SeaTrac Systems, Inc.
Marblehead, Massachusetts builder of the 4.8 m SP-48 solar-powered USV, sold, leased or operated for ocean data, relay and surveillance missions.
SeaTrac Systems, Inc. is a small US company in Marblehead, Massachusetts, that designs and builds long-endurance, solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) for persistent data collection, communications relay and maritime surveillance. Marine Technology Reporter's 2023 profile says the company was founded in 2017 by two MIT-trained naval architects and serial entrepreneurs; WorkBoat names the co-founders as Jigger Herman, who also designs the vehicles, and Buddy Duncan. Before SeaTrac, the two had worked together on sailboat design with an America's Cup team, sailmaking cutting machines and smart-home security systems.
The company builds one vehicle platform, the SP-48. According to the March 2026 datasheet, the SP-48 is 4.8 m (15.9 ft) long and 139 cm wide, with a 42 cm draft, an empty weight of 275 kg and a payload capacity of 70 kg. It has a 1,000 W brushless electric motor, an 11.7 kWh lithium battery, 750 W of solar generation and up to 500 W of payload power. Top speed is 5 knots, and endurance is described as months. The vehicle is rated to function up to Beaufort 7 and survive Beaufort 8 or higher, and it is self-righting. Communications include satellite (Iridium Certus and Starlink), cellular, radio and Wi-Fi, with AIS, running lights and a 360-degree camera system for collision avoidance.
The SP-48 comes in a nearshore configuration with a short keel for launch from small boats, trailers or shorelines, and an offshore configuration with a deep keel, transom wing and offshore package for blue-water work. A single-point lift allows crane deployment from piers or ships. A custom profiling winch, upgraded in 2025 to carry an AML-6 sonde, profiles the water column to more than 200 m. Supported payloads include ADCPs, water-quality sondes, fisheries echosounders, multibeam and side-scan sonar, lidar, USBL and LBL positioning, acoustic modems, hydrophone arrays, inertial navigation, radar and custom sensors. SeaTrac's software suite (SeaTrac Control, SeaTrac Dashboard and the optional PilotView 360-degree vision system) supports handheld local control, heading control, waypoint missions with current and wind compensation, and in-the-loop operation from shore.
Customers can buy and customise USVs, lease them, or have SeaTrac run the mission and collect the data. The company's published missions include a 21-day, 800 nautical mile Loop Current monitoring deployment with an ADCP in the US Gulf of Mexico with Woods Hole Group in 2022; US Navy Task Force 59 exercises Digital Horizon 2022 and International Maritime Exercise 2023 in the Arabian Gulf; a 2024-2025 data-harvesting campaign with Sonardyne and the University of Rhode Island that collected data from nine seabed sensors at 1,800 to 3,200 m depth along a 580 nm route; offshore hypoxia mapping with the University of Southern Mississippi and NOAA; satellite altimetry calibration with NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory off Point Conception, California, in 2025; a Tampa Bay mapping project with USF, NOAA and Fugro; a seafloor geodesy mission with Princeton University; real-time marine mammal monitoring with JASCO's OceanObserver dipping array; and use as a communications relay between UUVs and remote operators.
NOAA PMEL has bought SP-48 vehicles for its own fleet. In March 2026 PMEL engineers tested a modified SP-48 near Puget Sound with a rear atmospheric mast and stern profiling winch, as part of work on using the USV to stand in for lost or damaged weather buoys, and PMEL plans to use one in a 2027 Integrated Ecosystem Research Program mission in the northern Bering Sea. Other named users include ThayerMahan, whose VP of Surveillance Operations has called SeaTrac a turnkey solution, and the University of Southern Mississippi Marine Research Center. The company has also been featured in coverage of SeaAhead's Blue Tech Accelerator.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
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Contact SeaTrac Systems, Inc.
WEBSITE
https://www.seatrac.com/PHONE
+1 617 981 4620HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2017
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
Keywords
