<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="https://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
    <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
    <atom:link href="https://trid.trb.org/Record/RSS?s=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" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
    <description></description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
    <docs>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss</docs>
    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
    <image>
      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
      <url>https://trid.trb.org/Images/PageHeader-wTitle.jpg</url>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/</link>
    </image>
    <item>
      <title>The Legal Status and Operation of Unmanned Maritime Vehicles</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1597537</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The number of unmanned maritime vehicles (UMVs) and their potential applications in the marine space are growing constantly. Because of their comparatively small size and limited operations, only modest attention has been paid to how they fit into the international legal framework. Many UMVs may not be considered to fall under the definition of "ship" so as to enjoy states' rights of navigation under UNCLOS. Therefore states, manufacturers, and investors remain uncertain about the rights and obligations regarding UMV operations in the various maritime zones. This article addresses these questions for a range of UMVs with differing levels of autonomy. It argues that the international legal framework delegates the question of whether a UMV is a ship or not to the flag state's national laws. The article suggests that such a determination will be binding on other states. With respect to UMVs that do not fall under the definition of ship, there is remaining uncertainty about whether any navigational rights in the jurisdictional zones of other states are available, while it is argued that such rights do exist in the areas beyond national jurisdiction. The article also considers the extent to which today's UMVs can comply with the international framework for ensuring safety at sea. For those UMVs falling under the definition of ship, compliance with the current regulatory framework for shipping is required and compliance will be more difficult as the level of UMV autonomy increases.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 23 May 2019 10:24:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1597537</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Advancing Autonomous Systems: an Analysis of Current and Future Technology for Unmanned Maritime Vehicles</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1577887</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Autonomous vehicle technologies are likely to be applied in environments where humans cannot survive; thus, unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) are good candidates for analysis of how and where autonomous systems might be most effective. The authors first establish the current state of autonomous systems and show how they might be utilized in military operations. The authors then evaluate how advances in autonomy might change key elements of naval warfare and attemmt to ascertain how such changes may affect decisions in investment and development. Four areas are chosen for analysis: the current state of the art of autonomous technology; current kill chains (the end-to-end means for achieving a war-fighting effect); future fleet architecture; and autonomy in concepts of operation (CONOPs). The authors' conclusions about the potentials of and constraints on autonomy are: Future fleet architecture and autonomy do not align well, and some desired features for the future fleet are unlikely to be reached under current programs; Slowing autonomous systems' decision-making  by interposing a human in the process would lose critical time advantage; Although current development focuses on multi-functional, highly complex systems, some of the best uses of the technologies may lie in simple systems with limited autonomy.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 29 Mar 2019 10:20:13 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1577887</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Sensing and Connection Systems for Assisted and Autonomous Driving and Unmanned Vehicles</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1527994</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The special issue, “Sensors, Wireless Connectivity and Systems for Autonomous Vehicles and Smart Mobility” on MDPI Sensors presents 12 accepted papers, with authors from North America, Asia, Europe and Australia, related to the emerging trends in sensing and navigation systems (i.e., sensors plus related signal processing and understanding techniques in multi-agent and cooperating scenarios) for autonomous vehicles, including also unmanned aerial and underwater ones.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 2018 14:04:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1527994</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Large-scale assessment of benthic communities across multiple marine protected areas using an autonomous underwater vehicle</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1526575</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Marine protected areas (MPAs) are designed to reduce threats to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning from anthropogenic activities. Assessment of MPAs effectiveness requires synchronous sampling of protected and non-protected areas at multiple spatial and temporal scales. The authors used an autonomous underwater vehicle to map benthic communities in replicate 'no-take' and 'general-use' (fishing allowed) zones within three MPAs along 7o of latitude. The authors recorded 92 taxa and 38 morpho-groups across three large MPAs. The authors found that important habitat-forming biota (e.g. massive sponges) were more prevalent and abundant in no-take zones, while short ephemeral algae were more abundant in general-use zones, suggesting potential short-term effects of zoning (5-10 years). Yet, short-term effects of