Uncrewed Systems Technology 048 | Kodiak Driver | 5G focus | Tiburon USV | Skypersonic Skycopter and Skyrover | CES 2023 | Limbach L 2400 DX and L 550 EFG | NXInnovation NX 100 Enviro | Solar power focus | Protegimus Protection

49 based in Miami, they also had decades of boating experience between them. After developing and patenting the 360-ROV, which Enriquez says is the world’s first 360o video-capable ROV, in 2015 the pair realised that the industry lacked first-response type USVs that could deploy ROVs and UAVs. That spurred the concept of the FR-10 (‘FR’ standing for First Responder) USV, a diesel turbine and solar-powered vessel intended to serve as the mothership for ROVs, smaller USVs and UAVs, which we briefly discussed with SWL in UST 32, (June/July 2020). The first prototype of the FR-10 is expected to be complete and in the water before the end of this year. Given the vessel’s size (about 10 m long) and the scope of it as a project – whose progress was hampered by the Covid pandemic – SWL decided later in 2020 to prioritise the development of the smaller Tiburon (1.5 m long) , as it would take far less time to finalise, certify and bring to market than the mothership. “That’s why we’ve developed it and brought it forward by a few years in our r&d schedule,” Enriquez Jr recounts. “In the long term, the Tiburon will very much be part of our mesh network of uncrewed first-response systems. In the meantime though, Miami is surrounded by shallows with shipwrecks, marshes, national parks and reefs that are in constant need of bathymetry surveys, which are typically executed by launching two large boats full of crewmembers and a lot of equipment. “We quickly saw we could make something that could do that bathymetry way cheaper and faster, especially if we designed it to survey shallower waters where the 360-ROV and the outboard motors of a bigger vessel would be at risk of grounding or collision.” The Tiburon was therefore developed with an eye towards fitting all the same capabilities as those large bathymetric survey craft and their crews into as small an uncrewed boat as possible. It is an all-electric vessel built predominantly from carbon composite, with a maximum height of up to 66 cm depending on the sensor mast installed. Although the end goal is for the Tiburon to be launched and recovered via the FR-10, probably through a built-in motor- actuated slipway or caterpillar track off the mothership’s back, at present it can be hand-launched by a single operator from any boat, beach or jetty. Overview Notably, the Tiburon has a distinctive propulsion and hull configuration that is very different from the FR-10 or any other USV we have featured to date. Rather than using outboards, azimuth thrusters or waterjets, the system is propelled by an airboat arrangement, with a propeller above the hull that pushes the vessel through the air (as well as through the water). “That allows us to plane in shallow waters of only 3 in [7.5 cm] deep, meaning we can get really near the shore if there’s anything we want to investigate,” Enriquez says. “For instance, bonefish spend a lot of their lives in mudflats, and are a really prized game fish in southern Florida, so being able to offer studies of them is quite unique. “The other thing though is that, by using airboat propulsion, we don’t create air bubbles or turbulence anywhere near the transom of the hull. That means the Tiburon gets SWL Robotics Tiburon | Digest The Tiburon will very much be part of our mesh network of first-response systems. In the meantime though, Miami needs constant surveys Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2023 The shrouded propeller at the rear enables thrust without the need for an outboard, which could jam or break in shallows