuracy by integrating low- and high-power inertial navigation system sensors. The accuracy of low-power sensors degrade over time and AUVs consequently often have to surface to reinitialise with a GPS fix. Including high-performance, high-power navigation instruments, like SPRINT INS, and integrating them with the low-power instruments to reduce power consumption will enable longer-duration independent deployments.
The project will also aim to improve positioning accuracy while underwater vehicles descend and ascend through the water column, through the integration of Doppler Velocity Log current measurement capabilities and INS technologies with on board data processing. Sonardyne’s SPRINT-Nav instrument, which combines the SPRINT INS sensor, Syrinx DVL and a high-accuracy pressure sensor in a single housing, can measure water current as well as velocity relative to the seabed. SPRINT-Nav will be able to use the water current velocity to reduce the dead reckoning mid-water navigation error to improve accuracy during the dive and surfacing phases of an operation.
The third area of the project will enable ASV deployment of seafloor positioning transponders for the benefit of the offshore energy industry AUV operations.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
You may also like
More from Uncrewed Vehicles
-
![What's next for the Pentagon after the Replicator programme?]()
-
![Cummings Aerospace showcases Hellhound loitering munition designed for US Army’s LASSO programme (video)]()
Cummings Aerospace showcases Hellhound loitering munition designed for US Army’s LASSO programme (video)
Cummings Aerospace presented its turbojet-powered Hellhound loitering munition at SOF Week 2025, offering a man-portable solution aligned with the US Army’s LASSO requirements.
-
![SOF Week 2025: PDW unveils attritable FPV drone for SOF operations at scale]()
SOF Week 2025: PDW unveils attritable FPV drone for SOF operations at scale
PDW has revealed its Attritable Multirotor First Person View drone at SOF Week 2025, offering special operations forces a low-cost, rapidly deployable platform for strike and ISR missions, inspired by battlefield lessons from Ukraine.
-
![SOF Week 2025: Teledyne FLIR white paper provides guidance on reusable loitering munitions]()
SOF Week 2025: Teledyne FLIR white paper provides guidance on reusable loitering munitions
Teledyne FLIR is highlighting the emerging requirements for 'recoverable and re-usable' loitering munitions across the contemporary operating environment during this week’s SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida.
-
![SOF Week 2025: Kraken Technology group debuts K3 Scout USV in North America]()
SOF Week 2025: Kraken Technology group debuts K3 Scout USV in North America
High-performance maritime industry player Kraken Technology Group, based in the UK, has used the SOF Week conference in Tampa, Florida this week to debut its K3 Scout uncrewed surface vessel (USV) to the North American market.
-
![Palladyne AI and Red Cat to demonstrate capabilities for autonomous drone swarms to the US military]()
Palladyne AI and Red Cat to demonstrate capabilities for autonomous drone swarms to the US military
Red Cat and Palladyne AI recently conducted a cross-platform collaborative flight involving three diverse heterogeneous drones.
