Reliable Target Area of Uncertainty from an Underwater Acoustic Source(s)

The Navys Multi-Static Active Coherent (MAC) system is a multi-static sonar system deployed in the ocean from an aircraft used for wide area search. Surface-drifting buoys are dropped at pre-determined locations and then drift with the currents in somewhat unpredictable ways. Acoustic source buoys are commanded to ping from an aircraft individually or simultaneously using different frequencies. The drifting receivers relay acoustic and auxiliary data to the aircraft for analysis of possible target detections followed by localization, classification and prosecution. In a GPS denied area of the globe, or without the use of any aircraft ability to localize the buoys, innovative acoustic approaches which leverage acoustic processing of the transmitted pings and incorporate innovative statistical methods are an excellent means of determining the relative position of each buoy and the overall shape of the buoy field. Understanding buoy positions and the overall position of the array will provide better localization of the target and the overall time to prosecute that target can be reduced.