Team members from both Virginia Institute for Spaceflight & Autonomy and ODU Office of Enterprise Research and Innovation (OERI) have had their paper, “Assessing Communications Equipment Performance for Reliable USV Teleoperation and Autonomy,” selected for publication and presentation at the 2025 Interservice / Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), happening December 1–4 in Orlando, FL.

Authored by Ahmet Saglam, Ph.D., Kevin O’Brien, Bratislav Cvijetic, Virginia Zamponi, and Yiannis Papelis, the study evaluates the real-world performance of long-range radio to ensure stable, long-range connectivity between unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and ground stations.

By characterizing radio performance under realistic maritime conditions, their findings pave the way for more accurate communication simulations, smarter timeout settings, and stronger, mission-critical USV communication strategies.