Against the backdrop of Sesimbra and the Troia Peninsula in Portugal, the 10^th annual Recognized Environmental Picture Atlantic Exercise (REP) is returning from the 11^th to 27^th September 2019. This year the event will be held under NATO’s Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative (MUS) and be referred to as REP MUS.

REP MUS brings together dozens of autonomous underwater, surface and air vehicles for coastal operations. Jointly organized by the Portuguese Navy, the Laboratório de Sistemas e Tecnologia Subaquática (LSTS) of the University of Porto and the NATO STO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE), this event is one of the major European experimentation exercises for maritime unmanned systems.

During the 2-week exercise, academics, industry partners and the operational community will contribute multiple assets to the operational demonstrations. Participants will collaborate to develop and evaluate operational concepts and test new technological advancements, procedures and tactics for MUS in real-life scenarios. Beginning in 2010, this event aims at advancing state-of-the-art networked vehicle systems through large-scale experimentation.

One focal point of the experimentation is the work in underwater communications. CMRE is testing new, adaptive techniques for increased efficiency and security of underwater acoustic networks. Additionally, CMRE is conducting operational experimentation with JANUS, the first standard protocol for underwater communications. JANUS is utilised to provide real-time data products to a submarine at depth and speed. One of the activities will focus on the usage of JANUS with surface and underwater unmanned vehicles to support submarine escape and rescue operations. Employing unmanned platforms and machine-to-machine interaction can provide the rescue operators critical data in a faster and more reliable way. The usage of novel and interoperable disruptive technologies in escape and rescue operations may effectively save more lives.

REP MUS is carried out according to specific mission plans that are designed to meet the requirements of each operational scenario. The expected outcomes concern the technological and scientific fields and the defence and security sector.

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