Enabling Over the Horizon Operation on a Line-of-Sight Uncrewed Surface Vehicle

Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) augment existing maritime capabilities to increase the operational tempo for a mission, allowing more data to be collected in the same amount of time as a purely crewed mission. Many USVs operate within line-of-sight of the control station, utilizing point-to-point or mesh radios for communication. Although still beneficial for increasing data collection, this approach has the disadvantage that subject matter experts still must mobilize on-site with the craft, thus not leveraging the benefits of remote work. Enabling remote work increases access to opportunities in the blue economy. To leverage this paradigm shift, a USV which was originally intended to be used only within line-of-sight was converted to over-the-horizon capable with the implementation of three key modifications to communications, situational awareness, and local control. This paper presents the design, development, and operation of the USV for over-the-horizon operation.