Austal to undertake patrol boat autonomy trial

Perth-based Austal Australia has taken possession of a de-commissioned Armidale-class Patrol Boat (ACPB), the former HMAS Maitland, and renamed her Sentinel. The company will modify the patrol boat with autonomous and remotely piloted capability under the RAN’s Patrol Boat Autonomy Trial (PBAT).

The PBAT is a collaboration between Austal, the Trusted Autonomous Systems Defence Cooperative Research Centre (TAS DCRC) in Brisbane and the Royal Australian Navy’s Warfare Innovation Navy (WIN) Branch. The Trial will establish robotic, automated and autonomous elements on a patrol boat, providing a proof-of-concept demonstrator for optionally crewed or autonomous operations for the RAN into the future. The Trial will also explore the legal, regulatory pathways and requirements of operating an autonomous vessel at sea.

PBAT couples Austal’s experience as the designer and manufacturer of the ACPB, with subcontractor L3Harris’ experience in autonomous vessel technology. With co-funding from the Commonwealth of Australia, guidance and support is provided from the TAS DCRC.

The re-named Sentinel is currently undergoing modification to enable autonomous and remote operations. From July 2023 the vessel is expected to be registered under Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) jurisdiction as a domestic commercial vessel to enable sea trials to commence October 2023.

The PBAT project aims to:

• Significantly progress the concept of remote operations and the autonomous certification approach
• Increase the understanding of fuel management, communication, and navigation systems to be made autonomous
• Investigate and understand the sustained operation of shipboard mechanical systems without crew intervention, including systems of redundancy and reliability to support operations at sea for extended periods
• Provide input to long-term risk reduction for future naval projects, considering remote or autonomous vessels. This will be extended to other sensors and autonomous vehicles once the initial trial is complete
• Transfer lessons learned on the application of remote or autonomous systems to the Royal Australian Navy’s current fleet to potentially optimise crew workload. Remote and autonomous operation has the potential to reduce crew workload and increase operational safety by reducing human error.

Austal Limited CEO Paddy Greg said, “Austal understands the future of Australia’s maritime capability will partly depend on how quickly our naval enterprise can better understand and integrate autonomous and remotely operated vessels.”