US-based maritime autonomy company Spatial Integrated Systems (SIS), and Cambridge Pixel, a radar tracking and fusion company in the UK, have announced a new collaboration agreement to work together on integrating radar and autonomous vessel technologies for a series of Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) trials being carried out by the US Navy.
The two companies have integrated a range of interdependent systems for the project, including the SIS Multi-Agent Robotic Teams (SMART) Autonomy System and Cambridge Pixel’s SPx Tracker and SPx Fusion software and radar interfacing hardware.
The American and British teams integrated and calibrated the fusion of several sensors, including S and X band radars from different manufacturers, to improve the SMART Autonomy System’s perception capabilities.
The technologies were installed onboard a large surface vessel and several patrol boat-sized vessels for demonstration over the course of multiple 300+ nautical mile autonomous transits, including areas of heavy surface traffic, as well as three 1000+ nautical mile fully autonomous transits.
“From our long history working with Cambridge Pixel, we knew we would be successful in integrating and fusing multiple radars and sensors on different ships and boats with varying missions. We remain impressed by the Cambridge Pixel team’s responsiveness and speed in overcoming some tough technical challenges,” said Bob Cepek, SIS Programme Manager.
“Our most recent successes pave the way for additional collaboration in development and testing.”
