![Cadets Rodrigue and Padmanaban mount their motor to their underwater vehicle.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/news_3_up/public/news/image/2023-09/526356-051D.jpg?itok=M6DGlZPU)
![Staff use the maritime autonomy test tank to demonstrate and test prototype technology for unmanned undersea vehicles.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/ifde_hero/public/rdgroup/image/2018-03/AR17_AMMDT_512475-030D_smaller.jpg?h=cbcb630c&itok=XuqLXAjD)
Advanced Undersea Systems and Technology
We develop and assess innovative technology to support the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense's undersea and counter-undersea missions. Our expertise lies in acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, undersea networks, autonomous systems, and advanced signal processing. We perform rigorous systems analyses, develop system architectures, and build prototypes to test the effectiveness of new concepts, capabilities, and processing techniques. Our staff help inform the development of new systems that combine undersea concepts with concepts from other technological domains including communications, sensing, and energy systems.
Featured Video
![Video of robotic prototype that can map an undersea domain.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/ifde_wysiwyg_full/public/rdgroup/video-images/2018-10/maxresdefault2.jpg?itok=WZ5PIUtD)
Recently, a research team at the Laboratory’s field site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands prototyped and demonstrated a robotic system that can map the undersea domain. With some hardware and software enhancements to a system that maps unstructured above-ground environments, they enabled the robot to determine its position and orientation (pose) in the unstructured waters of the Pacific Ocean. This undersea environment provided perfect testing conditions for a system that can attain pose without relying on GPS. This effort expanded work on a collaborative robotics program that is researching ways to improve human-machine teaming for the Office of Naval Research.
Featured Projects
![A flow chart showing how audio signals are processed to create features for algorithms to distinguish between signals from cargo, passenger, tanker, and tug ships.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/list/public/project/image/2023-11/van%20dine%20TO%20graphic_rev_1.png?h=1625ec1c&itok=tO9nTQWo)
Combining Neural Networks and Histogram Layers for Underwater Target Classification
![A diver and autonomous underwater vehicle swim underwater to identify an object (mine).](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/list/public/project/image/2023-10/Underwater_PB%26amp%3BJ.jpg?itok=AWRE5Arn)
Underwater PB&J: Combining Diver and Robot Strengths for Optimized Mid-Mission Teaming
![a wire in wound up in a spool. The wire appears to be cooper and has red LEDs lit up throughout it.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/list/public/project/image/2022-05/523546-001D.jpg?itok=drVFNK6N)
Fiber Sensor Array Buoy
![an illlustration of Arctic sea ice, with yellow "links" showing connections from sensors in the ice up to a satellite.](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/list/public/project/image/2022-03/Arctic-network-big.png?h=0ddfe3e0&itok=OIgBoJ2S)
Arctic Climate Change Detection Network
![Autonomous High-Resolution Ocean Floor Mapping](https://cdn.statically.io/img/www.ll.mit.edu/sites/default/files/styles/list/public/project/image/2021-09/522217-019D.jpg?itok=v7PWaAPo)