HII – formerly known as Huntington Ingalls Industries – has created a new concentrated effort that tackles unmanned and autonomous platforms and systems from core software development to hardware production, focusing on technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

“We’re using artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms to do sensing and perception, which goes into autonomy,” Duane Fotheringhamm, president of Unmanned Systems business group within HII’s Mission Technologies division, told Janes on 5 April during the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2022 Conference and Exposition at National Harbor, Maryland.

That autonomy can be used, for example, to make sure an unmanned vessel adheres to the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs), he said. “It can navigate the ship to follow the rules of the road.”

Autonomy can also be used to help control machinery in the engine room and make sure it is functioning properly and track maintenance needs, he added.

Read the full story at Jane’s Navy International.