Hanwha Systems Begins Development of 'Swarm Search Autonomous Unmanned Submarine'

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Hanwha Systems announced on the 14th that it has been selected as the developer for the swarm search autonomous unmanned submarine project. Hanwha Systems expects to contribute to securing the golden time for maritime rescue through this development, which will elevate its technological capabilities in marine unmanned systems to the next level.

Hanwha Systems has joined a consortium composed of industry, academia, and research institutes including the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO), Korea Institute of Robot Convergence (KIRO), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Korea Maritime and Ocean University to commence the project "Development of Swarm Search Autonomous Unmanned Submarine and Operation System," led by the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST). This project, valued at 25 billion KRW, aims to complete the development of the swarm search autonomous unmanned submarine and its operation system by 2025.

Domestic maritime and distress accidents are continuously increasing. Especially in cases where early deployment of search teams is impossible due to severe weather or poor visibility, or when it is difficult to accurately locate the accident site, or when strong currents threaten the safety of divers, rapid search and rescue become challenging. Therefore, the need for establishing marine unmanned systems capable of immediate deployment and rapid, accurate underwater search even in harsh marine environments is emerging.

Hanwha Systems Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) Autonomous Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (AUV). Equipped with high-resolution synthetic aperture sonar and additional magnetic sensors, it has excellent target identification capabilities, enabling precise seabed image acquisition. Photo by Hanwha Systems

The core of this project lies in applying swarm control, precision search, and real-time control technologies to autonomous unmanned submarines to enhance search capabilities and secure the golden time for rescue. For successful development, it is crucial to secure technologies such as swarm marine unmanned system operation technology capable of simultaneously operating multiple marine unmanned systems, underwater sensor and image processing technologies enabling accurate underwater search, and underwater-surface collaboration and real-time integrated control technologies that allow real-time confirmation of on-site situations.

Hanwha Systems will develop swarm navigation and swarm control algorithms for autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles (AUVs), as well as sonars capable of wide-area and precision search. It also plans to develop integrated control technologies that enable real-time transmission of surface and underwater video between the operation control center and autonomous unmanned submarines, and control of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned submarines, linked with 12-meter class USVs capable of performing various missions. In particular, by applying navigation error models acquired through extensive experience in developing multiple unmanned submarines, it is expected to reduce the positional error between actual and predicted travel paths to a world-class level, enabling precise and rapid underwater search.

Kim Yeon-cheol, CEO of Hanwha Systems, said, "Hanwha Systems possesses high technological capabilities based on abundant real-environment verification experience secured through weapon system development projects. We will do our best to develop marine unmanned systems that can respond immediately to changing marine environments and establish an effective search and rescue system."