Abstract
Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) conduct various missions while exchanging information with control centers. Maritime security, coastal surveillance, and sea surface and undersea inspections are included in the important missions of USVs. To carry out these missions, large amounts of information are required from sensors, such as cameras, radars, and sonars. High bandwidth wireless communication is necessary to send this information to the control center in real time. In general, USVs are made using small boats. The motions of small boats are easily influenced by sea waves and the magnitude of changes in the attitude is large and the period of the changes is short in comparison with large ships. Thus, the direction of an antenna beam pattern for a wireless communication system in a USV can change rapidly, and with a large magnitude. In addition, since the reflection of electromagnetic waves on the sea surface is not negligible, the effect of multipath noises on the wireless communication system must be considered carefully. There are also several other elements that negatively affect wireless communication systems in USVs. This paper presents the wireless communication environment to be considered in the design and implementation of wide bandwidth communication systems for USVs. Short test results for wireless communication on the sea are also given.