Data Fusion of Electric Field and Acoustic Data

ISL will team with ERAPSCO and SeaLandAire Technologies Inc. to improve the current combination sonobuoy (EA-buoy) design into a stabilized, low-noise, low-cost underwater sensor system capable of collecting and uplinking both acoustic and E-field signals, which will fit into an A-size volume and be certified for airborne deployment.The design will be supported by tests of a developmental prototype in laboratory, quarry and ocean environments to determine system effectiveness and false alarm performance.The prototype buoys will be air-certified, shock-tested, dropped from an airborne platform and tested in a fully operational at-sea environment against actual and artificial sources.After this, a low-rate initial production of 10 buoys will be produced and delivered to NAVAIR for testing.Support of NAVAIR in the LRIP testing phase is also part of the Phase II proposal, in terms of providing ongoing support in the training of EA-buoy usage, the buoys primary features, care and maintenance, usage of the data recording and display computer, and analysis of the combined data.