UMAA-Compliant Autonomous Anchoring System (“UCAAS”)

The Navy is seeking a UMAA-compliant autonomous anchoring system for Medium and Large Unmanned Surface Vessels.  Legacy anchoring systems typically lack basic automation, handling evolutions are crew intensive and can be dangerous.   This research will develop a highly reliable modular UMAA-compliant autonomous anchoring system (UCAAS).  The system will consist of a UMAA-compliant software and control system as well as a modular and scalable automated machinery kit.  The UCAAS may either be retrofit to existing vessels or incorporated into keel-up designs with various sizes and arrangements of anchoring handling machinery. The system will be capable of planning and executing autonomous anchoring, providing decision making and status feedback within the UMAA framework, allowing for remote human-in-the-loop control and enhancing reliability through fault tolerance, redundancy, and selection of fundamentally reliable subcomponents.