A Sensor System for Precise, Automated Position-keeping for Ocean Going Vessels

Existing Relative Reference Sensor Systems (R2S2) employed on SSBN blocking vessels impose a safety risk because they require sailors to go topside while underway to install / uninstall targets on the submarine deck. During the Phase I program, ASC acquired 3D Flash LIDAR images of sea going vessels and demonstrated that a vessel’s relative bearing can be derived from these images. The ASC 3D Flash LIDAR based Relative Reference Sensor System architecture concept, developed on the Phase I SBIR, is designed to be deployed on a blocking vessel and interface with the existing shipboard dynamic positioning systems (DPS). The R2S2 system will determine range and bearing used to maintain position of a surfaced submarine without the need to physically modify the submarine deck or hull. Redundancy can be achieved by mounting two sensors on the blocking vessel. The system uses off-the-shelf hardware technology combined with machine vision object recognition and tracking algorithms enabling a TRL 7 solution to be implemented in Phase II.