Uncrewed Maritime Systems for Coral Reef Conservation

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of demonstrated and emerging work applying Uncrewed Maritime Systems (UMS) to coral reef conservation. It blends theoretical analysis and current field results with a focus on recent developments in Australia. Here a combination of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) and Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) are being used to support restoration of coral communities on the Great Barrier Reef. In 2018 and 2019, UMS were evaluated to assist in the “planting” of coral larvae during the reef's annual sexual reproduction periods. Scientific results on actual coral larval settlement and recruitment, and hence coral community restoration using these techniques is showing promise but are beyond the scope of this paper. This paper focuses on the technical challenges and opportunities around employing AUVs and USVs for reef restoration at scale. These include: reduction in platform cost, management of larvae supply, precision of larvae placement and user interface/autonomy. This paper examines the field use of the existing prototype robots from recent on-reef trials and hypothesizes solutions to increase efficiency of larval distribution.