Survey on autonomous surface vessels: Part II - Categorization of 60 prototypes and future applications

Abstract

Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) have been developed for more than 20 years. Many ASV projects have been successfully realized, and as many are still under development. In literature there is a lack of research on the different applications and suitable environments for the deployment of ASV. Recently, a detailed definition and categorization of autonomy levels for ASVs has been proposed based on the characteristics of ASVs and existing classifications of autonomy. With this innovative autonomy level classification, this paper presents an extensive overview of existing ASV prototypes. The tendency and possible future developments of ASVs are analyzed according to the divisions obtained.