Platform
Stage 0: a small uncrewed surface vehicle
Stage 0 is a low-overhead autonomous surface vehicle and the first step toward a larger system. It is designed to carry and test customizable payloads on open water, and each phase adds capability on top of the last. The goal is a reliable, low-cost platform for developing vehicles and putting payloads to work.
Why Dual Oceans is building these
Getting an instrument onto the water usually means getting a crewed boat onto the water with it.
That sets the price of a measurement, and it sets how often anyone can afford to take one. Dual Oceans is building uncrewed surface vehicles so that carrying a payload out and bringing its data back is a smaller decision than chartering a vessel. Dual Oceans wants to make time on the water cheaper and more repeatable for the people who build instruments.
First payloads
Stage 0's first test is a pre-planned waypoint run in open water, streaming data and video live to shore.
- Camera
- Live and recorded video
- Data logging
- Conductivity, temperature, and more
- Echosounder
- Depth soundings
Build phases
Design and prototype testing of the core systems is under way. The build phases target the end of 2026.
- Ph -1Design and subsystem prototypingIn progress
- Ph -0.5Solar install and bench charge testPlanned
- Ph 0RC control: thrust, handling, and power drawPlanned
- Ph 1Live link to shore with telemetry, video, and dataPlanned
- Ph 2Autonomous test survey with georeferenced data logging, Ipswich Bay, MAPlanned
What comes after Stage 0
More payloads, longer endurance, and more autonomy. Each stage builds on the one before it.
Payload partners
Dual Oceans is looking for people with a sensor or an instrument they want tested on the water.
If that is you, get in touch and describe what it is, what it weighs, what it draws, and what data you need off it. Stage 0 is being built to carry payloads, and the sooner a real one is in the plan, the better the boat will suit it.
Engineering support
Alongside the vehicle work, Dual Oceans is open to taking on marine hardware projects for other teams. Three lines of work, drawing on the same experience described on the About page.
Design Support
Dual Oceans can review an existing design, advise on one in progress, or produce the drawings and fabrication package under contract. That covers subsea housings, penetrators and connectors, topside power, networking and automation panels, PLC controls, CAD in SolidWorks and Onshape, and the electrical schematics that go with them.
Deployment & Field Support
Offshore work is planned in advance, and Dual Oceans can be on site to carry it out, where a missing shackle costs a day and a boat. That covers installation and commissioning, sea trials and shakedown, and going out to hardware that has stopped reporting.
Technical Advisory
An independent review before the hardware goes in the water covers both the design and the plan around it: corrosion, biofouling, pressure, power budget, and whether anyone can service the thing once it is deployed. Inspection and survey planning sits here too, on the advisory terms noted below.
Advisory onlyDual Oceans specifies tools and plans the approach for inspections and surveys. It does not own or operate survey equipment.