A life boat is disclosed having a hull, a propulsion system, and a conning system. The hull has an open or openable bow, a fore deck and a powered recovery ramp installed in or on the fore deck for deployment forwards of the bow for recovery of a casualty ahead of the bow of the life boat. The life boat may be unmanned and able to draw a survivor up on the recovery ramp and into the relative safety of the rescue deck area of the fore deck without human assistance. The life boat 1 may include a cabin area where the survivor can be given more protection from the environment.

This disclosure provides an unmanned survey vessel with an anti-overturning structure and an anti-overturning method of same, and relates to the anti-overturning technique field of unmanned survey vessels. The unmanned survey vessel includes a vessel body and a plurality of buoys. The vessel body is a hollow frame of which a middle is provided with a discharge space. An uptight rod is vertically fixed at an upper-end of the tail part of the vessel body. A supporting beam is horizontally fixed at an upper-end of the upright rod. The supporting beam extends to a bow of the vessel. A rectangular notch is formed in one end, close to the bow, of the supporting beam. One end close to the bow inside the rectangular notch is rotatably provided with a guide rod through a pin shaft. The plurality of buoys are equally divided into two groups which are adjustably arranged on two side walls in the advancing direction of the vessel body respectively. When the vessel body encounters strong winds and waves, the waves hit the vessel body and then fall into the discharge space, and an impact surface with the vessel body is lowered, so that the wave resistance and overturning resistance are enhanced. In addition, it is ensured that the vessel body can stably float on the water surface through the buoys, so that circuit failures caused by immersion of a measuring instrument on the vessel body are avoided.

An unmanned mobile communication station is adapted for location in a marine environment and includes a platform adapted for flotation or is semi-submersible, a communication node for sending and receiving wireless signals, a power system that includes a wave energy harvesting system for energizing said communication node, a data center, at least one sensor for detecting the geolocation of the platform; and a processor for receiving signals from said sensors and controlling communication to and from communication nodes wherein embodiments include both autonomous and remote controlled navigation and propulsion systems.

A marine vessel comprising: at least one buoyant tubular foil; and at least one baffle plate positioned about the perimeter of the at least one buoyant tubular foil so as to protrude into the flow of water passing by the perimeter of the at least one buoyant tubular foil, whereby to create a high-pressure zone fore of the at least one baffle plate and a low-pressure zone immediately aft of the at least one baffle plate, whereby to create a dense stream of supercavitated water immediately aft of the at least one baffle plate.

This disclosure describes a configuration of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will facilitate extended flight duration. The UAV may have any number of lifting motors. For example, the UAV may include four lifting motors (also known as a quad-copter), eight lifting motors (also known as an octo-copter), etc. Likewise, to improve the efficiency of horizontal flight, the UAV also includes a pivot assembly that may rotate about an axis from a lifting position to a thrusting position. The pivot assembly may include two or more offset motors that generate a differential force that will cause the pivot assembly to rotate between the lifting position and the thrusting position without the need for any additional motors or gears.

The present invention is directed broadly to a marine vessel (10) comprising a deck (12) mounted to a hull (14) together with a sail (16) coupled to the marine vessel (10) via a mast base assembly (18). The mast base assembly (18) comprises a mast tilt assembly (22). The mast base assembly (18) also comprises a mast base mounting (20) to which the mast tilt assembly (22) is pivotally mounted for movement about a tilt axis (24) between stowed and operative positions. The mast base assembly (18) further comprises a sail slew assembly (26) mounted to the sail (16) associated with the marine vessel (10). The sail slew assembly (26) is operatively coupled to the mast tilt assembly (22) for slewing of the sail (16). The sail (16) is rotated or slewed about a slew axis (28) of the mast tilt assembly (22) to reorient the sail (16) relative to the marine vessel (10).

An unmanned surface vehicle (USV) including a main body; a slideway; and an automatic recovery unit. The slideway includes pulleys, slide rails, sleepers, end plates disposed at two sides of the sleepers, and baffle plates. The automatic recovery unit includes a buoy, a connection rod, a downhaul, an electromagnetic fixer, a winch, an upper cable, a storage box, and a recovery net. The slideway is fixed on the afterdeck of the main body and the tail end of the slideway sticks out the side boundary of the afterdeck. The baffle plates are disposed on the upper end of the end plates. The vertical height of the end plates is larger than the maximum vertical height of the pulleys and the slide rails. The baffle plates on the upper end of the end plates limit the displacement of the buoy in the vertical direction.

A vehicle is provided for drone stowage and transport as a means to extend the range of smaller drones and unmanned underwater vehicles. The transport vehicle is launched from a mother ship and provides for moving drones and underwater unmanned vehicles to desired launch and recovery points. The vehicle is based on current hovercraft vehicles and is adapted for stowage of drones while remaining compatible with existing mother ships. The vehicle includes foldable deck sections, which can be extended to provide launching and landing runways for flying drones. Lifts and ramps are incorporated for loading, launching and recovering flying drones, floating drone vessels and underwater unmanned vehicle drones.

Systems and associated methods for rapid integration and control of payloads carried by a multi-mode unmanned vehicle configured to accommodate a variety of payloads of varying size, shape, and interface and control characteristics. Mechanical, power, signal, and logical interfaces to a variety of payloads operate to enable environmental protection, efficient placement and connection to the vehicle, and control of those payloads in multiple environmental modes as well as operational modes (including in air, on the surface of water surface, and underwater).

A marine seismic data acquisition system and method of conducting a marine seismic survey are disclosed. The system incorporates one or more surface vessels, and a plurality of autonomous nodes for acquiring seismic data at one or more seabed locations. Each node comprises a USBL, SSBL or SBL transducer and USBL, SSBL or SBL acoustic modem. A first acoustic positioning system is operable between one of the surface vessels and the nodes, the first acoustic positioning system being a USBL, SSBL or SBL system. Each node of the plurality of autonomous nodes has a USBL, SSBL or SBL beacon address, with respective groups of nodes having the same beacon address. The nodes are configured such that no two nodes with the same beacon address can actively communicate over an associated USBL, SSBL or SBL modem at the same time.