Maritime autonomous drone swarm demonstrated live in Trondheim Fjord
In a demonstration for the US Navy, Maritime Robotics showed how multiple uncrewed surface vessels operate in coordinated real time, with integrated sensors, remote control and autonomous collaboration in realistic maritime scenarios. The live demonstration, which included a maritime autonomous drone swarm, took place in the Trondheim Fjord in Norway on 9 April.
"The US is in the lead. They are placing orders now to build up their arsenal. They understand that you cannot wait two years and see how this develops," said Eirik Hovstein, vice president defence & security at Maritime Robotics.
Autonomous maritime operations were taken from concept to practice as multiple USVs were deployed in realistic scenarios. The demonstration provided participants with a concrete understanding of platform capabilities, including remote control, real-time data transmission and supervised autonomy in dynamic environments.
Maritime drone swarm demonstration
One of the highlights was the demonstration of a maritime autonomous drone swarm, where multiple vessels operated in coordinated formation to simulate the protection of a mothership, a concept that is becoming increasingly important in modern naval operations. "The way warfare was conducted a year ago – you would not have survived more than a couple of days today," said Hovstein.
The manoeuvre illustrated how multiple autonomous platforms can operate together under remote supervision, combining autonomy with effective vessel-to-vessel cooperation.
Maritime Robotics’ autonomous Mariner USV carried out advanced seabed mapping, while the larger Mariner X demonstrated autonomous navigation and collision avoidance in dynamic conditions.
The larger vessels departed from Maritime Robotics’s base in Vanvikan on Fosen, while the smaller Otter units operated in the Trondheim harbour basin. All operations were controlled from the company’s Remote Operations Center (ROC) at Brattørkaia in Trondheim, where real-time monitoring and control were maintained throughout the demonstration. The Otter platform also carried out deployment and recovery of an underwater ROV, demonstrating how surface and subsea systems can be integrated for real-time data collection.
The demonstration was streamed live to a broad international audience, with real-time data feeds including sonar (MBES), magnetometer data and video shared throughout the operation. This provided direct insight into key enabling technologies such as beyond-line-of-sight communication, sensor fusion and human-machine interfaces.
This feature has been adapted from a news article originally published by the Ocean Autonomy Cluster. To learn more about the Ocean Autonomy Cluster, click here.
