Development Status and Future Directions of Unmanned Surface Vehicles in Marine Geological Surveying

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) have emerged as a new type of marine carrier platform and are attracting increasing attention in marine geological surveying owing to their flexibility, low observability and unmanned operation. This review systematically traces the development history and current status of USVs worldwide and in China and summarizes the state of the art of USV-based marine geological survey technology from three perspectives: autonomous control, sensor integration, and data transmission and processing. Two representative applications, seafloor topographic and geomorphological surveying and sub-seafloor geophysical exploration, are examined to illustrate engineering practice. Recent advances and technological trends are then outlined in terms of cross-domain collaborative operations, upgrading of core equipment, expansion of application scenarios and standardization. Remaining challenges are analyzed, including limited adaptability to complex environments, insufficient autonomous decision-making, data quality control and the low domestic production rate of core components, and future development directions are proposed. With continued technological progress, deeper research and improvement of the relevant survey standards, USVs are expected to mature into a stand-alone technical means for marine geological surveying.