Accurate Industrial Controls is preparing three Indian Navy patrol boats for conversion into unmanned surface vessels (USVs) at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, following a feasibility assessment.
The work involves one 13-metre FIC used for coastal reconnaissance, along with two 23-metre ISVs. The ISVs operate in open waters alongside frigates and other larger naval vessels and have a stated range of 400 nautical miles.
The conversions are part of a six-vessel contract signed by Accurate and the Indian Navy in 2022. All six vessels are to receive the company’s Intelligent Situational Awareness and Collision Avoidance (ISACA) system.
Accurate has completed the contract’s Autonomy Stack development programme, which was divided into five audited milestones. The company also built and tested two prototype USVs before advancing to the operational patrol-boat conversions.
The tests used a 13-metre interceptor craft and a five-metre search-and-rescue workboat. In cooperation with the Indian Navy, the vessels completed 2,500 hours of sea and river trials, including testing in controlled waters.
The programme culminated in Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) certification of the ISACA technology stack to IRS AUTN 4-R(N). The certification covers compliance with the International Maritime Organisation’s International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGs).
Accurate Director of AI and Robotics Dharmesh Popatlal Gala said the Indian Navy provided the development framework and facilitated the controlled-water trials, while IRS supported the programme through its certification process.
Radar is one component of ISACA, which also includes an inertial navigation system, electro-optical/infrared sensors, remote command and control, and 360-degree situational awareness. Its edge-computing architecture processes data onboard, allowing autonomous functions to operate without an internet connection or continuous crew presence.
ISACA can directly interface with Mercury, Cox and CAN/MODBUS-based propulsion equipment, while actuators permit integration of non-digital propulsion systems and control of steering and propulsion across new-build and retrofit vessels.
Accurate previously installed the system aboard a 13-metre patrol boat built at SHM Shipyard in Mumbai. That vessel received IRS certification after trials in the Arabian Sea off Karwar.