Articles
NAUTILUS: Maritime Autonomy Built Around Your Vessel
Marketing and Outreach Team
4 Min Read
AIC’s NAUTILUS platform is in development for crewed boats and USVs. Explore onboard navigation, command security and the requirements for a pilot integration.
Selecting a boat for autonomous or remotely supervised work starts with its job. Patrol vessels and offshore observation boats need different equipment and limits. NAUTILUS is AIC’s maritime autonomy platform in development, designed to connect those choices through a common software architecture.
NAUTILUS is intended for crewed boats and uncrewed surface vessels, or USVs. Pilot conversations are open. Remote control, the SHACE profile and physical-control functions remain subject to validation for the selected deployment.
Connect equipment that suits the vessel
Six modules separate communications, observation, navigation assessment, mission proposals, command authority and machinery interfaces. Builders can connect chosen cameras, propulsion and controls through documented interfaces. Supported functions must be agreed and tested.
AIC licenses the core platform. Proposed terms give customers control of their hardware, operational data and adapters. Assess integration effort and ownership before committing to a build.
Explore NAUTILUS for boat builders and integrators
Plan for the shore connection to fail
NAUTILUS’s architecture keeps observation, navigation assessment and local control aboard. A signed mission package sets objectives, area, reserves and contingencies. Operation during an outage depends on these conditions and its authority remaining valid.
The proposed onboard journal records decisions and results for review after reconnection. Compare it with vessel behaviour during a pilot, including the point at which a mission condition fails.
Read about NAUTILUS disconnected operations
Protect the connection and check commands
WAVE handles approved protected communications; SHACE provides the packet tunnel. Review endpoint identities, the post-quantum profile and the key lifecycle. Assess credentials, updates, permissions and hardware security on the computer aboard.
WATCH checks who holds control and whether an action is permitted before BRIDGE passes a demand to machinery. Manual takeover and physical emergency arrangements retain priority. Communications protection alone does not establish safe vessel control.
Review the NAUTILUS security architecture
What to bring to a pilot discussion
Start with the vessel, propulsion interface, cameras, communications and computing. Set out the operating area, supervision and loss-of-link requirements. AIC can discuss a first integration and the evidence needed before wider trials.
Read the illustrative NAUTILUS offshore patrol case study
Explore the NAUTILUS product specification
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Author
Marketing and Outreach Team
AIC’s Marketing and Outreach Team builds visibility and trust across Defence and security. We deliver strategic campaigns, thought leadership, and stakeholder engagement while balancing transparency with discretion. Our mission is to position AIC as a trusted, innovative partner to the UK MoD and beyond.
