Page 27: of Marine Technology Magazine (October 2011)

Ocean Engineering & Design

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www.seadiscovery.com Marine Technology Reporter 27Evolving Solutions A close scrutiny of the broad UMS market sector reveals several potential evolutionary paths: USV adoption is much faster and reaches more users than the adoption of UUV, mostly because of the possi- bility to remotely control USVs, receive high bandwidth real time feedback from the vehicle, and reuse many of the sensors and standards developed for Unmanned Aerial SsystemsThe security market for USV will surpass the security AUV market by 2015The arms race from the cold war is transforming to an all-domainunmanned systems race over the next two decadesThe mixed used of UMS for envi- ronmental remote sensing, security, and defense will continue to increase and present opportunities for small and low-cost platforms USVs will marginally be used for anti-piracy roles in the near term Oil & Gas stakeholders will be the first private users of USV for security and defense roles (or they will force governments to protect their private interests). Note that the oil & gas industry has been the largest user of UUVs for private and commercial purposesOrganized groups, terrorists, pirates, smugglers (of humans, drugs, arms) will increasingly merge and use technology. UMS and networked data have an enormous potential to fight their activitiesThe main obstacle to the sales of USVs lies in the navies? realization of the capabilities of unmanned mar-itime systems. Adoption of technolo- gy has been slow. Once the capabili- ties and potential are recognized, the hurdle is not technological but rests in operating the system: how to use the USV with existing equipment,effect functional launch and recovery, calculate the life costs and operationalcosts of using USVs, manpower required to operate USVs, developing funding for this new equipment at the expense of other, and an old acquisition process that does not suit asymmetric warfare pace. Future UMS Uses There are far too many UMS future uses to list in this article. I present here three representative future uses for UMSs. It is important to note that each use presents multiple business opportunities for operators, innova- tors, components & parts manufac- turers, systems integrators, private and government contractors. Environmental Monitoring The BP Oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico had a dramatic impact onseveral economies, from fishing to energy. A number of countries will want to deploy long endurance UUV ?gliders? to constantly monitor the seas and exclusive economic zones. Data about the ocean will also increasingly be gathered in the Arctic, where climate changes are quite visi- ble. Persistent operations are too cost- ly to be performed by manned opera- tions, and only unmanned equip-ment can perform them in a cost effective manner. Extreme environ- ments such as the poles, and access toremote and dangerous locations ? which often yield the more insightful data ? is much better suited toGet This Report?Unmanned Maritime Systems - Defense & Security UUV & USV ? Markets, Technologies & Opportunities Outlook ? 2012-2020? includes 530-pages, 292 Figures and 223 Tables. You can find more information and order the report at http://marketintelgroup.com/unmanned-maritime-systems-umv-usv-uuv-defense-security-marketsMTR#8 (18-33):MTR Layouts 10/10/2011 2:09 PM Page 27

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