zoning were not detected at the community level (community structure or composition), while community structure varied significantly among MPAs. The authors conclude that by allowing rapid, simultaneous assessments at multiple spatial scales, autonomous underwater vehicles are useful to document changes in marine communities and identify adequate scales to manage them. This study advanced knowledge of marine benthic communities and their conservation in three ways. First, the authors quantified benthic biodiversity and abundance, generating the first baseline of these benthic communities against which the effectiveness of three large MPAs can be assessed. Second, the authors identified the taxonomic resolution necessary to assess both short and long-term effects of MPAs, concluding that coarse taxonomic resolution is sufficient given that analyses of community structure at different taxonomic levels were generally consistent. Yet, observed differences were taxa-specific and may have not been evident using our broader taxonomic classifications, a classification of mid to high taxonomic resolution may be necessary to determine zoning effects on key taxa. Third, the authors provide an example of statistical analyses and sampling design that once temporal sampling is incorporated will be useful to detect changes of marine benthic communities across multiple spatial and temporal scales.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 16 Aug 2018 09:44:34 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1526575</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Algorithms for passive detection of moving vessels in marine environment</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1506689</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In this paper, an investigation on the development of a low-cost passive hydroacoustic system for passive detection of moving vessels to counteract possible collision with an unmanned underwater vehicle is presented. The main goal of this paper is to determine if moving vessels generating hydroacoustic signals/signature are present in the space being searched, and if so, to determine the time delay ΔT between two signals (V₁(t) and V₂(t)) and consequently to estimate the bearing on the source of the hydroacoustic signals, for example, screw propellers of a moving vessel. The acoustic signals V₁(t) and V₂(t) have been recorded by a two hydrophones mounted in an unmanned underwater vehicle. In practice, signals V₁(t) and V₂(t) are heavily corrupted by the additional noise. The noise comes from surrounding environment and from the measurement system errors. Moreover, real signals are often unsteady (nonstationary) and random (stochastic). That is why the different methods have been taken under consideration and the received results have been compared. An analysis has been made for time and frequency domain as well. Due to the planned application of the obstacles detection system in the unmanned underwater vehicle, the algorithm had to be feasible for implementation in digital signal processor.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 May 2018 16:03:50 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1506689</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Passive fault tolerant control allocation for small unmanned underwater vehicle</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1506679</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The paper presents methods of control allocation in a multi-thruster propulsion system of a small torpedo-shaped underwater vehicle. It concentrates on finding an optimal thrust distribution among thrusters for demanded values of propulsive forces and moments. The approach is directed towards minimisation of energy expenditures necessary to obtain required control. Special attention is paid to the unconstrained thrust allocation for both a faultless and faulty work of the propulsion system. The developed algorithms are designed to be modular, interchangeable and highly computationally efficient. Illustrative examples are inserted to demonstrate correctness and simplicity of proposed thrust allocation methods.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 29 May 2018 16:03:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1506679</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Development of an Unmanned Hybrid Vehicle Using Artificial Pectoral Fins</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1489463</link>
      <description><![CDATA[An unmanned vehicle has been developed for dual use as both an aircraft and a submersible. To achieve long-range emplacement of a highly maneuverable underwater asset to a target environment, the Flimmer (Flying-Swimmer) vehicle is designed for both high-speed flight and low-speed swimming. Building on previous research in bioinspired propulsion and control systems, the vehicle employs a unique set of artificial flapping fins for underwater maneuvering, which must be considered when evaluating the flight and water landing capabilities. This paper describes the computational analysis and experimental results for all three phases of vehicle operation—flight, landing, and swimming. Computational fluid dynamics simulation results predict aero- and hydrodynamic characteristics and demonstrate landing loads on and trajectory of the vehicle. Experimental data demonstrate flight and swimming performance and validate the computational results, and experimental testing of water landing provides a comparison with computations. Results and analyses of the Flimmer vehicle performance demonstrate the operational capabilities of an unmanned hybrid vehicle for long-range flight and low-speed swimming.