Plymouth Sound to become proving ground for autonomous marine vessels

M Subs, a Plymouth-based specialist in manned and unmanned underwater vehicles, has installed the system that includes a network of cameras, radar, anemometers, and automated information systems (AIS) for tracking ships, as well as wind turbines, solar panels and 4G communications technology.

“Several years ago we started working with the city to look at how we could create a proving ground, where we could safely operate unmanned vehicle systems,” said managing director Brett Phaneuf.

Working alongside Thales, the company is now in talks to convert part of a building on the waterfront into a “traffic control centre” for autonomous vessels.

This centre will combine all of the sensor data from out at sea and within the harbour to create a model, allowing the machine learning algorithms to identify and track any objects in the water.

The system will also look at how vessels behave when they are in the Sound, in order to spot signs of distress, such as being somewhere they should not be, said Phaneuf.