REPMUS (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems) is NATO’s annual large-scale exercise, hosted in collaboration with the Portuguese Navy in Sesimbra and Troia. REPMUS unites military forces, academia, and technology leaders from all over the world, giving maritime operators a unique opportunity to test, develop, and integrate their technology in collaboration with other operators.
This year, teams from RMA, IQUA and north.io participated in REPMUS, collecting and processing data, and testing their systems under time pressure. Key activities included:
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Testing AI model for object detection on sonar images (RMA) RMA participated together with the Belgian Navy. The Navy was part in the trials where they collected data with their Side Scan Sonar REMUS and Synthetic Aperture Sonar Kraken. Each day a new box was given for survey. Those boxes were selected regions of the seabed with laid munitions which had to be detected. The data was provided to RMA and used for object detection using AI algorithm developed by the team. The AI managed to find objects with high confidence for possible munitions.
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Participating in the Data Fusion Cell with their Ocean Data Platform and Ocean Data Processing Engine (north io) north.io was an integral component of the Data Fusion Cell for both the Naval Mine Warfare (NMW, based in Sesimbra) and Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA, based in Troia) groups. With our highly scalable Ocean Data Platform (ODP) and Ocean Data Processing Engine (ODPE) running on on-site servers in both locations, we successfully demonstrated the power of rapid data handling and processing for fast and data-backed decisions, processing several TB of data during the exercise. During the Operational Phase, we uploaded sonar data processed using our ODPE to the ODP and then fed high-resolution images of the seafloor directly into Systematic’s SitaWare software – a command-and-control software used by navies worldwide – within half an hour after receipt of data. This rapid data handling enabled seafloor sonar data to be integrated directly into the operational command picture for the first time. This enabled Command Centre staff to examine sonar data in combination with potential contacts provided by operators, taking pressure off operators and ensuring that follow-up countermeasures were able to be more targeted and efficient. We are proud to have been able to contribute to the success of REPMUS25 and look forward to being involved again next year!
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Participating in the exercises (IQUA) IQUA participated with the SPARUS II AUV in the mine warfare exercises, demonstrating its capability to perform combined survey and target reacquisition within a single mission. Starting from a predefined survey, the vehicle automatically detected potential contacts in sonar images and adapted its mission in real time to reinspect the targets at close range, collecting high-resolution data for identification. Besides, the team has collaborated with the Spanish Navy, the US Navy and Thales Group to test interoperability capabilities in the framework of STANAG 4817, with SPARUS II acting as a reacquisition vehicle.