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 01 Dec 2017 09:29:01 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1489463</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Performance of an Ocean Buoyancy Glider in a Coastal Region: Application to the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1485447</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Hypoxia Glider Experiment was designed to assess the feasibility of using ocean glider technology in the coastal hypoxic zone of the northern Gulf of Mexico in Summer/Fall 2014. The objectives were (1) to coordinate and operate multiple autonomous buoyancy ocean gliders in depths less than 50 m and (2) to determine how close to the bottom gliders can reliably reach without making contact. Strong vertical and horizontal stratification gradients, strong coastal currents, and the low-oxygen conditions that occur within the lower water column characterize the coastal area of the northern Gulf of Mexico. These environmental conditions combine with the presence of more than 5,000 surface piercing oil/gas structures to make piloting and navigation in the region challenging. The authors quantify glider performance to assess the usefulness of buoyancy gliders to address the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Action Plan goal to monitor the spatial extent, duration, and severity of the Gulf hypoxic zone. The authors find that the gliders, despite the operational challenges, were consistently able to travel from the surface to the oxygen-depleted depths of subpycnocline waters, that is, within 2 m of the ocean bottom. The authors' assessment is that gliders are able to provide real-time observations suitable to monitor coastal hypoxia.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 23 Oct 2017 13:41:42 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1485447</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Use of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUAV) for Pipeline Surveillance to Improve Safety and Lower Cost</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1483170</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The Consolidated Research and Development for Pipeline Safety program was initiated to investigate the feasibility of using remotely piloted underwater vehicles (UUV) with appropriate sensors to: detect leaks from transmission pipelines, locate right of way encroachments, video record encroachment violations with damage, and reduce the cost of pipeline surveillance. The project, conducted over 2005 and 2006, explored the possibility of achieving enhanced monitoring of sub-sea pipelines through the use of commercially available sensors that can be deployed on a UUV. UUVs are not commercially competitive to divers and sensors mounted to surface vessels in shallow waters of less than 100 m. Sub-sea pipelines in water depths greater than 100 m are laid directly on the seafloor and are not buried. Consequently the focus of this study was on the monitoring of unburied sub-sea pipelines. Currently, there is very little commercial or regulatory requirement at present for sub-sea pipeline surveillance at these depths except during installation of the pipe or following possible encroachment incidents such as anchor dragging near, or over, pipeline routes. These types of surveillance tasks require a capability to detect objects such as anchors and chain dropped near the pipeline, bottom disturbances from anchor drags near or across a pipeline, and misalignment or damage to unburied pipelines. This project investigated commercially available sub-sea sensors that may provide a safer and more efficient means to quickly survey a deep water pipeline to identify possible encroachment, external damage or misalignment, and leak locations. Based on the results of the project, preliminary specifications have been developed for the following system components: Unmanned Vehicle requirements; and Sensor payload requirements. Additionally, preliminary operational concepts were developed for the application of UUV technology to pipeline monitoring and surveillance for a variety of mission profiles. While much work was completed on this mission, completion was not possible due to forces beyond the control of the participants. In August and September of 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. The current offshore resources schedule is focused around priority commercial inspection and repair activities in the wake of damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The offshore resources needed to complete the Consolidated Research and Development for Pipeline Safety project have not been and will not be available for the foreseeable future.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Oct 2017 17:30:08 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1483170</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Modeling of Combined Phenomena Affecting an AUV Stealth Vehicle</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1466763</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In the paper, some results of research connected with modeling the basic stealth characteristics of an AUV vehicle are presented. First of all,  a general approach to design of the stealth AUV autonomous underwater vehicles under consideration is introduced. Then the AUV stealth vehicle concept is briefly described. Next a method of modeling of the stealth characteristics is briefly described. As an example of the stealth characteristics investigations some results of modeling the boundary layer and wake are presented. Some remarks regarding the behavior of the AUV stealth vehicle in the submerged conditions are given. The final conclusions are presented.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 25 May 2017 14:02:19 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1466763</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Terminal Underwater Docking of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Using One Camera and One Light</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1441974</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This study introduces a vision guidance system for the terminal underwater docking of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) using one camera and one light. The configuration of this docking system, including an overview of the AUV and the docking station, is proposed. A detailed description of the vision guidance system is then provided. Four stages, namely, image acquisition, binarization of the captured images, elimination of noisy luminaries, and estimation of the relative position, constitute the image processing procedure. A tracking control algorithm based on the position of the dock center in the image coordinate obtained through image processing has been proposed. This algorithm can guide the AUV to the docking station without requiring distance information. A pool trial has been conducted at night to validate the proposed algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the vision guidance system despite the initial lateral deviation of up to 8 m. This paper ends with an analysis of the advantages and defects of this vision guidance system and proposes future works.