Interoperability of unmanned systems in military maritime operations: Developing a controller for unmanned aerial systems operating in maritime environments

The current evolution of unmanned systems has unlocked a valuable opportunity to extend military operational capabilities in maritime environments, through the performance of missions such as: maritime reconnaissance, surveillance, patrolling, and search and rescue. To further develop this potential, the implementation of an interoperable structure that contains several unmanned vehicles cooperating and interacting to achieve a common goal, is essential. This paper aims at presenting the benefits of the use of unmanned systems, the benefits of the developing interoperability between unmanned vehicles, and at presenting a practical implementation of an onboard unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) controller that allows the addition of several new functionalities to the UAV, like performing visual autonomous landing on warships. The development of the controller explores the potential of the Robotic Operating System, which provides a variety of libraries, tools and functionalities, as well as the capability of hardware abstraction, and it promotes and supports the development of new technologies. This work will provide a step further on the development of unmanned systems associated to the Portuguese Navy, and also to become a bedrock for future development.