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 in length, and was 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.