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:18:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1441974</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Studying Some Algorithms for AUV Navigation Using a Single Beacon: The Results of Simulation and Sea Trials</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1411447</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper is devoted to navigation of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) with a mobile hydroacoustic beacon transported by an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV). Two algorithms for AUV positioning using information on the distance to a single beacon and the data from the onboard autonomous navigation system have been studied. The first algorithm is based on the application of the extended Kalman filter, and the other one uses the particle filter. The simulation of the considered algorithms performance and the results of the sea trials using a marine autonomous robotic complex (MARC), including an AUV and an ASV, are discussed.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 28 Jun 2016 16:16:07 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1411447</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Unmanned maritime vehicles: technology evolution and implications</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1278512</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper reviews the technological advances of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) since 2008, evolution of gliders and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and the roles, designs, and capabilities of unmanned surface vehicles (USVs). It describes the uses for those vehicles, how they have evolved and gained trusting users, and how they converge in complementary roles. Predictions for the evolution of unmanned maritime vehicles’ (UMVs) roles and operations are made. The paper is broad in scope and looks beyond the technology in an attempt to explain the relationship between technology evolution and user adoption. The research and findings stem from years of technical and business analysis, reports, interviews, and assistance to stakeholders of the unmanned maritime systems (UMS) industry by the author.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 03 Dec 2013 09:11:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1278512</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>A new robust design optimization approach for unmanned underwater vehicle design</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1215729</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Design of unmanned underwater vehicles is a complex and challenging task. While optimization methods can be applied to identify designs which are faster, more manoeuvrable and flexible to deal with various mission profiles, a practical realization requires the design to be robust, i.e. one with the best average performance under expected parametric variations. In this paper, an optimization framework for the design of underwater vehicles is presented. The framework is subsequently used to identify optimal and robust optimal designs of a small-scale (length nominally less than 500 mm) and light-weight (less than 0.5 kg) toy submarine. The submarine design described in the paper relies heavily on the use of off-the-shelf components in an attempt to contain cost. The differences between the optimal design and the robust optimal design are discussed in detail. The designs identified through the process of optimization are compared with an existing toy submarine to highlight the benefits offered by the present approach. The framework has been used to design two underwater vehicles which are currently being built by the research group.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 09 Oct 2012 09:12:36 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1215729</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Simulation of UUV Recovery Hydrodynamics</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1138611</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A novel method to compute the 3-D unsteady hydrodynamics with application to undersea vehicles is presented. This approach solves the vorticity equation, which is derived from the momentum equation of the Navier-Stokes equations. Most problems of Navy interest involve incompressible flow, which can be described in terms of the vorticity alone. Velocity is an integral quantity of the instantaneous vorticity field. Specific geometries are represented using surface source and vortex panels whose strength is prescribed to satisfy the no-slip and no-flux boundary conditions. Vorticity is diffused from the vortex sheets onto the body surface to maintain a vorticity balance. Vorticity in the flow is specified at points and the vorticity at any other point in the field is obtained via linear interpolation. Interpolation is performed by constructing tetrahedra using Delaunay triangularization. Tetrahedra provide the control volume to integrate over to obtain the velocity, and the connectivity of the control points provides a basis to construct derivatives. A Baldwin- Lomax eddy viscosity model was implemented into the solution algorithm to model turbulent flow effects. This method was then validated for two disparate flow cases—flow past an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) at Reynolds numbers of one million and unsteady flow development past a cone. Attached flow past the UUV was compared with empirical turbulent flat plate results. Quality of the flow past a cone was compared with data obtained with experimental data. Validation of this method allows for a subsequent simulation of a UUV recovery problem.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 11 May 2012 09:05:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1138611</guid>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>