Case Study: OpenROV achieves reliable underwater drone connectivity with RTI Connext DDS

Solving Complex Connectivity in Underwater Drones

OpenROV is a developer of underwater drones for marine intelligence and exploration, and it needed a connectivity architecture for Trident, its new commercially available drone built to operate reliably in harsh underwater environments. The challenge was to handle multiple live video streams, telemetry, Wi‑Fi bridging, user control from consumer mobile devices, and dependable operation at 100m depths while staying easy for nontechnical users to operate. RTI Connext DDS provided the connectivity platform to address these demands.

RTI implemented Connext DDS for OpenROV, and the team completed the initial integration in just two days. The solution enabled automatic discovery across vehicle data streams, letting engineers focus on application logic instead of networking, while supporting live streaming and local recording of video and telemetry for redundancy. RTI also helped OpenROV improve debugging, production monitoring, and rapid prototyping of new features and sensors, giving the company a more reliable, flexible, and scalable platform for future underwater applications.

OpenROV

Charles Cross

Software Engineer