The Advanced Unmanned Search System (AUSS) was a submersible employed by the United States Navy constructed from a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic cylinder with titanium semi-spheres at the ends. The vessel measured 17feet in length, and was 31inches wide.
It was able to operate at depths of up to, autonomously and untethered. Commands were send to the craft via sonar modem at a bitrate of 1,200 bits per second (bit/s), and the AUSS sent back data at rate of 4,800 bit/s. The controllers at the surface defined the targets and the search patterns, while the submersible executed the search patterns autonomously, without any realtime inputs.
Its silver-zinc batteries allowed an endurance of 10 hours, while recharging lasted 20 hours. The AUSS navigated with a gyrocompass and Doppler sonar.