Maritime technology advances autonomous vessel navigation

Developments in maritime machine vision and multispectral imaging are advancing the safety and capabilities of autonomous and uncrewed surface vessels (USVs).

Teledyne FLIR Marine has introduced the FLIR M364C-USV, a multispectral camera system designed for autonomous and uncrewed operations. The system combines thermal and visible imaging to assist in navigation, obstacle avoidance, and surveillance, even in challenging conditions like haze or low visibility. It is built to integrate with mission-management systems and support AI-enabled workflows.

In a separate collaboration, SEA. AI and Anschütz are integrating machine vision into the Autonomics Navigation Suite. This partnership aims to add optical and thermal detection to existing radar and AIS sensor data. The goal is to help bridge systems recognize small or unlit targets, such as fishing boats, debris, or persons in the water, which traditional radar and AIS may fail to detect. The system is intended as a decision-support tool to assist officers in assessing collision and grounding risks.