Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Cetus

USV Cetus is an L3 Harris ‘C-Worker 4’, designed to accommodate a wide range of sensors, equipment and systems, and can operated remotely or as a semi-autonomous platform from a support vessel or land station.

This state-of-the-art commercial grade uncrewed survey boat is available to staff, students and collaborators for marine data gathering and systems development.


Specifications

  • Length: 4.17m
  • Beam: 1.58m
  • Draft: 0.41m
  • Weight: 680kg lightship, 980kg fully fuelled
  • Propulsion: marine diesel engine driving waterjet
  • Speed: up to 7 knots
  • Endurance: up to 48 hours
  • Control: 'ASView' for direct, semi-autonomous or autonomous control
  • Communications: DTC Mesh radio, WiFi and 4G (giving a working range of between 6 and 30km depending of elevation giving a 14Mbps communication with payloads)
  • Dry payload space: sealed dry, easily configurable payload bay of 0.5m³
  • Wet payload bay: an underwater retractable mast is situated in in a 700mm x 500mm moon pool that can accommodate a range of underwater sensors, such as MBES, ADCP, USBL and PAM
  • Profiling winch: OSIL 100m profiling winch for 15kg payload
  • Payload power: 400W continuous power available
  • Towing capability: the vessel can tow moderate sized loads

USV CETUS front view

  • Payload computers: on-board Panasonic Toughbooks available easily accessible with Teamviewer remote link
  • ROS interface: all vessel hardware can be accessed and independently controlled via a ROS interface
  • USV Cetus & Falcon Spirit
    USV Cetus tech team
    USV Cetus port close-up