ROMULUS 7 is a seven-foot, man-portable USV designed for expeditionary and special operations missions. During the test, its two payload bays supported mission equipment configured to validate surface–subsurface collaboration, leveraging the proven REMUS modular architecture.
At the conclusion of the test mission, ROMULUS 7 operated in concert with an HII REMUS unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), validating coordinated operations between surface and subsurface autonomous systems. REMUS’s reliability, modularity, and endurance enabled sustained test execution across realistic operational conditions.
A key objective of the test was the use of ROMULUS 7 as a mobile surface gateway. In this role, the USV enabled real-time reach-back to the operations center and high-rate data exfiltration from the REMUS UUV, extending operational reach while preserving stealth and autonomy.
Both platforms ran HII’s Odyssey autonomy, with the mission planned, monitored, and managed through the Odyssey Mission user interface. This common autonomy backbone was central to the test, enabling seamless coordination across domains without operator burden.
The test also validated the standard ROMULUS 7 communications and sensing suite, including acoustic communications for UUV collaboration, cameras, Wi-Fi, Starlink, MANET radio, and GPS—confirming its effectiveness as a resilient, networked force multiplier when paired with REMUS.
