USVs are an emerging technology destined to play a key role in future networked systems of heterogeneous manned and unmanned air, ground and marine vehicles. Although their employment in defense applications, such as mine countermeasures and harbor and coastal protection, increased during the past years, their use in civil scenarios is still limited by the lack of international rules for the operations of unmanned vessels at sea. Nevertheless, many routine periodic surveys in shallow waters could gain dramatic benefits from the adoption of USV technology without interfering with everyday recreational and trade traffic any more than the use of conventional methodologies.
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